Railroads
Inventions
Big Business
Workers
potpourri
100
What is consolidation and how did it help the railroad industry?
Consolidation is the practice of combining separate companies into one larger company. It helped the railroad industry because larger companies could provide more efficient service like setting the same price for shipping costs.
100
What did Samuel Morse invent and why was it important?
Samuel Morse invented the telegraph. This was the first way people could transmit (send) messages across the country through telegraph lines instead of using pony express.
100
What are the 3 factors of production?
1. land and natural resources 2. labor 3. capital - machines, tools, buildings
100
What are sweatshops?
Sweatshops are crowded and dangerous places where garments (clothes) are made.
100
What is a strikebreaker?
A strike breaker is a person hired by a company to work for another worker who is on strike.
200
Who was Cornelius Vanderbilt and what did he accomplish?
He was a railroad baron. He owned the largest railroad company between New York City and the Great Lakes.
200
Who invented the telephone and what company did he form?
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. He started the Bell Telephone Company in 1877.
200
What is a corporation? (Use shares, stocks, shareholders and dividends in your answer)
It is a large business owned by many people who have shares in the company. Shares are part ownership in a company. Stocks are the shares sold to individual owners. Shareholders are the people who own the stocks. Dividends are the money paid to the stockholders from the company's profits.
200
What are labor unions and list 2 ways they were important in the 1800's?
They are group of workers who work for better work conditions and fair pay. They were important to help improve the safety in the work conditions, and to limit the number of hours of per week and to protect children workers.
200
What is an injunction and how was it used in the Pullman strike?
An injunction is a court order against a person or group tor obstructing work. Pullman rail car plant workers went on strike when the company cut their wages. Pullman closed the plant and asked the US Attorney General to obtain an injunction against the striking workers to get them to stop striking and return to work. The union refused and its leader went to jail. This failure of this strike was a setback for labor unions in America.
300
Name 3 industries the railroads helped to grow.
1. The steel industry because they needed steel to make railroad tracks. 2. The lumber industry because wood was used for railroad ties. 3. The coal industry because trains used coal as fuel.
300
Name 3 of Thomas Edison's inventions
1. phonograph (earlier version of the CD player) 2. light bulb 3. movie projector 4. built the first electric power plant in NYC
300
What is a trust and how did Rockefeller use it in the oil industry? (Use the word monopoly and horizontal integration in your answer).
A trust is a group of companies managed by a single board of trustees. Rockefeller got the shareholders of the smaller companies to trade their shares for shares in his large company (Standard Oil). This is called horizontal integration when you combine the same type of company into one larger company. In this way Standard Oil became a monopoly which had total control of the oil industry.
300
What is collective bargaining and why was it important?
Collective bargaining is when unions represent a group of workers in talks with management of a business over wages and other matters. It is an important tool for unions to use to help workers.
300
Name one African American inventor and his invention.
Latimer - improved the wire used in light bulbs Woods - electric incubator and improved railcar breaks McCoy - mechanism for oiling machinery Matzeliger - shoe making machine
400
Name 3 new technologies that helped improve the railroads.
1. Airbrakes - made it easier for trains to stop 2. Janny Car couplers - made it better to link train cars together. 3. Refrigerated cars - made it possible to ship cold things. 4. Pullman sleeping cars - made it possible for passengers to sleep more comfortably on the train.
400
Who was Henry Ford and why was he important? (Use assembly line and mass production in your answer)
Henry Ford was an engineer who built the Model T car and invented the assembly line. The assembly line is away to manufacture things where a job is broken down into smaller jobs and each person does the same job over and over again. It allowed cars to be mass produced (made in large amounts) and more cheaply. More Americans could afford to buy a car.
400
Who was Carnegie and how did he use vertical integration?
Carnegie owned steel plants in PA. He used vertical integration to control steel making by buying all the companies which had anything to do with steel including the manufacturing plants, warehouse, railroads used to ship steel and ore ships. This allowed him to control the entire steel industry.
400
What happened at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co? What good came out of this disaster?
The Triangle Shirtwaist Co was a NY sweatshop which caught on fire. Women workers were trapped inside and nearly 150 died. This disaster led to International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGW) to push for safer working conditions for all workers including women.
400
What does the French term "laissez faire" mean and what does it have to do with the economy?
It means to let a company do what it wants. In economy, it means that the government does not interfere with too many regulations on businesses.
500
Name 3 ways railroads changed America.
1. More people moved to the west and the population grew 2. Manufacturing moved from NY to Illinois and Wisconsin 3. Trains helped more towns and businesses grow.
500
What did the Wright Brothers invent and how did it affect the US?
The Wright Brothers invented the airplane. It allowed people to travel farther much faster. Businesses could also ship goods faster and farther on cargo planes.
500
Name 1 way that Carnegie and Rockefeller each gave back to the community.
1. Carnegie built Carnegie Hall 2. Rockefeller built University of Chicago 3. Vanderbilt built Grand Central Station in NYC
500
What happened at the Chicago Haymarket Square with the McCormick Harvester Company in May 1886 and what was the result of this event? (Use strike in your answer)
Workers from McCormick were on strike (refusing to work) to get an 8 hour work day. Several workers were injured when police came to stop the strike. A crowd started to protest the police action and someone threw a bomb. A riot was started. This made many Americans believe that labor unions were violent.
500
What is the economic system where the government is involved in many economic decisions?
Mrs. Langton is not sure but she thinks it is either communism or socialism. Please tell her so she knows which one it is.
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