The Rise of Big Business
**As more railroads are built, the need for iron, steel, and
other mass produced good increased.
**During the years after the Civil War the U.S. becomes the
most industrialized nation in the world.
-developments in technology
-new inventions
-large and growing labor supply
-growing national markets
-abundant resources
-talented entrepreneurs
-”laissez faire” attitude in government
George Westinghouse
-Alternate current (AC) which enabled
electricity to be carried farther distances
and be increased or decreased in voltage.
-Compressed Air Shock Absorber
-Air Brake
-Natural Gas Reduction Valve
-created Westinghouse Electric Co.
-created other products such as the
electric locomotive and electric cook stove.
Alexander Graham Bell
-teacher of the deaf
-invented the telephone
-wireless phone which carried sounds
on a beam of light
(precursor to fiber-optic communications)
-metal detector
-Created the American Telegraph and
Telephone Co. (AT&T)
-experimented with aircrafts and
aeronautics
Milton S. Hershey
-making milk chocolate for the masses
-Lancaster Caramel Co.
-developed his own recipe for milk chocolate
that was affordable.
-built world’s largest chocolate company
in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
George Pullman
-created the sleeper car
-made 1st class train travel more comfortable
-Pullman Palace Car Co.
-Built Pullman, Illinois- -a town for the workers
of the Pullman Co.
E.I. DuPont
-French immigrant
-started milling gun powder in 1802
-company later branched into nitroglycerin and dynamite
-accused of having a monopoly in explosives industry
-branched into laquers, chemicals, teflon, lucite, lycra,
kevlar
Armour Brothers
-Armour Co.
-Chicago, Illinois
-all products made from animals and
animal by-products
-meat, glue, fertilizers, hairbrushes,
oleomargarine
-known for low wages and dangerous
working conditions
Gustavus Franklin Swift
-Swift and Co.
-meatpacking in the Midwest (Chicago, IL)
-created the 1st practical refrigerated railcar
-”everything but the squeal!”
-glue, soap, hairbrushes, buttons, fertilizers,
oleomargarine, knife handles, medical products
John D. Rockefeller
-Created the Standard Oil Co.
-Controlled all aspects of oil industry through
Trusts (monopolies)
-Created the Horizontal combination
-Controlled 95% of all oil production
in the U.S.
.
-Richest man in America during his time
**Rockefeller was known for philanthropy. He financed
many foundations that had an effect of medicine,
education, and scientific research. He is given credit for
eradicating Hookworm and Yellow Fever through one
of his foundations.
Sherman Antitrust Act
-1890
-Created to break up powerful monopolies that restrained
trade and competition
-weak
-large corporations found loopholes in the law
to help them.
-was used against labor unions even though that was
not the original intention
Andrew Carnegie
-Scottish immigrant
-started Carnegie Steel Co. which later became U.S. Steel
-started the Vertical Combination
-used Bessemer process for making steel cheaply
-wrote The Gospel of Wealth
-Unequal distribution of wealth is good
-Rich should contribute to society to help poor
-real example of “rags to riches”
-philanthropist
The Vanderbilts
Cornelius Vanderbilt
-fortune in steam ships
-bought railroads
-philanthropy included
Vanderbilt University in Nashville
William Vanderbilt
-”The public be damned!”
-Doubled the family’s fortune
in the R.R. industry