The Industrial Revolution comes to America!
We've spoken in bits and pieces about Industrialization already this year, because it is tucked into other units and effects other time periods. Industrialization is the move to use factories to convert raw materials into manufactured goods. To do this unit, we are going to jump back in time to the 1700s and are going start by focusing on the North, and New England specifically. After the Civil War, the South starts industrializing in a huge way, because plantation agriculture will not work after the passage of the 13th Amendment. There is a 20 minute video and a not-quiz posted on the industrialization video page that gives a good overview of the period. Email me if you don't remember the password for the video page.
Samuel Slater and Industrial Espionage
We started this activity by trying to steal machines (made with K'Nex) by memorizing how they were assembled. Successful spies recreated their machine exactly based on what they remembered, channeling their inner Samuel Slater.
The Industrial Revolution began in England because they were the first to create factories that made manufactured goods. As a result, the British were very protective of their technology and it was illegal to travel with blueprints or plans for British machines or technology. Samuel Slater was a British guy who worked for many years during the mid-1700s in a famous set of mills run by Richard Arkwright. He was able to disrupt Britain's economic good fortune by memorizing the machines used in Arkwright's textile mills, then came to colonial America (Slatersville, Rhode Island - near Pawtucket - to be exact) and rebuilt the machine to use here. This act of industrial espionage brought the Industrial Revolution to the United States. In world history, this is called the Second Industrial Revolution. We played with these ideas by creating machines with K'Nex pieces and then trying to memorize and rebuild the machines of others. Many machines were rebuilt from memory, like Samuel Slater was able to do, and some were so well documented that credit was stolen and machines were patented. Then we went over a boatload of vocabulary in the picture below.
The Industrial Revolution began in England because they were the first to create factories that made manufactured goods. As a result, the British were very protective of their technology and it was illegal to travel with blueprints or plans for British machines or technology. Samuel Slater was a British guy who worked for many years during the mid-1700s in a famous set of mills run by Richard Arkwright. He was able to disrupt Britain's economic good fortune by memorizing the machines used in Arkwright's textile mills, then came to colonial America (Slatersville, Rhode Island - near Pawtucket - to be exact) and rebuilt the machine to use here. This act of industrial espionage brought the Industrial Revolution to the United States. In world history, this is called the Second Industrial Revolution. We played with these ideas by creating machines with K'Nex pieces and then trying to memorize and rebuild the machines of others. Many machines were rebuilt from memory, like Samuel Slater was able to do, and some were so well documented that credit was stolen and machines were patented. Then we went over a boatload of vocabulary in the picture below.
Industrialization and the use of interchangeable parts, developed by Eli Whitney (the same one that invented the cotton gin) had three effects; identical products could be mass produced very quickly, job opportunities for skilled workers went down as this work was done by machines, and job opportunities for unskilled workers, like women, children, and immigrants, went up. As a result, cottage industry was nearly eliminated. Industrialization did not start in the United States, as you learned in your chapter 11 homework. It started in England. Once industrialization came to the US, it took off in New England. Why? As we discussed in the colonization unit, New England had poor soil and climate for large scale farming so they had to develop an economic system based on something else. Deep water ports led them to create a trade based economy. In your reading, you learned about wealthy investors (the book called them capitalists) in the North who were willing to pay for factories to be built. Last, we talked about how the geography of New England causes there to be fast moving rivers. This is kinetic energy ready to be used to power early mills and factories.
The Effects of the Industrial Revolution
In groups, you each worked to become experts about a particular aspect of industrialization; technological advancements, big business, urbanization, working conditions, or labor unions. Here are the readings provided in class on which you based your presentations. The summary has the big picture ideas from the whole chapter and each section has a yellow box about how that topic relates to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which we will be looking more in depth coming up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Below are some presentations that were made to highlight the key information in these sections. Most were made this year, but because you guys were pretty creative in your presentations I needed to supplement with visual presentations from years in the past.
|
|
|
|
|
|
On the pop quiz, there was a bit of confusion about the difference between urbanization and industrialization, so we spent part of a class period fleshing out the difference. The image above has the definitions created by one class and some of the effects (but certainly not all) of these two processes.
Child Labor
Child labor was a social issue that was really difficult to get solid information about, so the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) hired Lewis Hine to travel the United States and take pictures of children working. Hine worked for the NCLC for 10 years and took thousands of photos, each with a caption which provided valuable context and additional detail. Hine is sometimes considered a muckraker and is often credited with starting photojournalism. Personally, as much as I love Hine, I have a hard time passing over Mathew Brady as the creator of photojournalism.
