1. Rise of Big Business

2. Causes of Industrial Growth
Wealth of natural resources
Coal, iron ore, timber
Fertile soil
Explosion of inventions improve business and manufacturing efficiency

3. Causes of Industrial Growth
Large labor supply
High birth rate
Immigrants from Europe and Asia
women & children
Improved transportation makes buying and selling goods easier
Railroads, canals, roads

4. New Industries Railroads First transcontinental railroad is completed
By 1900, there were
5 transcontinental
railroad systems

5. Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

6. Captains of Industry
“Entrepreneurs who took risks developing the new inventions and technology during the era of the Industrial Revolution. Their determination and hard work earned them money, fame and success. These were men of vision who guided and built new industries and made a significant contribution to the economy of the United States.”

7. Robber Barons Wealthy from big business Accused of Swindling investors
Bribing government officials
Cheating on contracts and debts
Exploiting workers and forcing horrible working conditions and practices on laborers

8. Prime Example: George Mortimer Pullman (1831 – 1897)
Designed the Pullman sleeping car and made a fortune
Founded a company town for his workers
Following the Panic of 1893, in an effort to keep his profits, Pullman increased working hours, cut wages and cut jobs

9. Directions: DO NOT WRITE ON THE READING!!!
Fill out the chart for your person only!!

10. As a group:
Make a poster that answers the following questions about your assigned person:
Picture of Person
Name of person:
Industry:
How they got started:
Accomplishments:
Evaluation: Good/Bad - Were they more of a Robber Baron or Captain of Industry? Explain.

11. Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
Began a RR empire by merging popular lines in NY to form the New York Central and Hudson River RR

12. Improvements for Trains
George Westinghouse developed the new air brake system for trains in 1868 using compressed air after viewing a collision

13. Steel Industry Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) Began in RR business
Met Sir Henry Bessemer who invented a new process of making high quality steel—now called the Bessemer Process
He decided to get into the steel business and opened a company in Pittsburgh in 1875

14. By the 1890s, his company was the largest and most profitable enterprise in the world

15. Vertical Integration- process in which he bought:
coal fields & iron mines  ore freighters  railroad lines
Goal = to control the raw materials and transportation systems (own all phases of production)

16. Carnegie

17. J.P. Morgan ( )
1901—Carnegie decided to sell his steel company to Morgan who then formed U.S. Steel
At one time was the largest producer of steel in the world, now produces less than 10%

18. JP Morgan

19. Oil Industry Edwin Drake (1819-1880)
1859—drilled first oil in U.S. near Titusville, PA
Caused major expansion of oil business
By 1900 oil fields from PA to TX had been opened

21. John D. Rockefeller ( )
Organized the Standard Oil Company
By 1880s - controlled more than 90% of oil refining in the U.S.
Used horizontal integration to buy out smaller refiners

22. Monopolies and Trusts
Late 1800s—Americans become suspicious of large corporations
Power of monopolies was feared
Wanted to prevent horizontal integration

23. 1882—first trust was formed by the Standard Oil Company
Trust = a coalition of organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service
Enabled trustees to control a group of companies as if they were one large merged company

24. Sherman Anti-Trust Act: Prohibited monopolies
1911—Government found Rockefeller’s company to be a monopoly and forced it to be divided into 34 companies including:
Amoco
Chevron
Conoco
Exxon
Mobil

26. Important Information:
If you’d like to retake your quiz from last Thursday, it must be done by this Friday!!

27. Ideas of the Gilded Age
Objective 5.02

28. The Gilded Age Coined by Mark Twain
Era of U.S. from approximately
Period of rapid industrialization
Characterized by ruthless pursuit of profit and government corruption

29. Individualism
No matter how humble a persons origins, they could rise in society and go as far as their talents and commitment would take them
Horatio Alger—expressed individualism through numerous “rags-to-riches” novels involving the poor going to the big city and becoming successful

31. Social Darwinism Reinforced idea of individualism
Proposed by Herbert Spencer, English philosopher
Applied Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection to human society
Argued that society progressed and became better because only the fittest were successful

33. Gospel of Wealth
Those who were wealthy, such as Carnegie, attempted to extend and soften the harsh philosophy of Social Darwinism through philanthropy
Believed that those who profited from society owed it something in return
Used their great fortunes to further social progress

34. Jay Gould Worst reputation of all
Practiced insider trading by using information he received as a RR owner to manipulate stock prices to his benefit
Other accused robber barons include Morgan, Rockefeller, etc.

35. Robber Barons Wealthy from big business Accused of Swindling investors
Bribing government officials
Cheating on contracts and debts
Exploiting workers and forcing horrible working conditions and practices on laborers

36. How do many American families live and work during the Gilded Age?
What problems did you notice while examining the sources?
What changes need to be made and how can people work to achieve them?