1. Unit 4: The Gilded Age

2. Definitions
Captain of Industry: a business leader whose means of gathering a personal fortune contributed positively to the country in some way
Robber Baron: a powerful businessman who uses questionable or unethical business practices to become wealthy

3. With your Table
Read each business practice and decide if it is an activity practiced a Captain of Industry or a Robber Baron

4. Distribution of Wealth

5. Our question
Were these businessmen truly ‘Captains of Industry’ or ‘Robber Barons’?

6. Background essay Read the background info & answer the questions
Write your answers on the questions
Please do NOT write on the reading

7. Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
Use documents A-F to answer the questions

9. Now then Jim… No jockeying you know!
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Let ‘em rip Commodore! But don’t stop to water or you’ll be beat!
James Fisk

10. Washington as Seen by the Trusts
Washington as Seen by the Trusts “What a funny little government,” John D. Rockefeller observes in this satirical cartoon. His own wealth and power are presumed to dwarf the resources of the federal government. (The Verdict, January 22, New York Public Library.)

11. Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
Analyze the evidence
What does it tell you, Captains or Robbers?

12. Thesis Statement
On the back of the Background Essay Questions please use the stem:
Businessmen in the Gilded Age were (Captains of Industry/Robber Barons) because ____________, ___________, and ___________.
Reason 1
Reason 2
Reason 3