U.S. HISTORY: THE RISE OF
BIG BUSINESS
Mr. Weber
Room 217
Activator: Write a summary of the
notes from Monday
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Describe the changing landscape of late nineteenth
century America by examining the movements of
people, rise of industry, growth of transportation,
and development of cities. (11.2.2).
Make sure to include:
Countries where immigrants came from.
 Growth of cities, slums, ethnic neighborhoods.
 Urban political machines and bosses.
 Causes of industrialization (transportation, technology,
factories, skilled to unskilled labor)
 Market economy
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Agenda
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Activator, agenda, and objective (10 minutes)
Rise of Big Business Notes (15-20 minutes)
Ch. 16 Jigsaw Reading (30-45 minutes)
Made in LA video clip (30-45 minutes)
Exit slip and homework (5 minutes)
Objective
All students discuss the corporate mergers that
produced trusts and cartels and the economic
and political policies of industrial leaders (like
Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller).
11.2.5.
The Market Economy
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Major Shifts:
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From family farms to open competition in “the market.”
From hand tools to complex machines
From skilled to unskilled labor
Key Terms:
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Specialization – meaning you concentrate on one thing
Production – to make or produce goods and services
Consumption – to consume like eat but more generally to buy and to use
things that are produced.
Competition – firms will compete for business keeping prices low for
everyone.
Supply and Demand: the market is regulated by an invisible hand – the
laws of supply (how much is made available) and demand (how many
people need it or want it).
Rise of Big Business
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Key Term: LAISSEZ FAIRE – the ideology of the
industrial age.
Individual as moral and economic ideal.
Individuals should compete freely in the
marketplace.
No room for the government in the market.
Private enterprise can do things better than
government.
Social Darwinism
British economist Herbert Spencer
Advocate of Laissez Faire
Adapted Darwin’s ideas from
“Origin of the Species” to human
behavior.
Notion of survival of the fittest
William Graham
Sumner
Social Darwinism in America.
Wrote “Folkways” 1906
Individuals must have complete
freedom to struggle, succeed or
fail
Therefore government
intervention to reward society or
economy is pointless
New Types of Business
John D. Rockefeller wanted to buy out the
competition but government prevented
companies from owning the stock of other
companies (reduce competition, etc.)
So he formed a board of trustees which he
controlled to manage companies combined
into a “TRUST.”
Because they did not merge they violated no
laws. Still, Carnegie was able to create a
monopoly which controlled the majority of the
nation’s oil refining companies.
Standard Oil Co.
New Types of Businesses and Elites
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TRUSTS:
Horizontal integration: method of industrial control by which you buy up
competitors factories in order to form one large one.
 – John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil Co.
Vertical consolidation: a method of industrial control in which a company
buys up all the different aspects involved in that business.
 Andrew Carnegie: Carnegie Steel bought the coke fields, iron ore
deposits, steel mills, ships, and railroads.
CARTELS:
Loose association of business that make the same produce. Agree to
limit the supply to keep prices high.
Iron and Steel Production
Abundant Natural Resources
New Types of Business Elites
Corporate Mergers
Reorganization of Work
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Fredrick Taylor
Scientific Management
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The assembly Line
Percent of Billionaires (1900)
Percent Billionaires (1918)
Andrew Carnegie: “On
Wealth”
- The Anglo Saxon race is
superior.
- “Gospel of Wealth” (1901)
- Inequality is inevitable and
good.
- Wealthy should act as
trustees for poor people.
John D. Rockefeller: Robber Barron or
Captain of Industry?
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Robber Barron: A pejorative (not nice) term for a
businessman who dominated his industry by using
unfair business practices and made a huge personal
fortune.
Captain of Industry: A term used to describe a
business man who got to the top because he was the
best at what he did. Also refers to his leadership in
giving back to the community through philanthropy
(giving money for libraries, schools, etc.).
Robber Barron or Captain of Industry?
1. Captain. 2. Robber.
 3. Captain. 4. Robber.
 5. Captain. 6. Captain.
 7. Captain. 8. Robber.
 9. Captain. 10. Robber.
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Ch. 16: America’s Gilded Age Jigsaw
Reading: In groups of 2-3, read/teach
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1. America’s Gilded Age introduction pp.590-91
2. The Second Industrial Revolution, pp.591-92
3. The Industrial Economy, pp.592-93
4. Railroads and the National Market, pp.593-95
5. The Spirit of Innovation, pp.595-96
6.Competition and Consolidation, pp.596-97
7. The Rise of Andrew Carnegie, pp.597-98
8. The Triumph of John D. Rockefeller, pp.598-99
9. Worker’s Freedom in an Industrial Age, pp.599-600.
10. Increasing Wealth and Poverty, pp.600-601.
The Response of Reformers
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In groups of 4 take notes on one of the below
options and then make a bumper sticker with an
image and a slogan. Be prepared to present
your work.
1. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (Handout, pp.1-5)
2. Middle Class reformers: Charity, Social
Gospel, Settlement Movement, Temperance and
Prohibition (Textbook pp.541-545)
Exit Ticket
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What do you anticipate?
If you were not a billionaire but a worker at this
time what do you imagine life was like?
How would you respond to working conditions that
included low wages, a 12-14 hour day, poor safety
and sanitation, and little job security?
What do you think workers at this time did?