1. What factors influenced American growth and expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century?

2. Natural Resources America had tons of natural resources –Coal, Iron, Oil, Farmland Natural resources were used to generate huge profits by new American businesses

3. Laissez – Faire Capitalism Gov’t should not interfere with private businesses Businesses took advantage of people and abused workers’ rights Businesses did “anything to turn a larger profit”

4. Special Business Considerations Gov’t granted special privileges to business owners Gave free land to railroad owners by stealing it from rightful owners

5. Immigration Immigrants increased the labor supply Businesses paid immigrants as little as possible in order to generate huge profits

6. New Inventions Technology led to new industrial growth

7. Transportation Airplane – Wright Brothers Allowed businesses to transport products to new markets overseas

8. Business Production Bessemer Process – Henry Bessemer Made steel cheap and affordable to increase construction of cities

9. Communication Telephone – Alexander Graham Bell Allowed businesses to expand to different markets

10. Communication Telegraph – Samuel Morse Allowed businesses to expand to different markets

11. Business Production Electricity – Thomas Edison Increased production by allowing work at night

12. Business Production Mechanical Reaper – Cyrus McCormick Increased farm production and helped clear landscape in west for settlers

13. Business Production Alternating Current – George Westinghouse Increased production by allowing electricity to spread across the country

14. Business Production Assembly Line – Henry Ford Used by all factories to increase production

15. New Business Practices

16. Monopoly One business owner controls the market of a product Drives other competitors out of business by lowering and raising prices

17. Trusts One company controls the making of a product Allows company to control the price of the product

18. Corporation Large companies made up of smaller businesses Limited Liability –Allowed people to invest money with little risk by investing in profitable parts of corporation

19. Modern Corporations

20. Robber barons or Captains of Industry?

21. Robber barrons Wealthy business owners who lied, cheated, and stole fortunes from average Americans

22. Captains of Industry Smart businessmen who earned their money through legal business practices Gave millions of dollars to charity

23. Andrew Carnegie Scottish Immigrant Created US Steel –first corporation worth $1 billion dollars

24. Andrew Carnegie Believed in Social Darwinism –people can do whatever they want to make money

25. Andrew Carnegie Gave 80% of his money back to the public Workers protested working conditions in his factories

26. J. P. Morgan Banking tycoon who made millions off of investments and investment companies

27. John D Rockefeller Created the Standard Oil Company in 1870 (trust) Able to control the price of oil in America by owning all aspects of oil production

28. Gave $500 million dollars to various charities

29. Cornelius Vanderbilt Made a fortune in the railroad business Introduced the use of steel rails and a standard gauge (distance between rails).