Objective 5.02
Explain how business leaders
accumulated wealth and wielded
political and economic power.
Essential Questions
• What characteristics were vital to the
success of industrial leaders of the Gilded
Age?
• How did captains of industry accumulate
wealth and power?
• Should an individual be allowed to
accumulate as much wealth as possible?
Bessemer Process
Process by which Iron was melted until
the impurities were burnt off and steel was
the end product
Andrew Carnegie
Owner of US Steel
U S Steel
Giant Steel Monopoly
Edwin Drake
Drilled the first Oil Well in New York
John D. Rockefeller
Owner of Standard Oil Company
Standard Oil Company
Giant Oil Monopoly
J P Morgan
Banker of the Gilded Age, Made money
investing in companies like US Steel
Monopoly
One company controls all of the product in a
market
Trust
Board of Directors of several
companies come together to
form a monopoly
Vanderbilt Family
Father Cornelius, family made money from
the railroad industry, Biltmore House
George Westinghouse
Developed electric appliances for home use,
alternating current
Horatio Alger
American writer that wrote rags to riches
stories and fulfillment of the American
Dream
Gospel of Wealth
God ordained for me to be wealthy, God
favors those that have wealth
Social Darwinism
“Survival of the Fittest”, I’m wealthy because I
am better than you
Gilded Age
Age of the “Robber Barons”,
ridiculous wealth, political
machines, immigrants,
industrialization
Quiz
Choose 5
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•
•
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Edwin Drake
Bessemer Process
Andrew Carnegie
Gospel of Wealth
J. P. Morgan
U. S. Steel
John D. Rockefeller
•
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•
•
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Standard Oil Company
Vanderbilt family
George Westinghouse
Horatio Alger
Herbert Spencer
Gilded Age
“Captains of industry”
“Robber barons”