America: A Narrative History Chapter 17
Standard Oil Company - ANScorporation under the leadership of John D Rockefeller that
attempted to dominate the entire oil industry through horizontal & vertical integration
Horizontal integration - ANSthe process by which a corporation acquires/merges with its
competitors
Monopoly - ANScorporation so large that it effectively controls the entire market for its products
or services
Vertical integration - ANSwhen a corporation gains control of all aspects of the resources and
processes needed to produce and sell a product
Trust - ANSbusiness arrangement that gives a person or corp (the "trustee") the legal power to
manage another person's money or another company without owning those entities outright
Holding company - ANScorp established to own and manage other companies' stock rather
than to produce goods and services itself, made to control Rockefeller's numerous companies
due to Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Bessemer converter - ANSapparatus which blasts air through molten iron to produce steel in
very large quantities
Carnegie Steel Company - ANScorp under the leadership of Andrew Carnegie that came to
dominate the American steel industry
JP Morgan - ANSpowerful investment banker, acquired, reorganized & consolidated companies
into giant trusts, biggest achievement was the consolidation of steel industry into the US Steel
Corp, first billion-dollar corp
Tariff - ANStaxes on goods imported from other nations, typically used to protect home
industries from foreign competitors & to generate revenue for the federal government
Laissez-faire - ANSeconomic doctrine holding that businesses & individuals should be able to
pursue their economic interests without government interference
Child labor - ANSpractice of sending children to work in mines, mills & factories, often in unsafe
conditions; widespread among poor families in the late 19th century
Great Railroad Strike of 1877 - ANSseries of demonstrations, some violent, held nationwide in
support of striking railroads workers in Martinsburg, WV, who refused to work due to wage cuts
Standard Oil Company - ANScorporation under the leadership of John D Rockefeller that
attempted to dominate the entire oil industry through horizontal & vertical integration
Horizontal integration - ANSthe process by which a corporation acquires/merges with its
competitors
Monopoly - ANScorporation so large that it effectively controls the entire market for its products
or services
Vertical integration - ANSwhen a corporation gains control of all aspects of the resources and
processes needed to produce and sell a product
Trust - ANSbusiness arrangement that gives a person or corp (the "trustee") the legal power to
manage another person's money or another company without owning those entities outright
Holding company - ANScorp established to own and manage other companies' stock rather
than to produce goods and services itself, made to control Rockefeller's numerous companies
due to Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Bessemer converter - ANSapparatus which blasts air through molten iron to produce steel in
very large quantities
Carnegie Steel Company - ANScorp under the leadership of Andrew Carnegie that came to
dominate the American steel industry
JP Morgan - ANSpowerful investment banker, acquired, reorganized & consolidated companies
into giant trusts, biggest achievement was the consolidation of steel industry into the US Steel
Corp, first billion-dollar corp
Tariff - ANStaxes on goods imported from other nations, typically used to protect home
industries from foreign competitors & to generate revenue for the federal government
Laissez-faire - ANSeconomic doctrine holding that businesses & individuals should be able to
pursue their economic interests without government interference
Child labor - ANSpractice of sending children to work in mines, mills & factories, often in unsafe
conditions; widespread among poor families in the late 19th century
Great Railroad Strike of 1877 - ANSseries of demonstrations, some violent, held nationwide in
support of striking railroads workers in Martinsburg, WV, who refused to work due to wage cuts
