Major Entrepreneurs
This famous American inventor developed a practical incandescent light bulb and helped expand the use of electricity in American homes and businesses.
Who was Thomas Edison?
When one company controls most of an industry, it can limit competition and influence prices with less pressure to keep them low. What is this type of business control called?
What is a monopoly or trust?
This scandal involved President Grant's VP Orville Babcock - and was a fraudulent construction company that cheated the federal government while building the Union Pacific Railroad.
What was the Credit Mobilier scandal?
These paper notes were issued during the Civil War and afterwards and were not backed by gold or silver, contributing to debates about the nation's money supply.
What were Greenbacks?
During the late 1800s, New Immigrants primarily came to the United States from which regions and countries?
What are Southern and Eastern Europe, including Italy, Russia, and Poland?
This oil company, founded by John D. Rockefeller, became one of the most powerful business monopolies in American history.
What is Standard Oil?
This economic theory argues that the government should have minimal interference in business and the economy.
What is laissez-faire economics?
This political practice rewards loyal supporters with government jobs rather than selecting employees based on merit.
What is the spoils system?
This labor organization welcomed skilled and unskilled workers, including women and African Americans, into its membership while advocating for better wages and working conditions.
Who were the Knights of Labor?
Approximately how many hours per day did many industrial workers work during the Gilded Age before widespread labor reforms?
What were 12-16 hours per day?
This powerful financier helped consolidate major businesses and played a significant role in the development of America's modern corporate economy.
Who was J. P. Morgan Chase?
This business strategy occurs when a company controls multiple stages of production, from raw materials to finished products.
What is vertical integration?
This president was assassinated in 1881 by Charles Guiteau after Guiteau became frustrated over his failure to receive a government appointment.
Who was James A. Garfield?
Passed in 1887, this law attempted to regulate railroad practices and prevent unfair rates.
What was the Interstate Commerce Act?
These young workers performed dangerous jobs in coal mines, breaking large pieces of coal into smaller pieces.
Who were breaker boys?
This business leader became famous for building a railroad empire and expanding his control over transportation.
Who was Cornelius Vanderbilt?
This business strategy involves a company buying out or eliminating its competitors within the same industry to gain greater control of the market.
What is horizontal integration?
This New York City political machine used patronage, bribery, and election manipulation to maintain political power.
What was Tammany Hall?
Passed in 1890, this federal law was designed to prohibit trusts and other business combinations that restrained trade.
What was the Sherman Antitrust Act?
Why were children commonly employed in factories and other industries during the Gilded Age?
Why did families need additional income to survive, while factory owners benefited from hiring inexpensive labor?
Which wealthy industrialist argued that the rich had a responsibility to use their wealth to benefit society through philanthropy?
Who was Andrew Carnegie?
Why was this time period given the name "Gilded Age," despite America's growing wealth and industrial success?
What was the contrast between America's outward appearance of prosperity and the underlying problems of political corruption, unethical business practices, and economic inequality?
This scandal involved a tax-fraud scheme within President Ulysses S. Grant's administration, with his personal secretary, Orville Babcock, accused of involvement.
What was the Whiskey Ring Scandal?
This labor organization, led by Samuel Gompers, helped establish the movement that led to the creation of Labor Day.
What was the American Federation of Labor (AFL)?
These overcrowded, poorly maintained apartment buildings housed many working-class families and immigrants in rapidly growing cities during the Gilded Age.
What were tenements?