History Flashcards Stat

Front 1

751. Bessemer process

Back 1

751. Bessemer process
Bessemer invented a process for removing air pockets from iron, and thus allowed steel to be made. This made skyscrapers possible, advances in shipbuilding, construction, etc.

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752. U.S. Steel Corporation, Elbert H. Gary

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752. U.S. Steel Corporation, Elbert H. Gary
Gary was corporate lawyer who became the U.S. Steel Corporation president in 1898. U.S. Steel was the leading steel producer at the time.

Front 3

Mesabi Range

Back 3

753. Mesabi Range
A section of low hills in Minnesota owned by Rockefeller in 1887, it was a source of iron ore for steel production.

Front 4

Pierpont Morgan

Back 4

754. Pierpont Morgan
Financier who arranged the merger which created the U.S. Steel Corporation, the world's first billion dollar corporation. Everyone involved in the merger became rich. (Vertical consolidation).

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Gustavus Swift

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755. Gustavus Swift
In the 1800s he enlarged fresh meat markets through branch slaughterhouses and refrigeration. He monopolized the meat industry.

Front 6

Phillip Armour

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756. Phillip Armour (1832-1901)
Pioneered the shipping of hogs to Chicago for slaughter, canning, and exporting of meat.

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James B. Duke

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757. James B. Duke
Made tobacco a profitable crop in the modern South, he was a wealthy tobacco industrialist.

Front 8

Andrew Mellon

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758. Andrew Mellon (1855-1937)
One of the wealthiest bankers of his day, and along with other business tycoons, controlled Congress.

Front 9

Stock watering

Back 9

759. "Stock watering"
Price manipulation by strategic stock brokers of the late 1800s. The term for selling more stock than they actually owned in order to lower prices, then buying it back.

Front 10

Jay Cooke Company

Back 10

760. Jay Cooke Company
The Panic of 1873 was caused by the failure of this company, which had invested too heavily in railroads and lost money when the railroads cheated the federal government.

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Jay Gould and Jim Fiske

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761. Jay Gould and Jim Fiske
Stock manipulators and brothers-in-law of President Grant, they made money selling gold.

Front 12

Pools

Back 12

762. Pools
Agreement between railroads to divide competition. Equalization was achieved by dividing traffic.

Front 13

Rebates

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763. Rebates
Developed in the 1880s, a practice by which railroads would give money back to its favored customers, rather than charging them lower prices, so that it could appear to be charging a flat rate for everyone.

Front 14

Trusts

Back 14

764. Trusts
Firms or corporations that combine for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices (establishing a monopoly). There are anti-trust laws to prevent these monopolies.

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Holding Companies

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765. Holding companies
Companies that hold a majority of another company's stock in order to control the management of that company. Can be used to establish a monopoly.

Front 16

14th Fourteenth Amendment's

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766. Fourteenth Amendment's "Due Process Clause"
No state shall deny a person life, liberty, or property without due process of law. (The accused must have a trial.)

Front 17

Munn. V. Illinois

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767. Munn v. Illinois
1877 - The Supreme Court ruled that an Illinois law that put a ceiling on warehousing rates for grain was a constitutional exercise of the state's power to regulate business. It said that the Interstate Commerce Commission could regulate prices.

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Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Rialroad Comapny v. Illinois

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768. Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois
1886 - Stated that individual states could control trade in their states, but could not regulate railroads coming through them. Congress had exclusive jurisdiction over interstate commerce.

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Interstate Commerce Act

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769. Interstate Commerce Act, Interstate Commerce Commission
A five member board that monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states.

Front 20

Long haul, Short haul

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770. Long haul, short haul
Different railroad companies charged separate rates for hauling goods a long or short distance. The Interstate Commerce Act made it illegal to charge more per mile for a short haul than a long one.

Front 21

Sherman Antitrust Act

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771. Sherman Antitrust Act
1890 - A federal law that committed the American government to opposing monopolies, it prohibits contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade.

Front 22

772. E.C. Knight Company case

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772. E.C. Knight Company case
1895 - The Supreme Court ruled that since the Knight Company's monopoly over the production of sugar had no direct effect on commerce, the company couldn't be controlled by the government. It also ruled that mining and manufacturing weren't affected by interstate commerce laws and were beyond the regulatory power of Congress.

Front 23

773. National Labor Union

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Established 1866, and headed by William Sylvis and Richard Trevellick, it concentrated on producer cooperation to achieve goals.

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Leader of the National Labor Union.

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774. William Sylvis
Leader of the National Labor Union.

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Knights of Labor

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775. Knights of Labor: Uriah Stephens, Terence Powderly
An American labor union originally established as a secret fraternal order and noted as the first union of all workers. It was founded in 1869 in Philadelphia by Uriah Stephens and a number of fellow workers. Powderly was elected head of the Knights of Labor in 1883.

Front 26

AFL

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776. American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Began in 1886 with about 140,000 members; by 1917 it had 2.5 million members. It is a federation of different unions.

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Samuel Gompers

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777. Samuel Gompers
President of the AFL, he combined unions to increase their strength.

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Collective Bargaining

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778. Collective bargaining
Discussions held between workers and their employers over wages, hours, and conditions.

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Injunction

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779. Injunction
A judicial order forcing a person or group to refrain from doing something.

Front 30

Strikes

Back 30

780. Strikes
The unions' method for having their demands met. Workers stop working until the conditions are met. It is a very effective form of attack.