The Library of Congress has recently put together an online exhibit of Lewis Hine photographs on child labor. They also have over 5,000 images collected by the National Child Labor Committee to document child labor in the US (most of which were taken by Hine.) I find their flickr page a little easier to navigate, though. The website, The History Place, has a decent collection of Lewis Hine Photographs with their original captions organized by industry.
The Library of Congress has recently put together an online exhibit of Lewis Hine photographs on child labor. They also have over 5,000 images collected by the National Child Labor Committee to document child labor in the US (most of which were taken by Hine.) I find their flickr page a little easier to navigate, though. The website, The History Place, has a decent collection of Lewis Hine Photographs with their original captions organized by industry.
The slideshow above includes the images we analyzed as a class. We've done a fair bit of image analysis already this year, but this time around we really focused on the relationship between observation and inference. Photographs can be valuable historical documents, packed with useful information. This does not mean that they are unbiased! Historians use a specific method to make sure they take in as much information as possible without missing things that are easy to gloss over. We used a 4 step method to train ourselves to see as much in these images as possible.
- First, you make as many observations as possible. This is harder than it seems, because our brains automatically want to make sense of the information we take in. STOP! You need to record only what you see, not what you think you see or what it means or why you think it is there (or not there - noticing what is missing is an important part of observation.)
- Step two is to record your inferences. Inferences are the assumptions you make based on your observations, therefore they must be supported by your observations. They are what allow you to make sense out of the image so you can bring in background or outside information, but your inference should be tied to an observation. Again, the hard part about image analysis is separating these two steps. If you can do that, you will free up brain space to "see" more when you observe, AND to know what your inferences are based on, so you can only use the best ones to understand what you are looking at.
- Third, ask yourself a couple of questions based on the image. This helps you become aware of what you cannot actually see in the image and may highlight bias in the image. The questions should be ones you cannot answer from the image and whose answers will help you understand what is going on.
- Last, make a general statement about the topic or period in history -- in this case the topic is child labor -- BASED ON THE IMAGE. Your generalization shouldn't be something you knew about the topic before you analyzed the image. For example, "Working conditions for children were dangerous" would not be a good generalization after looking at the image at the top of the page because it doesn't use information from the picture to support it. A better generalization would be something like "Working conditions for children were dangerous because they often had to climb into or on top of working machinery" because you can see the boys standing on the machine with one leg in between the bobbins.
Triangle Shirtwaist Simulation
On Monday, we simulated potential working conditions in a textile factory. To prepare for this simulation, you created a shirtwaist for homework using cottage industry as a production method. In the simulation, we switched to assembly line production. Over the course of the simulation, the two original companies formed a trust to reduce competition (the Angle and Tri Factories became the Triangle Factory) and moved to New York City as part of urbanization. In the new location, the boss decided to save money by not paying for electric lighting because you were in an upper floor of a new skyscraper and had lots of natural light at first. However, as the air quality deteriorated due to fiber in the air, it became dark. Additionally, the owners decided to save money by turning off the lights and relying on the natural sunlight. The manager of the shop was a pretty intense woman who insisted on being called Boss Lady and yelled a whole lot. Workers who were not up to snuff, or who she just didn't like, were fired and replaced by cheaper immigrant labor. A lot of people were fired.
After the simulation, we debriefed what happened and took some notes. During the simulation we had two successful strikes, in D and E periods. Many students were trying to agitate to go on strike, but there were enough other workers concerned about their ability to feed their families or who saw how easy it was to be replaced by cheaper immigrant labor that were unwilling to walk off the job. Others were focused on doing a good job with their work. Also, rules in the factory made it difficult to coordinate. Nate tried to talk to folks about organizing and Alex wrote messages encouraging unionizing down the assembly line. Others took a different tack. Dakota sabotaged her part of the assembly line in an attempt to cost the Triangle Factory money for producing goods that could not be sold. In the same mentality, Jayden stole from the factory (as a form of protest) which would have cut into Triangle's profit margin if he hadn't been caught. Lily refused to work so often that she was blacklisted.
Because we create our definitions in class, you might have slightly different words in your binder, but the picture above is of the vocab and notes after one of the debrief sessions. Remember, the vocab word "scab" is biased slang. The neutral phrase is "replacement workers." However, this slang will come up later in class and I want to be sure you understand it in context.
