Industrial Age & Immigration Vocab US History Honors
Industrial Age Industrial Revolution: the replacement of hand tools with machines and the development of large- scale industrial production Bessemer process: method developed in the mid- 1800s for making steel more efficiently entrepreneur: person who invests money in a product or business with the goal of making a profit
Industrial Age laissez-faire: lenient, as in the absence of government control over private business mass production: production of goods in large numbers through the use of machinery and assembly lines corporation: company recognized as a legal unit that has rights and liabilities separate from each of its members
Industrial Age monopoly: exclusive control by one company over an entire industry trust: group of separate companies that are placed under the control of a single managing board in order to form a monopoly Sherman Antitrust Act: 1890 law banning any trust that retrained interstate trade or commerce
Industrial Age Interstate Commerce Commission: first federal agency monitoring business operations, created in 1887 to oversee interstate railroad procedures sweatshop: small factory where employees have to work long hours under poor conditions for little pay Social Darwinism: the belief held by some in the late 19 th century that certain nations and races were superior to others and therefore destined to rule over them
Industrial Age company town: community whose residents rely upon one company for jobs, housing, & shopping American Federation of Labor: labor union that organized skilled workers in a specific trade and made specific demands rather than seeking broad changes Knights of Labor: labor union that sought to organize all workers and focused on broad social reforms
Industrial Age collective bargaining: process in which employees negotiate with labor unions about hours, wages and other work related conditions Haymarket Riot: 1886 labor related protest in Chicago which ended in deadly violence Homestead Strike: 1892 strike against Carnegie’s steelworks in Homestead, Pennsylvania Pullman Strike: violent 1894 railway workers’ strike which began outside of Chicago and spread nationwide
Immigration melting pot: a mixture of people from different cultures and races who blend together by abandoning their native language and cultures nativism: favoring the interests of native-born people over foreign-born people (prejudice against newcomers) urbanization: expansion of cities and/or an increase in the number of people living in them
Immigration steerage: third class accommodations on a steamship Gilded Age: term coined by Mark Twain to describe the façade of prosperity tenement: multistory building divided into apartments to house as many families as possible
Immigration Ellis Island: immigration processing station that opened in New York Harbor Angel Island: immigration processing station that opened in San Francisco Bay Chinese Exclusion Act: 1882 law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers