1. By the U.S. History Team SHS Social Studies Department
U.S. History / Math Bellringer – Day 26 – Percentage, Standard Oil, Corporations, and Shares
By the U.S. History Team
SHS Social Studies Department

2. Bellringer – Day 26 – Percentage, Standard Oil, Corporations, and Shares
Academic Language
Percentage
A fraction, or ratio
denominator assumed to be 100
Symbol % is used for percent
Standard Oil
a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company
established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio
the largest oil refiner in the world until 1911
operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational corporations
John D. Rockefeller
Founder, chairman and major shareholder of Standard Oil
Richest man in modern history
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3. Bellringer – Day 26 – Percentage, Standard Oil, Corporations, and Shares
Academic Language
Corporation
A company or group of people authorized to act as a single entity of business, separate for the people themselves, who own stock (shares) in the company
Share
A part of a larger amount that is divided among a number of people, or to which a number of people contribute; for example, a part of a corporation

4. Bellringer – Day 26 – Percentage, Standard Oil, Corporations, and Shares
Standard Oil began as an Ohio partnership formed by the well-known industrialist John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, chemist Samuel Andrews, silent partner Stephen V. Harkness, and Oliver Burr Jennings, who had married the sister of William Rockefeller's wife. According to the circle graph, what percentage of the Standard Oil belonged to John D. Rockefeller, someone related to him either by blood, or by marriage, or his firm, when it started in 1870?
In what ways did shares in a corporation ensure that individuals were protected from too much financial risk?

5. Bellringer – Day 26 – Percentage, Standard Oil, Corporations, and Shares
Students SHARE OUT!

6. Bellringer – Day 26 – Percentage, Standard Oil, Corporations, and Shares
When it started, John D. Rockefeller ensured that Standard Oil was heavily invested in by people whom he worked with, but especially family. He and his brother made up:
27% + 13% = 40%
Oliver B. Jennings married William Rockefeller’s wife’s sister, adding another 10% to the family fortune, and his firm bought another 10% of the stock for the corporation.
All in all, Rockefeller and his family owned 60% of Standard Oil at its inception in 1870.
Answers will vary but shares protected individuals from too much risk because it allowed them to invest in part of a corporation without assuming the whole risk of their own. They could pay for part of the company, and receive some of the profits, but if the corporation wasn’t successful, individuals who had bought shares did not necessarily lose all the money that the corporation did, they only lost the part that they had invested.