Because we create our definitions in class, you might have slightly different words in your binder, but the picture above is of the vocab and notes after one of the debrief sessions. Remember, the vocab word "scab" is biased slang. The neutral phrase is "replacement workers." However, this slang will come up later in class and I want to be sure you understand it in context.
The history of the actual Triangle Shirtwaist was shown in the Triangle Fire video we watched in class. The video is posted on the video page if you would like to watch it again. Email me if you need the password again (no judgment).
Big Business: Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
You have a poster project due on Monday, May 7th. Your poster should introduce us to one of six big business bosses during the Industrial Era - Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, Jay Gould, and Henry Ford. While you were provided with a one page information sheet about your assigned big business boss (posted below), if you would like to use additional information, the following websites are available to use. Please do not use sources not listed here unless we have a conversation about the source first.
|
|
Carnegie
Library of Congress - America's Story
Library of Congress - American Memory
American Experience - Carnegie Bio
American Experience - Meet Andrew Carnegie
American Experience - The Carnegie Mansion
How to Succeed in Life, by Andrew Carnegie
American Experience - Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth
Rockefeller
American Experience - John D. Rockefeller Biography
American Experience - Antitrust Trial
American Experience - Rockefeller vs. Tarbell
American Experience - Ludlow Massacre
American Experience - Letters requesting Donations
American Experience - Interactive Map
History 102 - Standard Oil (scroll down to Standard Oil of New Jersey)
Vanderbilt
Guilder Lehrman - Robber Baron
History 102 - Erie Railroad Wars
American Experience - Vanderbilt Chateau
Harper's Weekly - Cartoon: The Great Race for the Western Stakes
America's Story - Financing the Electric Lightbulb
Morgan
Biography of America - John Pierpont Morgan and the American Corporation
American Experience - J.P Morgan Brief Biography
America's Story - Financing the Electric Lightbulb
Freedom: A History of US - JP Morgan
Gould
PBS Kids
History 102 - Erie Railroad Wars
Digital History - Jay Gould
Encyclopedia Britannica - Jay Gould
Ford
Eyewitness to History: Henry Ford Changes the World 1908
PBS - Henry Ford
American Experience - Henry Ford
Many students have asked how much Industrial Era money would be worth today. Here is an inflation calculator where you can put in an amount and a year and it will tell you how much that would be worth today.
Library of Congress - America's Story
Library of Congress - American Memory
American Experience - Carnegie Bio
American Experience - Meet Andrew Carnegie
American Experience - The Carnegie Mansion
How to Succeed in Life, by Andrew Carnegie
American Experience - Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth
Rockefeller
American Experience - John D. Rockefeller Biography
American Experience - Antitrust Trial
American Experience - Rockefeller vs. Tarbell
American Experience - Ludlow Massacre
American Experience - Letters requesting Donations
American Experience - Interactive Map
History 102 - Standard Oil (scroll down to Standard Oil of New Jersey)
Vanderbilt
Guilder Lehrman - Robber Baron
History 102 - Erie Railroad Wars
American Experience - Vanderbilt Chateau
Harper's Weekly - Cartoon: The Great Race for the Western Stakes
America's Story - Financing the Electric Lightbulb
Morgan
Biography of America - John Pierpont Morgan and the American Corporation
American Experience - J.P Morgan Brief Biography
America's Story - Financing the Electric Lightbulb
Freedom: A History of US - JP Morgan
Gould
PBS Kids
History 102 - Erie Railroad Wars
Digital History - Jay Gould
Encyclopedia Britannica - Jay Gould
Ford
Eyewitness to History: Henry Ford Changes the World 1908
PBS - Henry Ford
American Experience - Henry Ford
Many students have asked how much Industrial Era money would be worth today. Here is an inflation calculator where you can put in an amount and a year and it will tell you how much that would be worth today.
Reformers
Earlier, when we looked at the child labor photographs, some sections talked about how Lewis Hine could be seen as a muckraker. Muckrakers are only one type of reformers, people who work to change something about society. All muckrakers are reformers, but not all reformers are muckrakers. We watched a video that is part of the "Freedom: A History of US" series called Yearning to Breathe Free that is posted on the video page along with the guided notes that covered reformers like "Mother" Jones, John Muir, Ida Tarbell (perhaps the most famous muckraker), and Jane Addams. In the next class we talked about Jacob Riis and Upton Sinclair. Both of these men are in the video posted on the video page, and here is a quick, 2-minute segment about Jacob Riis and his use of the newly invented flash. Because this part of the discussion got rushed in a few sections, here is a written explanation.
