US History Chapter 3- Industrialization – Flashcards
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The US industrializes quickly due to...
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population- huge labor work force which stemmed from large families and immigrants, and created a greater demand for consumer goods resources- coal, iron, timber, copper
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After the civil war, what happened to the US Gross National Product?
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the GNP (total value of goods and service) grew fast!
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List the major materials that were part of the reason for the nations success in in 2nd Industrial Revolution
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petroleum (oil) chemicals electricity steel
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Why was petroleum in high demand?
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petroleum was in high demand because it could be turned into kerosene (a type of fuel)- the American Oil Industry was built on the demand for kerosene
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Who drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania? What did he drill for? When did he drill?
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Edwin Drake Oil late 1850s
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How did railroads help the nation to develop?
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railroads took settlers and miners to the west and carried resources back to the east
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What inventions did Thomas Alva Edison produce?
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phonograph, electric generator, lightbulb
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Cyrus Field and Alexander Graham Bell were responsible for 2 revolutionary breakthroughs in communication. What were they?
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Cyrus field laid a telegraph across the atlantic ocean (enabled faster communication between the US and Europe) Bell invented the telephone
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what innovation changed the textile industry?
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The Northrop automatic loom-allowed cloth to be made more quickly power driven sewing machines, cloth cutters
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what was the effect of mass production of shoe making?
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shoe production moved from small shops to large factories
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what is a free enterprise system?
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an economic system with little or NO government regulation
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what is laissez-faire?
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-a policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy -helped the country industrialize -relies on supply and demand to regulate wages and prices
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what did laissez-faire supporters believe about the role of government in economic affairs?
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supporters believed that the government should NOT interfere in the economy other than to protect property rights and maintain peace
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who are people that risk capital in order to organize or run a business?
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Entrepreneurs
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what do laissez-faire supporters believe about tariffs?
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supporters favored free trade and opposed subsidies
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how did high tariffs hurt americans?
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when the US raised tariffs against foreign goods, it hurt american companies who tried to sell their good abroad
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Explain the Pacific Railway Act of 1862
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-the railroad boom began in the year 1862 with the Pacific Railway Act -this act gave 2 corporations- Union Pacific and Central Pacific-permission to build a transcontinental railroad
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transcontinental railroad
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connects the US, helps industries grow, movement of products -began in Omaha, Nebraska with the Union Pacific railroad (1865) -built by irish immigrants, civil war veterans, and workers from china -completed in 4 years
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Where did both railway companies meet after the transcontinental railroad was completed?
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Promontory Summit, Utah
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In order to make rail service safer and more reliable, the country was divided into _____
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4 time zones (1883)
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Why did the federal government issue land grants to railroad companies?
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since private investors could not raise the money needed to build railroads, the federal government gave lands grants to companies who sold the land to raise money for construction -this led to extreme wealth
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Who are robber barons?
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-industrialists whose business dealings were unethical (lying, cheating, trying to make other companies collapse, etc) -Wealth from land grants led to accusations of swindling and bribery, resulting in many of railway owners being called robber barons -investors began bribing members of congress Examples- Jay Gould and Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroad entrepreneurs)
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What was the Credit Mobilier Scandal of 1872
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-Fraud that involved several members of congress who had bought shares in a construction "dummy" company called Credit Mobilier (apart of Union Pacific Railroad) -Scandal led to an investigation but neither criminal nor civil charges were filed against anyone involved.
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What was the Great Northern railroad? who built it?
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Wisconsin to Minnesota to Washington, without any federal land grants or subsidies shipment of goods in demand to China only railroad that was not eventually forced into bankruptcy built by James J Hill
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Define corporation and explain how it functions. what are it advantages?
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Corporation- an organization owned by stockholders through shares of ownership called stock. With the money raised from selling stock, corporations could invest in new technologies, hire large workforces and purchase machines Advantages- could produce more goods at a lower cost
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economies of scale
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the cost of manufacturing is decreased by producing goods quickly and in large quantities
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explain the difference between fixed costs and operating costs
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fixed costs- solid, not changing (loans, mortgages, taxes) operating costs- money needed to produce (wages, shipping costs, buying raw materials)
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Why is Andrew Carnegie important?
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Scottish immigrant invested in steel mill, bought the steel mill he did not monopolize because he had vertical integration of the steel industry (he had ALL levels of product, did everything himself)
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what is important about the bessemer process?
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process created by Carnegie that made high quality steel quickly and cheaply
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Define vertical integration. define horizontal immigration.
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vertical- occurs when a company owns all parts of the industrial process horizontal- monopoly, occurs when a company grows by buying its competitors
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Who was John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil
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business leader who pushed for horizontal integration Rockefellers Standard Oil bought our all of its competitors, controlling 90 percent of the US oil industry (MONOPOLY- Control of one company)
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why did americans fear monopolies?
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they believed that a monopoly could charge whatever it wanted for its products, so they attempted to stop monopolies by making it illegal for one company to own stock in another, however, companies found ways around the laws in "trusts", "holding companies" and "investment banking"
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what is a trust?
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a trust is a legal arrangement that allows one person to manage another persons property. That person is called a trustee.
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what is a holding company?
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a holding company does not produce anything itself but owns the stock of companies that do produce goods. It manages its companies investments and stocks
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what is the purpose of investment banking
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when a person is willingly giving the banks their money to be invested into the stock market or into a company (possibility of gaining or losing money- GAMBLE) Ex. JP Morgan (investment banker)- bought Carnegie Steel company and turned it into the US Steel
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in the 1800s the two types of industrial workers in the US were ...
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craft workers and common laborers
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List a few techniques that companies used to stop workers from forming unions or discouraging them from joining
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lockouts, black lists
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explain: The great railroad strike
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following the panic of 1873 ( a huge recession that struck the american economy and forced companies to cut wages), railroad workers across the country strikes by smashing equipment, tearing up tracks bloody, violet, etc
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What was the Knights of Labor
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opposed strikes, preferring to use more peaceful means such as boycotts and arbitration to achieve goals such as an 8hr work day, equal pay for women, no child labor, etc
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What was the Haymarket Riot of 1886
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supporters (Knights of Labor union) of the 8 hour work day called for a nationwide strike on May 1 at Chicago's Haymarket square -escalated quickly, bombs gunshots etc
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explain: The Homestead Strike
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steel mill managed by Henry Frick proposed cutting wages and locked out employees led to strike
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explain: The Pullman Palace Car Company strike of 1894
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railway workers organized a strike against the pullman palace car company when their wages were reduced. a federal court issued an injunction to stop the strike
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what was the American Federation of Labor (AFL)?
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most powerful labor organization union of the 1800s led by Samuel Gompers represented the interests of skilled workers
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what were the AFL's 3 goals
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8 hr workday closed shops and for companies to recognize unions
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What was the Industrial workers of the world (IWW)
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more radical group wanted to organize all kinds of workers into one union
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who was one of the most famous female labor organizers of the world?
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Mary haris Jones
