Big Business and Labor Quiz

Social Darwinism was when the term "survival of the fittest" came in. Also, some people were upset because the theory was that people descended from apes and that instead of the world being 6,000 years old, as most people believed at that time, but instead millions of years old. People, and the government believed that the government couldn't interfere because it would upset the natural order of things. People, especially big business owners, believed strongly in this so the government wouldn't, and couldn't interfere with their market.

Laissez Faire was when the government let the government let the businesses do pretty much whatever they wanted. Big business owners believed that because the government didn't make the market, they did, so the government shouldn't be able to control the market, they should. This was very bad for the people in lower class because big business owners could now underpay and overwork their employee's as much as they wanted to without getting in trouble with the government. This was also bad news because small businesses couldn't compete with that and would quickly fail.

Labor Unions & Big Business

The Knights of Labor

a. Identification - Wanted better working conditions, only group to survive the depression, founded in 1860, Knights welcomed everyone, even women and African Americans and immigrants

b. Significance - Was a bright side to the world, wasn't racist or sexist, gave people better working conditions.


The Haymarket Riot

a. Identification - wanted an 8 hour workday, police killed two unionists, people protested police brutality. People bombed the police officers.

b. Significance - drew attention to the growing discontent and the horrible work conditions.


Samuel Gompers

a. Identification - led the American Federation of Labor

b. Significance - accepted industrialization unlike the Knights.


The Homestead Strike

a. Identification - people went on strike and refused to accept pay cuts

b. Significance - the strikers lost


The Pullman Strike

a. Identification - striked against policies at the work houses, Pullman did not negotiate with workers

b. Significance - Soldiers were sent in and strikers sent tojail or stopped.


Eugene V. Debbs

a. Identification - led the Pulman's strike

b. Significance - Voted to pull the Pullman carts


The Industrail Workers of the World

a. Identification - wanted to unify all laborers like the Knights, was small

b. Significance - failed when World War I put most of the leaders in jail.

Expansion of Industry

What were the three major factors that contributed to the immense technological boom that took place in the United States after the Civil War? Explain how two of these factors helped to bring about this technological boom.

The three major factors that contributed to the immense technological boom that took place in the United States were the finding of oil out in the West, better steel and new uses for it, and the discovery of electricity. When Pattillo Higgens found oil in Texas, the Texas oil boom began. When Edwin L. Drake used a steam engine to drill for oil in Pennsylvania, people began to see drilling for oil as a more practical way to earn money. It soon spread to other states such as Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and soon after, Texas. As the automobile became more popular, entrepreneurs began transforming the oil to kerosine, and in the refining, out came gasoline that was soon used to become fuel for the automobiles.

Along with oil being abundant in the West, so were coal and iron. When you remove all of the carbon out of iron, it becomes steel. To do this pioneers began using a process called the Bessemer process. This process involves injecting air into molten iron to get all the carbon out. By 1880, more than 90% of the world's steel was made using this process. (The Bessemer process was eventually replaced by the open hearth process.) The biggest use of steel was to make the rapidly growing railroad systems throughout the country. Also, barbed wire and Deere's farming materials were also made of steel. Steel also made new inventions and large structure possible, such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the World's First Skyscraper.