Jacob Riis was a muckraker whose social issue was tenement living and the poor treatment of immigrants in the US. He took advantage of flash photography, a new invention of the time, to take pictures of the tenements. He, like Hine, tried to interview people living in tenements (there was often a language barrier) and published his findings and his photos in a book called "How the Other Half Lives". It was shocking and lead to tenement reform.
Upton Sinclair was also a muckraking reformer. His social issue was also the treatment of the poor. He wrote a famous book called "The Jungle" that was supposed to be about the treatment of immigrants and unskilled workers in the meatpacking industry. He wrote about some really nasty things that were happening in the meatpacking industry, but instead of the public being outraged about the treatment of the workers, they were appalled at how unsanitary the meat was. In class, a number of students remarked that this could be an illustration of the universe of obligation; people are typically more concerned with their own health than the health and safety of others, especially others they don't know and have less connection to. Sinclair's book lead to major reforms in the meatpacking industry and the creation of the FDA, but did not raise much sympathy for the workers.
Jacob Riis was a muckraker whose social issue was tenement living and the poor treatment of immigrants in the US. He took advantage of flash photography, a new invention of the time, to take pictures of the tenements. He, like Hine, tried to interview people living in tenements (there was often a language barrier) and published his findings and his photos in a book called "How the Other Half Lives". It was shocking and lead to tenement reform.
Upton Sinclair was also a muckraking reformer. His social issue was also the treatment of the poor. He wrote a famous book called "The Jungle" that was supposed to be about the treatment of immigrants and unskilled workers in the meatpacking industry. He wrote about some really nasty things that were happening in the meatpacking industry, but instead of the public being outraged about the treatment of the workers, they were appalled at how unsanitary the meat was. In class, a number of students remarked that this could be an illustration of the universe of obligation; people are typically more concerned with their own health than the health and safety of others, especially others they don't know and have less connection to. Sinclair's book lead to major reforms in the meatpacking industry and the creation of the FDA, but did not raise much sympathy for the workers.
Industrialization unit test - Friday, May 11
(Thursday, May 10 for Section F)
Your last unit test of the year is scheduled for the end of the week. Most of you will take it on Friday, May 11. Below is the study guide. We will continue to learn this information right up until the test, but if you would like to know the content before we learn it so that you can study, feel free to come to tutorial. I am happy to give you a head start!
study_guide.pdf | |
File Size: | 79 kb |
File Type: |
Your classmates wrote some excellent short answer responses on the test. Below are some examples of responses that earned full credit.
1. Explain the change in job opportunities after the Industrial Revolution.
After the Industrial Revolution work changed from the cottage industry, which was skilled workers making one particular item, to mass production, which involved the use of an assembly line and unskilled labor to create cheap and identical items. Because of this, a lot more job opportunities opened up for those who were not skilled, like women and children, and reduced the need for skilled labor.
2. Define and give the significance of Samuel Slater to US history.
Samuel Slater was a British man who worked for Richard Arkwright, an inventor and industrialist. He worked in mills owned by Arkwright for years, studying and memorizing the machines that Arkwright used. He wanted to memorize the machines so well that he could travel to an undeveloped area and make profit off recreating the machines. This is called industrial espionage, which is stealing a company's designs or technology so that they can be recreated for use by someone else. Slater traveled to Rhode Island and was able to effectively reproduce the Arkwright machines. Slater's machines sparked interest in industrialization and soon man more factories were built to start mass producing products. This movement gave birth to the American Industrial Revolution, a significant turning point in US History.
3. Pick one of the muckrakers we discussed in class. Explain why they are considered a muckraker and what they were trying to do.
Ida Tarbell was a school teacher turned writer who was asked by McClure's magazine to investigate John D. Rockefeller. Ida took 4 years to do the research and it was published in installments in the magazines. Her expose showed how Rockefeller was using the Standard Oil Trust to make a monopoly that unfairly took advantage of workers and bankrupted competition. People were horrified to learn of this and Rockefeller forbid anyone from saying Id Tarbell's name around him. She is considered a muckraker because she used the media in the form of a magazine to expose the societal problem of monopolies.
