Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
AM HIST 16 Vocab
CH 16 Glossary_Coursemate
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| agribusiness | A large-scale farming operation typically involving considerable land holdings, hired labor, and extensive use of machinery; may also involve processing and distribution as well as growing. |
| Andrew Carnegie | Scottish-born industrialist who made a fortune in steel and believed the rich had a duty to act for the public benefit. |
| aqueduct | A pipe or channel designed to transport water from a remote source, usually by gravity. |
| aridity | Dryness; lack of enough rainfall to support trees or woody plants. |
| artisan | A skilled worker, whether self-employed or working for wages. |
| Bohemia | A region of central Europe now part of the Czech Republic. |
| bond | A certificate of debt issued by a government or corporation guaranteeing payment of the original investment plus interest at a specified future date. |
| boxcars | An enclosed railroad car with sliding side doors, used to transport freight. |
| branding | Burning a distinctive mark into an animal’s hide using a hot iron as a way to establish ownership. |
| cartel | A group of separate companies within an industry that cooperate to control the production, pricing, and marketing of goods within that industry; also called a pool. |
| Chief Joseph | Nez Perce chief who led his people in an attempt to escape to Canada in 1877; after a grueling journey they were forced to surrender and were exiled to Indian Territory. |
| combine | A large harvesting machine that both cuts and threshes grain. |
| confederacy | An organization of separate groups who have allied for mutual support or joint action. |
| contraction | In the economic cycle, a time when the economy has ceased to grow, characterized by decreased production of goods and services and often by high rates of unemployment. |
| cost analysis | Study of the cost of producing manufactured goods to find ways to cut expenses. |
| Crazy Horse | Lakota war leader who resisted white encroachment in the Black Hills and fought at the Little Big Horn River in 1876. |
| department store | Type of retail establishment that developed in cities in the late nineteenth century and featured a wide variety of merchandise organized in separate departments. |
| dime novel | A cheaply produced novel of the mid-to-late nineteenth century, often featuring the dramatized exploits of western gunfighters. |
| dividend | A share of a company’s profits received by a stockholder. |
| ecosystem | A community of animals, plants, and microorganisms, considered together with the environment in which they live. |
| entrepreneur | A person who takes on the risks of creating, organizing, and managing a business enterprise. |
| expansion | In the economic cycle, a time when the economy is growing, characterized by increased production of goods and services and usually by low rates of unemployment. |
| fixed costs | Costs that a company must pay even if it closes down all its operations—for example, interest on loans, debt payments, and property taxes. |
| gauge | In this usage, the distance between the two rails making up railroad tracks. |
| Ghost Dance | Indian religion centered on a ritual dance; it held out the promise of an Indian messiah who would banish the whites, bring back the buffalo, and restore the land to the Indians. |
| Gospel of Wealth | Andrew Carnegie’s idea that all possessors of great wealth have an obligation to spend or otherwise disburse their money to help people help themselves. |
| Great Plains | High grassland of western North America, stretching north to south across the center of the nation; it is generally level, treeless, and fairly dry. |
| Great Sioux War | War between the U.S. Army and the tribes that took part in the Battle of Little Big Horn; it ended in 1881 with the surrender of Sitting Bull. |
| guerilla warfare | A method of warfare in which small bands of fighters in occupied territory harass and attack their enemies. |
| Henry Grady | Prominent Atlanta newspaper publisher and leading proponent of the concept of a New South. |
| holding company | A company that exists to own other companies, usually through holding a controlling interest in their stocks. |
| Homestead Act | Act of Congress in 1862 offering 160 acres of designated public lands to any citizen who lived on and improved the land for five years. |
| horizontal integration | Merging one or more companies doing the same or similar activities as a way of limiting competition or enhancing stability and planning. |
| horse culture | The nomadic way of life of those American Indians, mostly on the Great Plains, for whom the horse brought significant changes in their ability to hunt, travel, and make war. |
| icon | A symbol, usually one with virtues considered worthy of imitating. |
| industry | A basic unit of business activity in which the various participants do similar activities; for example, the railroad industry consists of railroad companies and the firms and factories that supply their equipment. |
| investment bank | An institution that acts as an agent for corporations issuing stocks and bonds. |
| John Pierpont Morgan | The most prominent and powerful American investment banker in the late nineteenth century. |
| laissez faire | The principle that the government should not interfere in the workings of the economy. |
| Lakota | A large confederation of Siouan-speaking Indian peoples, nomadic buffalo hunters, who lived on the northern Great Plains. |
| Land-Grant College Act | Act of Congress in 1862 that gave land to states to be used to fund public universities that were to offer courses in engineering and agriculture and to train military officers. |
| Little Big Horn River | River in Montana where in 1876 Lieutenant Colonel George Custer attacked a large Indian encampment; Custer and most of his force died in the battle. |
| lobby | To try to influence the thinking of public officials for or against a specific cause. |
