Industrialization and Labor Flashcards

Grade 11 · Social Studies · Flashcards

Key terms for the Gilded Age, industrial capitalism, and the rise of the labor movement.

Flashcards

Vertical integration

Controlling all stages of production (Carnegie's model); eliminates supplier profits and makes a business nearly impossible to undercut.

Horizontal integration

Buying out competitors at the same stage of production (Rockefeller's model); creates monopoly control of an industry.

Robber barons

Critical nickname for Gilded Age industrialists (Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Morgan) who built vast wealth through monopolistic practices.

AFL

American Federation of Labor — Samuel Gompers' federation of skilled craft unions (1886); focused on wages/hours/conditions through collective bargaining.

Knights of Labor

Broader labor organization (1869) welcoming unskilled workers, women, and some Black workers; declined after Haymarket Affair.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)

146 garment workers (mostly immigrant women) died when locked fire exits prevented escape; catalyst for workplace safety legislation.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

First federal anti-monopoly law; initially applied against labor unions as often as corporations.

Haymarket Affair (1886)

Bomb at Chicago labor rally killed police; backlash damaged labor movement despite no proven union connection.

Pullman Strike (1894)

National railroad strike led by Eugene Debs; broken by federal injunction and troops; established broad government strike-breaking power.

Collective bargaining

Negotiation between a union and employers over wages, hours, and working conditions; cornerstone of the AFL's strategy.

Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

Strengthened antitrust law and explicitly exempted unions from being prosecuted as monopolies under antitrust law.

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