Deck 24: Industry Comes of Age

Question 1

A "wedding of the rails" (connection of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads) was finally consummated in 1869 near

A) Omaha, Nebraska
B) Sacramento, California
C) Topeka, Kansas
D) Ogden, Utah
E) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Answer 1

Ogden, Utah

Question 2

One of the most significant aspects of the Interstate Commerce Act was that it

A) prevented the railroads from merging and monopolizing traffic.
B) represented the first large-scale attempt by the federal government to regulate business.
C) enabled farmers to determine rail shipping rates.
D) empowered state legislatures to control corrupt railroad practices.
E) invoked the Constitution's interstate commerce clause.

Answer 2

represented the first large-scale attempt by the federal government to regulate business.

Question 3

The greatest single factor helping to spur the amazing industrialization of the post-Civil War years was

A) agriculture.
B) mining.
C) the steel industry.
D) electric power.
E) the railroad network.

Answer 3

the railroad network.

Question 4

The only transcontinental railroad built without government aid was the

A) New York Central.
B) Northern Pacific.
C) Union Pacific.
D) Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe.
E) Great Northern.

Question 5

During the Gilded Age, most of the railroad barons

A) rejected government assistance.
B) built their railroads with government assistance.
C) relied exclusively on Chinese labor.
D) refused to get involved in politics.
E) focused on the public benefits of railroad service.

Question 6

One of the key business goals of most post-Civil War business leaders was

A) to stimulate innovation through increased competition.
B) to develop a centrally planned American economy.
C) to fund research on new technologies.
D) to create a large consumer middle class.
E) to eliminate as much competition as possible.

Question 7

One by-product of the development of the railroads was

A) a scattering of the U.S.population.
B) fewer big cities.
C) the movement of people to cities.
D) a reduction in immigration to the United States.
E) a loss of population in the West.

Question 8

Railroad companies justified their heavy subsidies from the federal government on the grounds that

A) railroads were essential to the national defense.
B) returns on railroad bonds would help finance the federal government.
C) railroad building was too costly and risky without government help.
D) railroad subsidies were needed to get pioneers to settle the West.
E) the federal government had already financed the Pony Express.

Question 9

Carnegie's steel industry was based on mining iron ore in ____ and shipping it to be made into steel in ____.

A) Illinois; Chicago
B) Minnesota; Pittsburgh
C) Canada; Detroit
D) West Virginia; Atlanta
E) Pennsylvania; Philadelphia

Question 10

Match each railroad entrepreneur with the best description:

A) A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
B) A-3, B-4, C-2, D-1
C) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4
D) A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2
E) A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2

Question 11

Which of the following was not among the factors that hastened the heavy industrialization of the United States in the three decades following the Civil War?

A) the national reconciliation and harmony between North and South
B) cheap unskilled labor caused by massive immigration
C) the accumulation of large pools of liquid capital for investment
D) the tapping of rich natural resources of coal, oil, and iron
E) technological inventiveness and innovation

Question 12

Early railroad owners formed "pools" in order to

A) pool their capital to construct more rail lines.
B) water their stock.
C) divide business in a particular area and share profits.
D) choose the best workers.
E) avoid wasteful competition.

Question 13

Match each entrepreneur below with the form of business combination with which he is historically identified.

A) A-2, B-3, C-1
B) A-1, B-2, C-3
C) A-3, B-2, C-1
D) A-1, B-3, C-2
E) A-2, B-1, C-3

Question 14

The first efforts to regulate the monopolizing practices of railroad corporations came from

A) Congress.
B) the Supreme Court.
C) private lawsuits.
D) a federal regulatory commission.
E) state legislatures.

Question 15

The federal government helped to finance transcontinental railroad construction in the late nineteenth century by providing railroad corporations with

A) cash grants from new taxes.
B) loans and land grants.
C) loans from higher tariffs.
D) reduced prices for iron and steel.
E) subsidized Chinese immigrant labor.

Question 16

Match each entrepreneur below with the field of enterprise with which he is historically identified.

