Vocab
Define monopoly
A situation where one person/company owns all/most of one industry
Identify at least 2 industries important to the Gilded Age
Oil, Steel, railroads, steamboats, electricity, banking
Describe 2 issue when it came to living conditions during the Gilded Age
Lack of housing
Poor sanitation
Poor ventilation
Lack of running water
Cramped conditions
Identify 2 reasons labor unions started to form
Low pay
Poor working conditions
Long hours
Child Labor
Identify 2 problems monopolies can create
High prices
Lack of products
Destroying other businesses
Define strike
Refusing to work until demands are met
What is a robber baron?
A wealthy business owner who generally doesn't do anything good for the public
Identify 1 reason why people were forced to live in poor conditions during the Gilded Age
Poor pay
Lack of housing options
No help from anybody
Poor working conditions
No safety regulations
Why did labor unions want an 8 hour workday
People were overworked
Allowed more free time
Allow people to take care of themselves
What was the Sherman Antitrust Act designed to do?
Break up monopolies
What is a labor union?
An organized group of workers who fight for better treatment and pay through organized actions
What is a captain of industry?
A wealthy businessman/leader who provides some sort of benefit to society
Why was child labor so widespread during the Gilded Age?
Child labor was cheaper
Children usually couldn't fight back
Children often had to work to support families
Identify 2 actions labor unions would take to get their way
Strike
Collective bargaining
Protest
Picket
Work slow-down
How was the Sherman Antitrust Act originally used?
Helped monopolies instead of breaking them up
Hurt labor unions
Define laissez-faire
Policy where the government keeps their hands off the economy
Identify what industry each bussiness owner was a part of:
Andrew Carnegie
John Rockefeller
JP Morgan
Carnegie: Steel
Rockefeller: Oil
Morgan: Banking
What were the small apartments where people lived called?
Tenements
Identify 1 action business owners took against labor unions
Threats
Firing
Bad contracts
Political actions
Who had to step in to help break up monopolies?
The President, Theodore Roosevelt
What is collective bargaining?
Negotiations between an organized group of workers and business owners
Why did wealthy business owners often spend their money on public assistance?
Improve the way they were viewed by the public
How did most people get water in cities? What was the condition of the water?
Public pumps, no running water in living space
Typically poor/contaminated
Why did the Railroad Strike of 1877 fail?
The strike turned violent
Why was it important to get rid of monopolies
Help workers
Better for economy
Allowed for competition
Made it more fair