Upton Sinclair wrote a book called "The Jungle". It was about the treatment of workers in the meat packing industry and the terrible conditions. He is considered a muckraker because he wrote about a social issue in order to affect people's views. When the book was published the people who read it (mostly higher class people who had the money and time to read) weren't affected by the treatment of the workers, but instead the treatment of the meat. It was very unsanitary in the factories and some of the machines were so dangerous that some workers got fingers chopped off. The readers were surprised because the treatment of the meat was directly affecting them and their food. Upton Sinclair was trying to get people to realize how terrible the workers were being treated, but instead people reacted by making new laws about the treatment of food.
A muckraker is someone who brings light to social issues by publishing them in the media. Lewis Hine was a muckraker because he took photos of children working in many different industries with bad working conditions. His goal was to expose the public to the way that the children of this country were being treated on assembly lines and big textile machines.
A muckraker is usually a journalist who brings a problem to into the public eye using the media. Jacob Riis was a muckraker, but also a reformer. A reformer is a person who tries to change society. Jacob Riis brought the living situation of the poor into the eyes of the wealthy through photography. He would come into tenements and take pictures of the filth they had to live in. A tenement is a small cramped, cheap apartment. These grew in population due to urbanization and the need for non-expensive housing in cities for working families. Jacob Riis wanted to draw attention to how awful the working classes lived were. Many higher class people didn't know about their lives because the poor and rich rarely communicated. Some of his pictures showed 8 people sleeping all on the same floor Jacob Riis was a muckraker who wanted to change the way the poor had to live.
4. Select one of the industrialists we discussed in class. Was he a Captain of Industry or a Robber Baron? Explain your choice using specific examples and vocabulary.
J.P. Morgan was a Captain of Industry because he was a philanthropist meaning he donated great deals of money including an art collection worth $1 billion today to the Metropolitan Museum when he died. Although he did control most of the steel and railroad industries in the form of monopolies, he gave good working conditions and wages. He accrued most of his steel industry from Andrew Carnegie, another very successful Captain of Industry who had a vertical monopoly on steel. J.P Morgan also invested in many companies during the Civil War to aid the Union.
John D. Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry because the way he was so charitable was just mind-blowing. For example, he was making just 50 cents a day and he still found a way to give. Not only did he give to charity, he had a fresh and creative mind and way of thinking. He used this character to create the Standard Oil Trust. Also, he had a monopoly that was horizontally integrated. With this, he owned over 90% of the oil industry. He was the second to Andrew Carnegie, who had vertical integration down. He was a reformer because he used his platform to try and change the issue of schooling for blacks. As an example, he put funding into the present day HBCU all women's college, Spellman. Lastly, he gave $550 million in charitable donations. This man, John D. Rockefeller, was selfless. When he had nothing, he still had something to help someone else. I'm definitely not saying anyone is perfect, but he did what he could to make a lasting impact on the world. John D. Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry.
A Captain of Industry is a business person who does good and works for the greater good in their area of business. A Robber Baron is a person who lies and cheats people to make more money in their industry. Jay Gould had a monopoly in trains and gold. His Robber Baron traits outweighed his Captain of Industry traits. Jay Gould started as an investor, helping people start their companies. One the other hand, he cheated Cornelius Vanderbilt, a wealthy entrepreneur, by selling Vanderbilt big shares in his company and immediately splitting his company up into more shares, so each share dropped in value. Gould lowered prices of his products to put smaller businesses out of business and donated none of his money to anybody but his kids. Therefore, he was not a philanthropist.
Jay Gould was a Robber Baron. He had a monopoly on the railroads. He rigged stocks and he would join people's business or have people join him, take their money, and then back out. He then used his money to buy off other people. He could have been a Captain of Industry like Andrew Carnegie, who donated $4.2 billion and started libraries with his money, if he had donated some of his money or used it for something good, but instead he kept it all for himself. He once got in a fight with Vanderbilt, who was another business owner, but when he was found guilty he paid people to change the law. He owned many railroads around the country and a lot of the big ones that went from city to city, so he eventually had a monopoly, which is when one person owns most or all of one industry. He cared very little about the working class and other people in general. He once said, "I could hire half of the working class to kill the other half." Another bad thing he did was purchase a lot of gold which made the price of gold go down. All the people who had invested in gold lost a bunch of money. He did one good thing and that was making all of America accessible to citizens.
