Big Biz and Labor

Andrew Carnegie- he was one of the first industrial moguls to make a fortune by himself. He also was very into supported charities, making himself a model to many others, and making himself one of the most generous men of his time.

Social Darwinism- an economic and social philosophy-supposedly based on the biologist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection-holding that a system of unrestrained competition will ensure th survival of the fittest

John D. Rockefeller- established the Standard Oil Company; he used a trust to gain total control of the oil industry in America

Sherman Antitrust Act- this act made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries; this act was formed in 1890

Samuel Gompers- this man had led the Cigar Makers' International Union to join with other craft unions in 1886

American Federation of Labor (AFL)- focused on collective bargaining, or negotiation between representatives of labor and management, to reach written agreements on wages, hours, and working conditions; used strikes as a major tactic; their successful strikes rose pay from $17.50 to $24 and they hours worked went from 54 hours to around 49 hours a week.

Eugene V. Debs- attempted to form the American Railway Union. Most members were unskilled and semiskilled laborers, but skilled engineers and firemen joined too. This union won a strike for higher wages in 1894.

Industrial Workers of the World- this group, a group of radical unionists and socialists in Chicago, formed in 1905. It included miners, lumberers, and cannery and dock workers. This group, unlike the ARU, welcomed African Americans, but there were never more than 100,000 members. In 1912, their only major strike victory took place.

Mary Harris Jones- the most prominent organizer in the women's labor movement; she supported the Great Strike of 1877 and later organized for the United Mine Workers of America. In 1903, she led with 80 million children on a march to the home of persident Theodore Roosevelt to expose the cruelties of child labor.