Andrew Carnegie: Andrew Carnegie was an innovative investor. With the money he gained through investments he started his own steel business. He invented and used horizontal integration- the buying out of competitors- and vertical integration- the buying out of suppliers and transportation methods, which were adopted by the other business men of the day.
Social Darwinism: Social Darwinism is the belief that human society behaves the same way natural selection does. Meaning that the the good things in society continue and the bad leave.
John D. Rockefeller: Rockefeller used corporations made of trusts to control almost the entire oil business. He also payed his employees little and sold his oil cheaply to drive away competition. Once the competition was gone, he raised prices.
Sherman Antitrust Act: The Sherman Antitrust act made it illegal to make trust between states or out of the county in response to the growing number of millionaires and to maintain free competition. However it couldn't be enforced and was ignored.
Samuel Gompers: Samuel Gompers was the president of the American Federation of labor. He used strikes and collective bargaining to improve work conditions.
American Federation of Labor (AFL): A conglomeration of labor unions that tried to improve workers conditions, wages and hours.
Eugene V. Debs: Debs tried to form a labor union of both skilled and non skilled workers. However, this failed after a major strike, but the idea would carry on.
Industrial Workers of the World: A socialist labor Union that failed, but gave a sense of unity to non skilled workers and helped further their cause.
Mary Harris Jones: Mary Harris Jones organized for the UMW and supported minors unions. She also marched children that worked in mills that had terrible injuries in front of Theodore Roosevelt's house which helped create child labor laws.