Robber Baron Document Rankings

Power Rank 1:  Document Number: 15

Why do you believe it best represents the era you have been studying?.
This document cleverly incorporates sarcasm with an actually very good argument about the ignorance and unfair treatment of big industrialists such as Carnegie. It also manages to summarize the financial and social state of the laborers due to the monopolies.  
Power Rank 2:  Document Number: 19Why do you believe it best represents the era you have been studying?
I believe the author of this document did a fantastic job of explaining the longterm effects of the big industrialist age on society and economy. She managed to explain how it was the basis for the economic prosperity that exists within the United States now (compared to the rest of the world), and that these philanthropists were extremely generous with their charity money. Lastly, she stated how these monopolists practically made New York the financial, economic, and social center of the country. 

Power Rank 3:  Document Number: 14Why do you believe it best represents the era you have been studying?
Andrew Carnegie manages to beautifully convey his idea in this document that the rich industrialists are necessary because of their philanthropists tendencies: they are able to support the poor with their own wealth. He also brings up the "survival of the fittest" belief, claiming it is best for the everyone. 

Power Rank 4:  Document Number: 6

Why do you believe it best represents the era you have been studying?
This political cartoon does a good job in conveying the idea that the monopolies were taking over the government, in a sense. The relation of the monopolies to pirates is very accurate: they were in it for the profit and not the people, and were slowly taking over the government's "ships" laws; morals.

Power Rank 5:  Document Number: 18

Why do you believe it best represents the era you have been studying?
This document just shows the sheer dedication of Rockefeller to charitable donations. It basically takes robber barons like Rockefeller out of a bad light and shows how they also cared for the people, and showed this through their philanthropy. 

Age of Railroads

1. What problems did employees of the railroad companies face?
Employees of the railroad companies faced attacks by Native Americans, risks of diseases, and accidents that occurred on the "treacherous terrain."
2. What was it like to live as a Pullman employee in the town of Pullman?
Pullman employees in the town of Pullman had all their basic needs taken care of by the Pullman town, and were given nice house and apartments buildings. They were also provided with facilities like doctors' office and shops.  But, they were very restricted when it came to their daily lives: for example, they weren't allowed to drink alcohol or to "loiter" on their front steps. Eventually when Pullman cut his employees' pay but didn't lower the price of rents, there was a strike. 

3. Who was involved in Crédit Mobilier, and what was the purpose of this company?
Vice-President Schuyler Colfax, Congressman James Garfield, some representatives in Congress, as well as other important figures were involved with the stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad in Crédit Mobilier. The purpose of this company was for magnates to gain a lot of profit by laying down track for more than its actual worth.

4. In what ways did the railroad companies use their power to hurt farmers?
Railroad companies would go against the government's attention and not sell the land grants to settlers but to other businesses, form agreements that keep farmers in debt, and charge different customers different rates.

5. Why didn’t the decision in the Munn v. Illinois case succeed in checking the power of the railroads?
The decision in the Munn v. Illinois case didn't succeed in checking the power of the railroads because states didn't have the right at that time to set rates on interstate commerce. So, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887.

6. Why didn’t the Interstate Commerce Act immediately limit the power of the railroads? 
The Interstate Commerce Act didn't immediately limit the power of the railroads because there was resistance from the railroads, and it was a long legal process. Then, the Supreme Court announced that the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) could not set maximum railroad rates, which made it even harder to limit the power of the railroads.
  

Big Business and Labor

A. What is it?    

B.  How did it help businesses such as the Carnegie Company and tycoons like Andrew Carnegie?

1. Vertical integration

A. Vertical integration was the process of a growing industry buying out its suppliers of resources and transportation.


B.Vertical integration helped businesses such as the Carnegie Company by aiding it to control its own industry, therefore making it harder for there to be any competitors. If the Carnegie Company owns the place that has its necessary resources and owns its transportation system, then it's not going to offer those resources or that transportation to any competing businesses. In the long run, this helped tycoons like Andrew Carnegie to gain more money and more power within their industries.

2. Horizontal integration

A. Horizontal integration was the process of a growing industry merging with or buying out all its competitors.

 B. Horizontal integration helped businesses such as the Carnegie Company by taking out all its competitors by merging with them, and making the original business even larger and more powerful. This again just aided tycoons like Andrew Carnegie to gain more profits, and to come closer to having a monopoly.

3. Social Darwinism

A. Social Darwinism was a term for taking the idea of "natural selection" from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and applying it within society and economics.

 B. Social Darwinism helped big businesses and tycoons because it supported their beliefs that they, by the idea of natural selection, were better fit to be in power of the market than the people below them. Therefore smaller businesses would sometimes just merge with the larger ones because they believed that by "natural selection", they were less fit to run a large business. The idea, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." came into play as well.

