Bessemer Process The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process to convert iron into steel

Free Enterprise An economic system in which private business operates in competition largely free of state control.

Corporation a business owned by investors (legally a person). Protects owners with limited liability.

Stock the capital raised by a business or corporation through the issue and subscription of shares.

Dividend a sum of money paid regularly by a company to its shareholders out of its profits.

Merger combining several companies into one large corporation; used by JP Morgan and the banking industry

Horizontal Integration The purchase of competing companies in the same industry

Consolidation When companies combine. Larger companies buy out smaller companies or force them out of business.

Pool Several companies divide up business in an area. They then fix their prices at a high level.

Vertical Integration Acquiring control of all steps required to change raw materials into finished products

Trust A group of corporations run by a single board of directors.

Monopoly Control of all or nearly all business in an industry

Is Home Depot monopoly?

Rebates Big railroad companies secretly offered rebates –discounts- to their biggest customers. The practice forced many companies out of business.

Industrialists and Their Corporations J.D. Rockefeller Henry Ford Andrew Carnegie J.P. Morgan Standard Oil Ford Motor Company Carnegie Steel U.S. Steel