A) A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4
B) A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
C) A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2
D) A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3
E) A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3

Question 17

The United States changed to standard time zones when

A) Congress passed a law establishing this system.
B) the railroads needed to develop coordinated schedules across the continent.
C) factories demanded standard time schedules.
D) long-distance telephones required standard time coordination.
E) farmers needed to know train schedules to deliver crops to market.

Question 18

The first federal regulatory agency designed to protect the public interest from business combinations was the

A) Federal Trade Commission.
B) Interstate Commerce Commission.
C) Consumer Affairs division of the Justice Department.
D) Federal Anti-Trust Commission.
E) Federal Communications Commission.

Question 19

Agreements between railroad corporations to divide the business in a given area and share the profits were called

A) pools.
B) trusts.
C) rebates.
D) interlocking directorates.
E) holding companies.

Question 20

J.P.Morgan monitored his competition by placing officers of his bank on the boards of companies that he wanted to control.This method was known as a(n)

A) interlocking directorate.
B) trust.
C) vertical integration.
D) pool.
E) holding company.

Question 21

To help corporations, the courts ingeniously interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed to protect the rights of ex-slaves, so as to

A) help freedmen to work in factories.
B) incorporate big businesses.
C) allow big businessmen to avoid paying taxes.
D) protect corporations from state regulation.
E) protect the rights of middle-class corporate workers.

Question 22

The new industrial age greatly accentuated

A) job security.
B) workmen's compensation and unemployment insurance.
C) class division.
D) regional tensions.
E) conflicts between farmers and urban workers.

Question 23

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act, contrary to its original intent, was at first used to curb the power of

A) manufacturing corporations.
B) labor unions.
C) state legislatures.
D) railroad corporations.
E) banking syndicates.

Question 24

John D.Rockefeller used all of the following tactics to achieve success in the oil industry except

A) employing company spies.
B) extorting secret rebates from railroads.
C) providing inferior oil products to sell them more cheaply.
D) gaining a near-monopoly on oil refineries.
E) mercilessly squeezing out his competitors.

Question 25

The oil industry became a huge business

A) with the building of electric generator plants.
B) when it was taken over by the government.
C) with the invention of the internal combustion engine.
D) when diesel engines were perfected.
E) when oil was discovered in Texas.

Question 26

Which one of the following is least like the other four?

A) strike
B) lockout
C) yellow dog contract
D) blacklist
E) company town

Question 27

Most women workers of the late 1800s worked for

A) independence.
B) glamour.
C) economic necessity.
D) enough money to obtain an education.
E) personal spending money.

Question 28

America's first billion-dollar corporation was

A) General Electric (GE).
B) Standard Oil.
C) American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T).
D) The Union Pacific Railroad.
E) United States Steel.

Question 29

The South's major attraction for potential investors was

A) readily available raw materials.
B) a warm climate.
C) good transportation.
D) cheap labor.
E) ethnic diversity.

Question 30

One of the greatest changes that industrialization brought about in the lives of workers was

A) their movement to the suburbs.
B) the need for them to adjust their lives to the time clock.
C) the opportunity to live out the ideals of Thomas Jefferson.
D) the narrowing of class divisions.
E) the encounter with other races.

Question 31

The first major product of the oil industry was

A) kerosene.
B) gasoline.
C) lighter fluid.
D) natural gas.
E) heating oil.

Question 32

The gospel of wealth, which associated godliness with wealth,

A) relied on the sayings of Jesus.
B) inspired the wealthy to try to help the poor.
C) was most identified with the Catholic church.
D) was opposed by most clergymen.
E) discouraged efforts to help the poor.

Question 33

In the late nineteenth century, tax benefits and cheap, nonunion labor attracted ____ manufacturing to the "new South."

A) textile
B) steel
C) machine tool
D) electrical appliance
E) farm equipment

Question 34

The Reverend ____ of Philadelphia became rich by delivering his lecture "Acres of Diamonds" thousands of times.

A) Herbert Spencer
B) William Graham Sumner
C) Charles Darwin
D) Russell Conwell
E) Edward Bellamy

Question 35

The ____ Amendment was especially helpful to giant corporations when defending themselves against regulation by state governments.

