1. Business and Politics

2.   "What is the chief end of man?--to get rich. In what way?--dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must." -- Mark Twain-1871

3.  The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today  The term was coined by writers Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book satirizing what they believed to be an era of serious social problems hidden by a thin gold gilding.

4.   An era of widespread growth where the U.S. leaped ahead of Britain in industrialization.  A relative few became extremely wealthy and exerted enormous economic and political power  The rapid growth was punctuated by economic depressions in 1873, 1893,

5.  Homes of the Gilded Age

6.  Andrew Carnegie  Faced with sudden poverty in Scotland, Andrew Carnegie's family emigrated to America.  Determined to escape poverty, Carnegie went on to become the richest man in the world.

7.   ‘vertical integration’ a system of business organization that allowed him to control every aspect of the steel business  He cut costs to boost productivity; workers had low wages, long hours, dangerous conditions  By 1900, Carnegie Steel was the best-known manufacturer in the nation ‘Vertical Integration’

8.   Carnegie led the transition from iron to steel  Built the biggest steel industry in the world  Built most up to date plant (near Pittsburgh) Railroad Industry led to a Steel Industry

9.  San Jose’s Carnegie Library  After amassing a fortune by crushing his competitors and exploiting his workers, Carnegie, in a move that underscored his inner conflicts, systematically gave away millions.

10.   After Civil War, Americans built the greatest railroad network in the world  By 1900, US had 193,000 miles of track, more than all of Europe and Russia combined Railroads: America’s First Big Business

11.   Government encouraged rail growth with cash subsidies and land grants  Lack of planning led to overbuilding and increased competition  Because of competition local owners tried to “pool” areas and set rates  Stock market began to play a key role in American economy—capital could now be represented by stocks and not just tangibles such as land or machinery

12.  Jay Gould: ‘Most Hated Man in America’  Jay Gould, master of corporate expansion through stocks  Men like Gould refused to honor, so many railroads failed  The public disliked men like Gould for ruining competitors and emphasis on financial markets— ‘most hated man in America’

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14.  Rockefeller and Standard Oil

15.   In the 1860s and 1870s, it did not take a lot of capital to build an oil refinery  Lots of competition  Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in 1870  He demanded secret rebates from the railroads in exchange for his steady business, so he could undercut competitors John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil and the Trust

16.   1882, Rockefeller pioneered a new form of corporate structure—the trust  The “trust” operates the business on behalf of trustees.  Consolidates decision-making and financial policy for large businesses The Trust

17.   It allowed Standard Oil trustees to hold stock in various refinery companies ‘in trust’ and to coordinate policies between refineries  This gave Rockefeller a monopoly of the oil refining business Monopoly

18.   Paved the way for the establishment of trusts in other industries  When the government threatened to outlaw the trust as a violation of free trade, Standard Oil changed its tactics and reorganized as a holding company  This combined competing companies under one central administration New kind of corporates structure

19.   By 1890 Standard Oil ruled more than 90% of the oil business Standard Oil

20.  Ida Tarbell  Journalist Ida Tarbell exposed Rockefeller’s unsavory business practices in a series of articles in McClure’s Magazine from 1902 to 1905 contributing to the American public’s unfavorable opinion of Rockefeller