Business
This was an economic philosophy that stated that business and the economy would run best with no interference from the government. This economic thought dominated most of the time period of the Industrial Revolution.
What is laissez-faire
Unofficial political organization that works to win elections in order to exercise power
Sometimes referred to as a shadow government
Rose to power in the late 1800s because of ill-equipped local governments that failed to meet the needs of growing urban populations
Political Machine
systematic state-level legal codes of segregation.
Jim Crow
creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
Samuel Gompers
1876 Battle at which Colonel George Custer's forces clashed with nearly 4000 well armed Sioux warriors led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull; Custer and more than 250 of his men were killed; U.S. reinforcements chased Sitting Bull to Canada where he received political asylum until hunger forced him to return.
Battle of Little Bighorn
The late 19th century, from the 1870s to about 1900. Satirized an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding of economic progress. The term was coined by Mark Twain.
Gilded Age
technique used by Carnegie where he combined into one organization all phases of manufacturing from mining to marketing.
Vertical Integration
(1890) a law that tried to regulate trusts. It favored businesses rather than workers and was originally used to break up labor unions.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
1896 court case that validated the South's segreationalist social order, ruling "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional under the "equal protection" clause of the 14th Amendment.
Plessy v. Ferguson
(1894) strike in Chicago led by Eugene Debs for railroad workers that spread nationwide. President Grover Cleveland called in federal troops to put down the strike.
Pullman Strike
A ritual dance performed by some members of the Sioux tribe in an effort bring back the buffalo and return the Native American tribes to their land.
US military troops attacked tribe performing the danced murdered them at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.
Ghost Dance
The application of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to the business world; used by industrialists and social conservatives to discourage any government regulation in society and explain why they were getting so rich.
Social Darwinism
Strategy to maximize profits by attempting to purchase competing companies in the same industry; monopoly-building (ex. Rockefeller's Standard Oil)
horizontal integration
scandal in 1872 where Union Pacific Railroaders formed a construction company and hired themselves at inflated prices to build a railroad line. They then paid off congressmen with shares of the company's stock to keep the lid on it. Newpaper exposé revealed the scandal went as far as the Vice President of the US.
Credit Mobilier Scandal
prominent black American, born into slavery, who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society, was founder of the Tuskegee Institute in 1881. Was criticized for "accomodating" segregation. Progressive who supported segregation and demanded that African American better themselves individually to achieve equality.
Booker T. Washington
American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States.
Eugene V. Debs
1887 Legislation that allotted each head of household 160 acres of reservation land; land deemed to be "surplus" beyond what was needed for allotment was opened to white settlers with the proceeds invested in education programs; designed to encourage the breakup of the tribes and promote the assimilation of Native Americans into American society. The historical significances that Native Americans lost about 90 million acres of treaty land.
Dawes Severalty Act
An essay written by Andrew Carnegie in June of 1889 that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich.
Gospel of Wealth
a railroad that would cross the continent and connect the East to the West in 1869; opened new markets and helped spur the Industrial Revolution
transcontinental railroad
Political machine of New York City that was well-known for its corruption. Lead by William Boss Tweed. The machine was exposed by cartoonists like Thomas Nast.
Tammany Hall
an African-American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement, who write about lynchings of African Americans in the South
Ida B. Wells
Violent labor conflict in Carnegie's mills
Henry Frick (manager) announced pay cut
Strike had to be put down by state militia in 1892
Homestead Strike
where Native American children were forced to go to learn English, cut their hair, learn farming skills, and physically punished for practicing cultural customs.
Indian Boarding Schools
Refers to the industrialists or big business owners who gained huge profits by paying their employees extremely low wages. They also drove their competitors out of business by selling their products cheaper than it cost to produce it. Then when they controlled the market, they hiked prices high above original price.
Robber Barons