Ch 24 Insights
ID-Federal Land Grants to Railroads (P 531)
Summary 1- What do the purple areas/lines on the map represent?
land grants (land given to RRs for laying track)
Summary 2- What do the four shades of the US represent?
Time Zones (eastern, central, mountain, pacific)
OI-The Iron Colt becomes the Iron Horse, Spanning the Continent with
Rails
1) What did the government offer the railroads as a subsidy (Aid to
build tracks)
Land (more than the size of the state of Texas)
2) What was the Union Pacific Railroads given for every mile of track laid
Each mile of track laid=20 sq miles of land
3) Identify two of the “Big Four” of the Central Pacific
Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington,
ID- The Modern Colossus of Railroads (P 537)
Summary 3- What is this cartoon implying about the three giants?
That Vanderbilt, Field, and Gould were puppet masters that
control the prices of all goods that were transported on trains
OI- Wrongdoing in Railroading, Government Bridles the Iron Horse
4) What was Cornelius Vanderbilt’s attitude towards government?
That he had more power than government and laws did not
apply to him
5) How did the railroads bribe journalists and politicians?
free RR passes (free travel)
6) What was the Interstate Commerce Act?
First time government said it would regulate the RR industry and
ensure that RRs did not rip off the public
ID-The Octopus (p 539)
Summary 4- What company does the Octopus represent and where is
he spreading his tentacles?
Standard Oil (Rockefeller’s oil company), Wash. D.C. (capital)
OI-The Trust Titan Emerges
7) Define Vertical Integration
when a company owns all phases of manufacturing (raw
materials-transportation-processing- retail sales)
Allows a company to create producst for less money and
undercut competitors)
8) Define Horizontal Integration
when a company buys/takes over similar companies (ieMcDonalds buying Taco Bell/Burger King/ Carl Jr)
Allows a company to kill competition and charge higher
prices
9) Define a trust
Monopoly- when a person/company/group of people combine
businesses to control an entire industry (tobacco, oil, steel, etc)
ID-The Robber Barons (P 543)
Summary 5- Who do the fat guys represent in the US? What are the
fat men demanding from the people?
Robber Barons or Trusts, money
OI- Carnegie and Other Sultans of Steel
10) Carnegie- How much steel and $ did he produce a year
¼ of nations steel and $40 million ($25 mil for himself)
11) J. Pierpont Morgan- How is he connected to Carnegie
JP Morgan bought Carnegie steel for $400 million
12) $350 million- explain what happened to it
Carnegie gave his money away (Gospel of Wealth) to libraries,
foundations ,universities, etc
ID- The New Rich and the New Immigrants
Summary 6- Explain the difference between what the two families are
doing at home?
one family (wealthy) is playing chess, the other is working
ID-Breaker Boys… (548)
Summary 7- How are these coal miners different from coal miners
today?
The miners are CHILDREN working in the most dangerous job
OI- The Impact of the New Industrial Revolution on America
13) How did the Industrial Revolution help women in the workplace?
women access to new jobs (operator, secretary) and $
14) Explain how unevenly wealth was divided in the US (look for
oligarchy)
top 10% own 90% of the wealth (today top 20% owns 80% of
wealth)
15) How could wage earners lives be precarious (unsure)?
unemployment, illness, injury could means poverty, no security if
times go bad
ID- The Strike (551)
Summary 8- Who is this confrontation between?
workers and the owner of a factory
Summary 9- How do you think this confrontation will play out?
violently (people are picking up rocks) and tempers flared
OI- Labor Limps Along, Unhorsing the Knights of Labor
Union- workers organize/team up to demand better pay and
conditions (their numbers give them power)
16) National Labor Union- what types of workers were in the Union
skilled, unskilled, and farmers (excluded Chinese and most
women and blacks)
17) What was the goal of the Knights of labor?
included all workers to create one big union (even blacks)
18) How did the Haymarket Square bomb hurt the Knights of Labor in
the eyes of Americans
people began to see strikers (workers trying to improve their
situation) with radicals and immigrants who want to destroy the
country
ID-Samuel Gompers (553)
Summary 10- Who is Samuel Gompers marching for? Why is he
marching in Wash. D.C.?
for the workers, trying to get the government to react and
protect workers from corporations
OI- The AF of L to the Fore
19) Who was the founder of the AFL?
Samuel Gompers
20) How was the AFL different from a national Union?
it was a union comprised of smaller unions which kept their
independence but worked with the AFL in developing a similar
strategy and similar goals
21) Who did the AFL seek to organize?
skilled workers (idea was that these workers could perform
skills that others could not and if they did not work/went on
strike they would have a strong impact on hurting a company
or the economy)
unskilled workers join the IWW