| lumber mill | A factory or place where logs are sawed into rough boards. |
| mail-order sales | The business of selling goods using the mails; mail-order houses send out catalogs, customers submit orders, and products are delivered, all by mail. |
| meatpacking | The business of slaughtering animals and preparing their meat for sale as food. |
| merger | The joining together of two or more organizations. |
| meridian | One of the imaginary lines representing degrees of longitude that pass through the North and South Poles and encircle the Earth. |
| metropolis | An urban center, especially one that is dominant within a region. |
| monopoly | Exclusive control by an individual or company of the production or sale of a product. |
| New South | Late-nineteenth-century term used by some southerners to promote the idea that the South should become industrialized, have a more diverse agriculture, and be thoroughly integrated into the economy of the nation. |
| oligopoly | A market or industry dominated by a few firms (from Greek words meaning “few sellers”); more common than a monopoly (from Greek words meaning “one seller”). |
| open range | Unfenced grazing lands on which cattle ran freely and cattle ownership was established through branding. |
| Pacific Railway Act | Act of Congress in 1862 that gave loans and land to the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad companies to subsidize construction of a rail line between Omaha and the Pacific Coast. |
| patent | A government statement that gives the creator of an invention the sole right to produce, use, or sell that invention for a set period of time. |
| patent medicine | A medical preparation that is advertised by brand name and available without a physician’s prescription. |
| pool | An agreement among businesses in the same industry to divide up the market and charge equal prices instead of competing; another name for a cartel. |
| protective tariff | A tax placed on imported goods for the purpose of raising the price of imports as high as or higher than the prices of the same item produced within the nation. |
| public domain | Land claimed by the federal government. |
| recession/depression | A recession is an economic contraction of relatively short duration; a depression is an economic contraction of longer duration. |
| Reclamation Act | Law passed by Congress in 1902 that provided funding for irrigation of western lands and created the Reclamation Service to oversee the process. |
| refinery | An industrial plant that transforms raw materials into finished products; a petroleum refinery processes crude oil to produce a variety of products for use by consumers. |
| return | The yield on money that has been invested in an enterprise. Today, companies typically pay a dividend (a proportionate share of the profits) to their stockholders each quarter. |
| roundup | A spring event in which cowboys gathered together the cattle herds, branded newborn calves, and castrated most of the new young males. |
| Russian-German | Refers to people of German ancestry living in Russia; most had come to Russia in the eighteenth century at the invitation of the government to develop agricultural areas. |
| Sierra Club | Environmental organization formed in 1892; now dedicated to preserving and expanding parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. |
| Sitting Bull | Lakota war leader and holy man; also fought at Little Big Horn. |
| Social Darwinism | Philosophical argument, inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution, that competition in human society produced “the survival of the fittest” and therefore benefited society as a whole; Social Darwinists opposed efforts to regulate competitive practices |
| sod | A piece of earth on which grass is growing; the dense sod of the Plains was tough and fibrous with roots, dead grass from previous growing seasons, and hard-packed soil. |
| stock exchange | A place where people buy and sell stocks (shares in the ownership of companies); stockholders may participate in election of the company’s directors and share in the company’s profits. |
| tannery | An establishment where animal skins and hides are made into leather. |
| telegraph | Apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire, usually in Morse code. |
| Thomas A. Edison | American inventor, especially of electrical devices, among them the phonograph and the light bulb. |
| tipis | Conical tent made from buffalo hide and used as a portable dwelling by Indians on the Great Plains. |
| trademark | A name or symbol that identifies a product and is officially registered and legally restricted for use by the owner or manufacturer. |
| trust | Legal arrangement, person/trustor gives control of property to person /institution (trustee);19th legal to get by state laws,keep company in 1 state from operating in other state; often in common use w/ monopoly; 1st to use-John Rockefeller/ Standard Oil. |
| vertical integration | The process of bringing together into a single company several of the activities involved in creating a manufactured product, such as acquiring raw materials, manufacturing products, and marketing, selling, and distributing finished goods. |
| war of attrition | A form of warfare based on deprivation of food, shelter, and other necessities; if successful, it drives opponents to surrender out of hunger or exposure. |
| water table | The level at which the ground is completely saturated with water. |
| Wounded Knee Creek | Site of a conflict in 1890 between a band of Lakotas and U.S. troops, sometimes characterized as a massacre because the Lakotas were so outnumbered and overpowered; the last major encounter between Indians and the army. |
| financial panic | Widespread anxiety about financial & commercial matters; panicked, investors sold large amounts of stock to cut own losses, driving prices lower. Banks called in their loans, forced investors to sell assets at reduced prices, driving down stock prices. |
Created by:
jeni25
Popular U.S. History sets