4. Monopoly

A. A monopoly means an industry has total control over it's production, wages, and prices.

 B. Monopolies were basically the goal of tycoons and big businesses, once a business had a monopoly, it had become the ultimate power of that industry. Monopolies, in a way, allowed businesses to manipulate the economy, because they had complete control over the price of their product, and no competitors to provide another choice for the public.


5. Holding company

A. A holding company was a corporation that bought out the stock of its competitors, and that's all it did.

B. This allowed large corporations and business leaders to become bigger and more powerful, once they bought out the stock of the biggest companies in their industry.

6. Trust

A. A trust is when a company establishes a trust agreement with a competing company. The companies within the trust turned their stock over to trustees, and in return the companies would get profits.

 B. Trusts allowed a different approach to power for businesses and business leaders. Although they were not "legal mergers", they were a way to become a monopoly. John D. Rockefeller used a trust to gain monopoly over the oil industry.


7. The perception of tycoons as “robber barons”

C. How did it harm businesses such as Standard Oil and tycoons like John D. Rockefeller?
The perception of tycoons as "robber barons" put tycoons like John D. Rockefeller in a bad light, and made monopolized businesses such as Standard Oil seem more powerful than they should be allowed. They were thought, by some, to be manipulating the government.

8. Sherman Antitrust Act

C. How did it harm businesses such as Standard Oil and tycoons like John D. Rockefeller?

The Sherman Antitrust Act harmed businesses such as Standard Oil and tycoons like John D. Rockefeller because it made it illegal to form a trust that inhibited free trade between states or other countries, and John D. Rockefeller had come to power in his industry through a trust. It threatened to limit the power of big businesses like Standard Oil, therefore sometimes businesses had to reorganize into single corporations to avoid prosecution. 

Expansion of Industry

Factor 1: Abundant Natural Resources
A. Which resources played crucial roles in industrialization?

Oil, iron, coal, steel, and electricity were the resources that played crucial roles in industrialization.

B. How did Edwin L. Drake help industry to acquire larger quantities of oil?

Edwin L. Drake helped industry to acquire larger quantities of oil because he used a steam engine to remove oil from beneath the Earth's surface. He demonstrated the usefulness of removing oil from beneath the Earth's surface, therefore causing this idea to spread across the United States, and making the oil industry boom. This caused industries to pop up everywhere and eventually the practicability of gasoline was discovered as well.

C. How did the Bessemer process allow better use of iron ore?

Iron tended to break and rust often, so through the cheap and efficient Bessemer process, which released the carbon from the iron, steel was created. Steel is a lighter metal that is flexible and is rust-resisitant. 

D. What new uses for steel were developed at this time?
Buildings could be any height now because of steel, since they wouldn't be at risk of rusting or breaking due to weight. Also, steel was used in abundance in the railroads, as well as in barbed wire and farm machines.
Factor 2: Increasing number of Inventions
A. How did Thomas Alva Edison contribute to this development? 

Thomas Edison created the lightbulb, the first research laboratory, and a way distribute and process electricity. All of these things make work life, and home life, significantly more efficient. They also jumpstarted electricity within industries, running machines, plants, streetcars, fans, printing presses, etc. 

B. How did George Westinghouse contribute to it? 

George Westinghouse invented ways for the use of electricity in industries to be safer and cheaper, therefore making the whole process of using electricity a lot quicker and less expensive. 

C. How did Christopher Sholes contribute? 

Christopher Sholes created the typewriter, which made work a whole lot easier. Instead of handwriting everything, which is time consuming, typewriters allowed work to be quicker and neater. It also opened jobs for women in the office.

D. How did Alexandar Graham Bell contribute? 

Alexandar Graham Bell created one of the biggest inventions of the Industrial Age-the telephone. It allowed worldwide communication, which made communication between businesses quicker and cheaper.  The telephone also created more jobs for women. 

Tarbell's History of Standard Oil

1. How did Rockefeller set out to acquire control of the oil industry?
Rockefeller set out to acquire control of the control of the oil industry by claiming all the oil that was sold belonged to him. He planned to input his own agents within all the local and independent industries around the world. He had previously organized oil refining and transporting, so he was eager to take on this task he so desired to succeed in.

2. Do you think Rockefeller deserved to be called a "robber baron?" Why or why not?
Yes this name seems appropriate for Rockefeller because he planned to take over the entire oil industry by basically undermining the system. From the start he said all the oil belonged to him, and he just decided to slither in his employees in oil industries worldwide. The whole process seems a bit sly to me.