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Gilded Age Vocab
vocabulary of the Gilded Age era
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Transcontinental Railroad | Completed in 1969, it connected the east and west coast by rail reducing travel time from several months to a few weeks and creates a national market |
| Alexander Graham Bell | Invented the telephone in 1876 |
| Telephone | Allowed people to communicate across great distances through electrical wires |
| Thomas Edison | Produce the first effective light bulb in 1879 |
| Free Enterprise System | Individuals have the freedom to make their own economic decisions |
| National Market | Railroads, telegraph, and telephone linked together different parts of the country, creating the ability to sell product throughout the country |
| Corporation | A company chartered by a state and recognized in law as a separate "person" issuing stocks to shareholders |
| Entrepreneur | A person who starts a business hoping to make a profit |
| "Gilded Age" | The period from 1865 to 1900 when many entrepreneurs reaped huge profits, created immense wealth for themselves and lived lavish lifestyles |
| Captain of Industry | Entrepreneurs of the Gilded Age like Carnegie and Rockerfeller are sometimes referred to this way because they forged the modern industrial economy |
| Robber Baron | Entrepreneurs of the Gilded Age are sometimes referred to this way because of the ruthless tactics they used to destroy competition and keep their workers' wages low |
| Andrew Carnegie | Worked his way up from poor immigrant to one of America's richest men as the owner of a steel company. Also known for philanthropy |
| Philanthropy | Concern for humanity usually expressed through a donation of money or time |
| John D. Rockerfeller | An entrepreneur of the Gilded Age who made his fortune in oil. His company, Standard Oil, became a monopoly and was eventually broken up by the government |
| Monopoly | A company having complete control over the supply of a product or service |
| Interstate Commerce Act | A federal law prohibiting unfair practices by railroads, such as charging higher rates for shorter routes |
| Sherman Anti-trust Act | A federal law created to stop monopolies engaging in unfair practices that prevent fair competition |
| Child Labor | In the late 1800s and early 1900s children were often worked in textile mills and coal mines under dangerous and unhealthy conditions |
| Laissez-faire | The theory that government should not interfere in the operation of the free market |
| Union | An organized association of workers formed to protect and further their rights and interests |
| Knights of Labor | The first national labor union joining together all skilled and unskilled workers. It ultimately failed due to a lack of organization and a lack of unity among the skilled and unskilled workers |
| AFL | American Federation of Labor (1881) Consisted of separate unions of skilled workers which joined together into a federation. Membership was limited to skilled, specialized for workers |
| Samuel Gompers | He founded the AFL and worked toward higher pay, an 8-hour work day, and better working conditions for workers |
| Urbanization | Movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities |
| Demography | The study of population |
| Bessemer Process | made the production of steel faster and more economical |
| Tenement | single-room apartments, often without heat or lighting. Frequently, many families shared a single toilet |
| Political Machine | Controlled city government. Provided jobs and other services to immigrants and the poor in exchange for their votes |
| Political "Bosses" | Leaders of political machines |
| Immigration | |
| Push Factors | Reasons immigrants choose to leave their home and home country, can include oppression, poverty, religious discrimination, or ethnic persecution |
| Pull Factors | reasons immigrants choose to go to a new country, can include economic opportunity, freedom from oppression, family and cultural ties |
| "New Immigrants" | Immigrants who came to the United States after 1880, who spoke no English |
| Ethnic Ghettos | A neighborhood where people of similar background and culture live |
| Nativists | Those who believed that those "born" in or "native" to the United States were superior to or better than the "new immigrants" |
| Americanization | The process where immigrants learn to speak, dress, and act like other Americans. Adopting the culture of"mainstream" America |
| Chinese Exclusion Act | 1882 first federal law to restrict immigration. Chinese immigrants banned for 10 years |
| Frontier | The line separating areas of settlement from unsettled wilderness territory |
| Great Plains | Part of North America that covers a large area of land in the middle of the continent. Home to millions of buffalo and inhabited by numerous Native American tribes who hunted the buffalo for food and for the hides. |
| Klondike Gold Rush | 1898 gold discovery in Alaska/Canada |
| Homestead Act | 1862. Gave 160 acres of government land to any citizen who "improved" the land for five years by building a house and growing crops. After five years, the homesteaders would own land |
| Indian Wars | Wars between the Great Plains Native American tribes and the United States government. The Indian Wars ended with the Massacre at Wounded Knee |
| Reservations | Areas of land given to Native American Tribes by the US government. Often undesirable land and smaller than the area the tribes had previously occupied |
| Dawes Act | Law passed to speed up the Am |
| American Indian Citizenship Act |
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