Taylorism: Firms needed a scientific organization of production and increased efficiency through the subdivision of tasks.
Corporation: A company or group of people authorized to act as a single entity in the eyes of the law.
The great merger movement: Four thousand companies were folded into rival firms in nine years.
Gilded Age: A period of rapid industrialization in America from 1865-1898, characterized by the extreme wealth of some individuals and the poverty of the general population.
Robber barons: A person who has become rich through ruthless and unethical business practices.
Social Darwinism: Society is subject to Darwin’s natural theories; therefore, the strong will persevere, and the weak will not.
Farmers’ Alliance: An agrarian movement during the 1870s and 80s that sought to improve the economic conditions of farmers.
People’s Party (Populists): The political party was created to represent the needs of people suffering economically.
Omaha platform: Radical document proposed by the Populists to counteract the economy’s inequality.
Trusts: A monopoly or cartel associated with large corporations with an agreement for exclusive control over a product or industry under a single entity.
Trust busting: Regulating large corporations and ultimately disbanding monopolies.
Black Tuesday: The day the stock market began its long steep fall.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930: Caused the global rise of tariffs which resulted in the halt of international trade.
Bank runs: Rushed to banks to withdraw money due to panic.
AAA and NRA: Raise agricultural commodity prices and suspend antitrust laws to allow businesses to coordinate prices, regulate production and give fair wages and hours.
Emergency Banking Act: Act which led to the outpacing of deposits over withdrawals in banks across the country.
First Hundred Days: Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first hundred days as president, with which he took swift action against the Great Depression.
Works Progress Administration: Employed millions of Americans on public works projects.
National Labor Relations Act: Federal legal protection for workers to organize unions.
Social Security Act: Old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, economic aid.
G.I. Bill: Afforded New Deal-style social benefits to veterans.
Roosevelt and Democratic Congresses: Realignment and loyalty in the American society towards the Democratic party due to the administration’s actions.
