Machines and Inventions
Which natural resource helped provide electricity via the steam engine?
Coal
What was the main goal of most business owners during the Industrial Revolution?
Profit
What did workers form to negotiate for better wages and working conditions?
Labor Unions
Why did the United States want to build the Panama Canal?
To make the connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans faster, and not have to go all the way around South America
America used to be an predominantly agricultural country. What does "agricultural" mean?
Relating to, or used in the practice of farming, cultivating the soil, growing crops, and raising livestock
List the four key resources that created growth in the Industrial Revolution
Steel, Oil, Coal, and Timber
What is a Monopoly?
When one company owns the all of, or almost the entire market share of an industry.
What were TWO major problems faced by industrial workers during the Gilded Age?
Low wages, long hours, dangerous working conditions, child labor, ect.
What was the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad?
People and products could move from one side of the country, to the other, both faster and more cheaply. Industries and markets expanded.
What are wages?
The paycheck the workers receive for their work. During the gilded age, wages were often tragically low.
What invention by Henry Ford allowed factories to create large amounts of identical products?
The Assembly Line
Why were railroads so important to American businesses during industrialization?
They allowed raw materials and finished products to be transported quickly and cheaply across the country.
What is a strike?
When workers in a company or industry temporarily stop working to pressure an employer to meet their demands.
Why were American businesses interested in expanding into foreign countries?
To gain access to new markets, raw materials, and opportunities for profit.
What is a "scab"?
The nickname for the temporary workers hired by a company to break a strike, or a worker that crosses the picket line before the strike ends.
What is the Bessemer Process?
A newfound technological process that made steel faster and cheaper than previous methods.
Why could large corporations often produce goods more cheaply than small businesses?
They could produce things on a much larger scale, and therefore sell more, undercutting small businesses
Describe a way that a company could break a strike by their workers.
Hire temporary replacement workers (scabs), wait the strike out (No paychecks), or get military strikebreakers physically break the strike line
What was a "banana republic"?
A country whose economy and government were heavily influenced or controlled by foreign businesses, particularly American companies.
This term was an insult used to describe the greedy leaders of many large corporations, comparing them to thieves.
Robber Barons
What type of engine made it possible for automobiles to become practical and helped drive the growth of the oil industry?
The Internal Combustion Engine
A company buys or controls all the pieces of their supply line, from top to bottom. What is this called?
Vertical Integration
What does "Collective Bargaining" mean?
The relative strength that employees gain by uniting through a labor union to negotiate employment terms with an employer as a single group rather than individually. Power to the people!
What former kingdom did the United States annex to avoid paying taxes on sugar?
Hawaii
What is "populism"?
Populism is a political movement that claims to represent ordinary people against powerful elites or wealthy institutions.