| A | B |
|---|
| Alexander Graham Bell | inventor who developed the first telephone |
| Bessemer steel process | technique that produced steel more cheaply |
| business cycle | pattern of good and bad economic times |
| Centennial Exhibition | a public fair celebrating America's 100th birthday |
| generator | machine that produced electric current |
| invest | to put money into a business in order to gain a profit |
| patent | document giving inventors sole rights to make and sell their products |
| petroleum | oily, flammable liquid used in making kerosene |
| Thomas Edison | inventor who developed a practical light bulb and found the most ways to use electricity |
| The Central Pacific | railroad company that bulit the western half of the transcontinental railroad |
| peak | the point of greatest development or intensity |
| precious | of great value |
| standard time | system that divided the country into four time zones |
| transcontinental railroad | a railroad that spanned the entire continent |
| uniform | always the same, unchanging |
| The Union Pacific | railroad company that bulit the eastern half of the transcontinental railroad |
| hire | engage or hire for work |
| Andrew Carnegie | leader of the steel industry |
| competitor | an opponent, or someone who strives for something someone else wants |
| corporation | business owned by investors who bought stock in the company |
| Gilded Age | term used to describe a time of both tremendous wealth and poverty in the late 1800's |
| John D. Rockefeller | leader of the oil industry |
| monopoly | company that has sole control of an industry |
| philanthropist | a person who gives away large sums of money to charities |
| portion | a part of |
| refinery | a plant that purifies oil |
| robber baron | business person who became wealthy through dishonest methods |
| trust | a legal body created to hold stock in many companies |
| American Federation of Labor (AFL) | National organization of unions that Samuel Gompers helped to found |
| collapse | fall apart |
| Eugene V Debs | American Railway Union president |
| federation | a league or association |
| Haymarket Affair | a conflict between police and union members in Chicago in May 1886 |
| Knights of Labor | prominent workers' union |
| Pullman Strike | 1894 strike that spread throughout the rail industry |
| Samuel Gompers | U.S. labor leader who helped found the American Federation of Labor |
| socialism | economic system in which all members of society are equal owners of all businesses |
| sweatshop | place where workers labored long hours for little pay |
