Gilded Age / Industrial Revolution / and Some Immigration Unit Reading

Name: ______Period: ______

Gilded Age / Industrial Revolution / and some Immigration Unit Reading

Textbook Outline: provide a brief outline of the pages focused on Boss Tweed, Carnegie and Rockefeller, New Immigration, and Labor Unions (Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor) – you will need to use your textbook’s index to find these topics, remember less can be more and remember you will need to study from these outlines for the upcoming Blue Books =) - - - MAKE SURE YOU USE THE TEXTBOOK

Directions: Read the article below (remember to highlight and provide three margin notes), define the needed terms (those underlined and in bold) and answer the provided questions, and watch the video and complete the organizer and questions. Hint: the video and reading are connected to the terms list!

MONOPOLY

Economic situation in which only a single seller or producer supplies a commodity or a service. For a monopoly to be effective there must be no practical substitutes for the product or service sold, and no serious threat of the entry of a competitor into the market. This enables the seller to control the price. One or more of the following elements are of great importance in establishing a monopoly in a particular industry: (1) control of a major resource necessary to produce a product, as was the case with bauxite in the pre-World War II aluminum industry; (2) technological capabilities that allow a single firm to produce at reasonable prices all the output of a particular commodity or service, a situation sometimes described as a "natural" monopoly; (3) exclusive control over a patent on a product or on the processes used to produce the product; and (4) a government franchise that awards a company the sole right to produce a commodity or service in a given area.

Monopoly:

Commodity:

Patent:

Franchise:

Historical Background
. . . From the late 19th century onward, the U.S. has attempted to curb monopolies. The government first sought through antitrust laws to prevent the outright emergence of private monopolies in major industries by using law and the courts to impose competitive conditions on firms in these industries. The American practice in the case of many so-called natural monopolies--especially in the production and distribution of power, in public transportation, and in communications--has been to allow private ownership but to control the rates charged and the extent of services through regulatory agencies such as the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (q.v.). In recent decades, federal regulatory authority has been sharply reduced, while states and localities have continued to regulate monopolies within their jurisdictions. . . .

Regulatory:

Federal Communications Commission (FCC):

Jurisdiction:

Kinds of Monopolies

Public utilities
Pure monopolies--only a single firm in an industry--are rare in the U.S. economy, except among the public utilities. These industries produce goods and provide services vital to the public well-being, including such essentials as water, power, transport, and communications. Although such monopolies often seem to be the most effective way to supply vital public services, they must be regulated when privately owned or else be owned and operated by a public body. Within the U.S., the pattern varies widely. Aside from the U.S. Postal Service and some ventures into power production (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority), little public ownership occurs at the federal level. At the municipal level, however, public ownership of water-supply systems, electrical power facilities, and transportation companies is commonplace. In most other nations, including those of Western Europe, public utilities are nearly always nationally owned. The monopoly status of many public utilities in the U.S. has eroded in recent decades, largely due to government deregulation.

Public Utility:

Federal:

Trusts
American history is replete with attempts by producers either to organize or to engage in practices that give them, in effect, monopoly power, although competition may still appear to exist. One of the earliest means used by producers to create an effective monopoly while retaining some semblance of competition was the trust. This is a device by which the real control of a company is transferred to an individual or small group by an exchange of shares of stock for trust certificates, which are issued by the individuals seeking control. The widespread abuse of this technique after the American Civil War eventually led to passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), a law designed to make illegal all trusts and other combinations that aimed to create monopolies in restraint of interstate commerce. A similar device is the holding company, which issues its own stock shares for sale to the public and "holds" or controls other companies by owning their shares. Such an arrangement is not necessarily illegal, unless created specifically to monopolize commerce in interstate trade.

Mergers
Efforts to organize an industry in order to achieve practical monopoly control take different forms. Any combination of firms that reduces competition may be of a vertical, horizontal, or conglomerate character. A vertical combination involves merging firms at different stages of the production process into a single unit. Some of the oil companies, for example, own oil fields, refineries, transportation systems, and retail outlets.A horizontal combination involves bringing together firms in the same industry and at the same level in the production chain. Recently, conglomerate-type mergers have become prominent, with great success in the 1960s and an even more spectacular upsurge in the mid- and late 1980s. A conglomerate merger combines firms from several unrelated industries into a single organization. All mergers and combinations have the potential for eliminating competition and creating monopoly. Mere potential, however, is not illegal in the U.S. under existing laws.

Vertical Combination:

Horizontal Combination:

Conglomerate:

Government Regulation
The Sherman Antitrust Act was the key legislation in the U.S. effort to maintain by legal means a competitive economic environment. This act, which outlawed any "combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade," has been supplemented by additional legislation, aimed at specific practices that lessen competition. In 1914 the U.S. Congress passed the Clayton Antitrust Act and also established the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (q.v.). The Clayton Antitrust Act made illegal such practices as price discrimination and tying contracts, which forced a buyer or seller to deal exclusively with a particular firm. . . . W.C.P., WALLACE C. PETERSON, M.A., Ph.D.For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, sections 228. Trusts, 243. Monopoly.

Sherman Antitrust Act (date of S.A.A.: ):

Competition:

Federal Trade Commission (FTC):

Exclusively:

Monopoly. Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. 2005. unitedstreaming. 2 April 2006 <

Citation (APA)

Monopoly. Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. (2005). Retrieved April 2, 2006, from unitedstreaming:

Citation (Chicago Manual of Style)

Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. "Monopoly." unitedstreaming.

Video: Title: Industrial Revolution Overview, link = , video is found on youtube

What is the key idea of the video? Provide specific examples

What connections could you make to last year’s curriculum? Provide specific examples

What would it be like to walk in a textile factory worker’s shoes, make sure you explain what a traditional workday was like?

What were the implications of industrial growth in America?

How did the inventions / changes to American society impact America’s identity, what America became as a nation?

In your opinion what was the most important historical moment form the video and why?

How did you do on the quiz?