A) Fifth
B) Fourteenth
C) Fifteenth
D) Sixteenth
E) Seventeenth

Question 36

The federal courts in the late nineteenth century frequently suppressed labor unions by

A) forcing workers to sign "yellow dog" contracts.
B) issuing injunctions against strikes.
C) declaring government regulations unconstitutional.
D) preventing workers from forming unions.
E) convicting labor leaders of corrupt practices.

Question 37

The group most dramatically affected by the new industrial age of the late nineteenth century was

A) Native Americans.
B) African Americans.
C) women.
D) southerners.
E) small town residents.

Question 38

Many Southerners saw employment in the textile mills as

A) attractive places to work.
B) unacceptable.
C) a poor alternative to farming.
D) institutions that broke up families.
E) a salvation, as the only work available to them.

Question 39

During the age of industrialization, the South

A) took full advantage of the new economic trends.
B) attracted a substantial number of immigrants.
C) turned away from agriculture.
D) held to its "Old South" ideology.
E) remained overwhelmingly rural and agricultural.

Question 40

The image of the Gibson Girl represented

A) a revival of the revolutionary ideal of "republican motherhood."
B) a portrayal of the modern corporate business woman.
C) the portrayal of women as sex objects in advertising.
D) an independent and athletic "new woman."
E) a sentimental image of a woman as mother.

Question 41

The only national labor union to survive the post-Civil War period was the

A) National Labor Union.
B) Knights of Labor.
C) American Federation of Labor.
D) Knights of Columbus.
E) Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Question 42

One group barred from membership in the Knights of Labor was

A) African Americans.
B) lawyers.
C) women.
D) Irish.
E) social reformers.

Question 43

The National Labor Union's greatest success before it collapsed in the depression of the 1870s was

A) an eight-hour day for all workers.
B) government arbitration for industrial disputes.
C) equal pay for women.
D) an eight-hour day for government workers.
E) establishing producers' cooperatives and safety regulations.

Question 44

Although public attitudes toward unions had softened by 1900,

A) workers almost never won a strike.
B) Congress refused to recognize Labor Day as a federal holiday.
C) most employers continued to fight organized labor.
D) Congress declared the AFL illegal.
E) workers began to turn toward the Socialist party.

Question 45

One of the discoveries labor historians have made regarding American workers' social mobility is that

A) skilled laborers rose rapidly while unskilled laborers almost never did.
B) the greatest opportunities for workers were on the American frontier.
C) ingenuity and inventiveness were more important than wage rates.
D) different ethnic groups defined success in different ways.
E) European immigrant workers were content with lower status.

Question 46

Changes in the national economy in late-nineteenth-century America resulted in

A) a lower standard of living for most wage laborers.
B) a decline in agriculture relative to manufacturing.
C) the industrialization of the South.
D) sharper class distinctions.
E) a movement of women into the work force.

Question 47

The people who have found fault with the "captains of industry" generally argued that these businessmen

A) did not really achieve the economic progress they claimed.
B) brutalized workers and stripped them of their spiritual quality of life.
C) undermined the religious and moral foundations of America.
D) were narrow-minded and uneducated.
E) failed to understand government's necessary role in social reform.

Question 48

The Knights of Labor was weakened by

A) its nostalgic dream that all workers could eventually become capitalists.
B) stiff competition from the National Labor Union.
C) its association in the public mind with the Haymarket riot.
D) its inclusion of both skilled and unskilled workers.
E) its hostility to the Catholic church.

Question 49

The Knights of Labor campaigned, above all, for

A) a minimum wage.
B) workers' safety standards.
C) paid vacation.
D) the eight hour day.
E) a socialist revolution.

Question 50

Corrupt practices common in the late-nineteenth-century railroad industry included

A) "stock watering."
B) bribing judges and legislatures.
C) "pools."
D) secret rebates and kickbacks.
E) distributing free passes to journalists and politicians.

Question 51

The event that precipitated the collapse of the Knights of Labor was

A) Terence Powderly's seizure of power in the union.
B) the assassination of President McKinley.
C) the Pullman Strike.
D) the national railroad strikes of 1877.
E) the Haymarket Square bombing.

Question 52

Railroading in the late nineteenth century significantly contributed to

A) the growth of agriculture.
B) urbanization.
C) feminism.
D) ecological damage.
E) industrialization.

