Who are these men? Rutherford Hayes James Garfield Chester Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison
Robber Barons: Business Leaders of
Andrew Carnegie Rags to Riches (richest man alive) Became wealthy quickly, and invested in steel industry Lucky in that he lived in an area full of coal, and iron ore a raw material needed for steel
Andrew Carnegie Expanded Steel Business by buying out competition when steel prices dropped Vertical Integration - owned each business step up to finished product (coal mines, iron mines, trains, factories)
John D. Rockefeller A bit lucky to be in oil industry as cars and machines begin to use this as fuel and lubricant Created Standard Oil - biggest oil company in the US Used Vertical Integration to succeed
John D. Rockefeller Used Horizontal Integration - Owned 90% of oil business Monopoly = Horizontal Integration Trust - All companies in an industry work together to cut costs to drive out competition, then raise prices
Cornelius Vanderbilt Borrowed $100 to start first business at 16 and bought a sailboat Made millions during Gold Rush shipping goods and people to California
Cornelius Vanderbilt Sees RRs are wave of future Bought up RR and created the New York- Penn RR Sold tickets at below cost to drive competitors out of business, then raised prices to be able to afford to continue this
J.P. Morgan A banker whose company owned both General Electric and U.S. Steel at the same time Bought Carnegie Steel and changed name to U.S. Steel
J.P. Morgan Used trusts to cut costs and rive out competition Had a skin issue on nose he refused to get fixed. Dared people to stare at him knowing he could ruin their lives. JPMorgan Chase Bank still in business
Darwinism Charles Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859 Darwin’s theory is that the strongest and/or best adapted animals survive and the weak die out
Social Darwinism Industrialists began to put forth idea of “Social Darwinism” Social Darwinism - weak companies die out and stronger, smarter, better run businesses survive.