Question 53

Match each labor organization below with the correct description.

A) A-3, B-1, C-2
B) A-3, B-2, C-1
C) A-1, B-2, C-3
D) A-1, B-3, C-2
E) A-2, B-1, C-3

Question 54

The Knights of Labor believed that conflict between capital and labor would disappear when

A) the government owned the means of production.
B) a labor-oriented political party gained power in Washington.
C) business recognized unions and established fair wage rates.
D) corporations established profit-sharing systems with workers.
E) labor would own and operate cooperative businesses and industries.

Question 55

The factors promoting the growth of manufacturing in post-Civil War America included

A) plentiful cheap labor.
B) available investment capital.
C) abundant natural resources.
D) effective government planning.
E) massive immigration.

Question 56

The first transcontinental railroad was completed by the construction efforts of the ____ and ____ railroads.

A) Union Pacific
B) Northern Pacific
C) Central Pacific
D) Southern Pacific
E) Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe

Question 57

By 1900, organized labor in America

A) had temporarily ceased to exist.
B) enrolled nearly half of the industrial labor force.
C) was accepted by the majority of employers as a permanent part of the new industrial economy.
D) had begun to develop a more positive image with the public.
E) relied heavily on the National Labor Relations Board.

Question 58

Thomas Edison was instrumental in the invention of the

A) electric light.
B) telephone.
C) mimeograph machine.
D) motion picture.
E) radio.

Question 59

Some historians more favorable to American industrial capitalism have emphasized that

A) most employers tried to treat their workers well.
B) few Europeans brought their political philosophies to the United States.
C) the businessmen donated a great deal to charities and education.
D) almost any American worker could rise from rags to riches.
E) large numbers of American workers made small improvements in their economic condition.

Question 60

Over the last century, historians' criticisms of the industrial capitalism of the Gilded Age have included

A) the romantic idea that industrialization diminished workers' spiritual quality of life.
B) the assertion that workers were brutalized by the industrial system.
C) the argument that American living standards were not raised by industrialization.
D) the claim that American industrialization sharpened class divisions.
E) the assertion that most great American fortunes came from inherited wealth.

Question 61

What were the three most significant consequences of the industrialization of the American economy after the Civil War? Explain your choices.

Question 62

Industrialization and the accompanying technological advances are usually seen as the central developments of American "progress." In what ways were they genuinely liberating developments for American society and for individual Americans, and in what ways did these developments come at a high cost for workers and for society?

Question 63

Was the "gospel of wealth" a genuine faith of America's industrial capitalists, or largely a hypocritical justification for exploitation? Why did so many ordinary Americans share this view of wealth and poverty?

Question 64

To what extent was the South such an exception to the general industrial development of the late nineteenth century?

Question 65

Compare and contrast the National Labor Union, Knights of Labor, and American Federation of Labor in regard to their origins, goals, and leadership.Account for the failure of the first two and for the success of the AFL.

Question 66

Compare and contrast the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.Explain the motives behind their enactment and evaluate the success of each.

Question 67

To what extent did the railroad have an impact on late-nineteenth-century American economic, social, and political life? Is it fair to say that industrialization was largely due to the railroads?

Question 68

In what ways does the development of the railroad industry in the late nineteenth century illustrate the limitations of the myth of individual free enterprise in American history? What did government hope to attain by its subsidies of railroad construction? What, in fact, did it attain? Was the arrangement a good one for society as a whole?

Question 69

Late-nineteenth-century America saw a growing class division in American society.Yet Americans were very reluctant to develop a true class consciousness as either upper-class capitalists or proletarian workers.Why? How did this relative absence of class consciousness affect the economic and social developments of the time (including women's roles and labor unions)?

Question 70

Assess the validity of the following statement, "labor unions found it difficult to organize industrial workers in the late nineteenth century."

Question 71

Business leaders of the late nineteenth century have been characterized both as greedy and unscrupulous "robber barons" and as great "captains of industry" whose entrepreneurial skill and tactics produced economic growth.Which view do you find more persuasive? Why?

Question 72

Assess the validity of the following statement, "the Constitution and the courts were on the side of the corporations in the late nineteenth century." Cite passages from the Constitution and court decisions to illustrate your assessment.