1. Explain the change in job opportunities after the Industrial Revolution.
After the Industrial Revolution work changed from the cottage industry, which was skilled workers making one particular item, to mass production, which involved the use of an assembly line and unskilled labor to create cheap and identical items. Because of this, a lot more job opportunities opened up for those who were not skilled, like women and children, and reduced the need for skilled labor.
2. Define and give the significance of Samuel Slater to US history.
Samuel Slater was a British man who worked for Richard Arkwright, an inventor and industrialist. He worked in mills owned by Arkwright for years, studying and memorizing the machines that Arkwright used. He wanted to memorize the machines so well that he could travel to an undeveloped area and make profit off recreating the machines. This is called industrial espionage, which is stealing a company's designs or technology so that they can be recreated for use by someone else. Slater traveled to Rhode Island and was able to effectively reproduce the Arkwright machines. Slater's machines sparked interest in industrialization and soon man more factories were built to start mass producing products. This movement gave birth to the American Industrial Revolution, a significant turning point in US History.
3. Pick one of the muckrakers we discussed in class. Explain why they are considered a muckraker and what they were trying to do.
Ida Tarbell was a school teacher turned writer who was asked by McClure's magazine to investigate John D. Rockefeller. Ida took 4 years to do the research and it was published in installments in the magazines. Her expose showed how Rockefeller was using the Standard Oil Trust to make a monopoly that unfairly took advantage of workers and bankrupted competition. People were horrified to learn of this and Rockefeller forbid anyone from saying Id Tarbell's name around him. She is considered a muckraker because she used the media in the form of a magazine to expose the societal problem of monopolies.
Upton Sinclair wrote a book called "The Jungle". It was about the treatment of workers in the meat packing industry and the terrible conditions. He is considered a muckraker because he wrote about a social issue in order to affect people's views. When the book was published the people who read it (mostly higher class people who had the money and time to read) weren't affected by the treatment of the workers, but instead the treatment of the meat. It was very unsanitary in the factories and some of the machines were so dangerous that some workers got fingers chopped off. The readers were surprised because the treatment of the meat was directly affecting them and their food. Upton Sinclair was trying to get people to realize how terrible the workers were being treated, but instead people reacted by making new laws about the treatment of food.
A muckraker is someone who brings light to social issues by publishing them in the media. Lewis Hine was a muckraker because he took photos of children working in many different industries with bad working conditions. His goal was to expose the public to the way that the children of this country were being treated on assembly lines and big textile machines.
A muckraker is usually a journalist who brings a problem to into the public eye using the media. Jacob Riis was a muckraker, but also a reformer. A reformer is a person who tries to change society. Jacob Riis brought the living situation of the poor into the eyes of the wealthy through photography. He would come into tenements and take pictures of the filth they had to live in. A tenement is a small cramped, cheap apartment. These grew in population due to urbanization and the need for non-expensive housing in cities for working families. Jacob Riis wanted to draw attention to how awful the working classes lived were. Many higher class people didn't know about their lives because the poor and rich rarely communicated. Some of his pictures showed 8 people sleeping all on the same floor Jacob Riis was a muckraker who wanted to change the way the poor had to live.
4. Select one of the industrialists we discussed in class. Was he a Captain of Industry or a Robber Baron? Explain your choice using specific examples and vocabulary.
J.P. Morgan was a Captain of Industry because he was a philanthropist meaning he donated great deals of money including an art collection worth $1 billion today to the Metropolitan Museum when he died. Although he did control most of the steel and railroad industries in the form of monopolies, he gave good working conditions and wages. He accrued most of his steel industry from Andrew Carnegie, another very successful Captain of Industry who had a vertical monopoly on steel. J.P Morgan also invested in many companies during the Civil War to aid the Union.
John D. Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry because the way he was so charitable was just mind-blowing. For example, he was making just 50 cents a day and he still found a way to give. Not only did he give to charity, he had a fresh and creative mind and way of thinking. He used this character to create the Standard Oil Trust. Also, he had a monopoly that was horizontally integrated. With this, he owned over 90% of the oil industry. He was the second to Andrew Carnegie, who had vertical integration down. He was a reformer because he used his platform to try and change the issue of schooling for blacks. As an example, he put funding into the present day HBCU all women's college, Spellman. Lastly, he gave $550 million in charitable donations. This man, John D. Rockefeller, was selfless. When he had nothing, he still had something to help someone else. I'm definitely not saying anyone is perfect, but he did what he could to make a lasting impact on the world. John D. Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry.
A Captain of Industry is a business person who does good and works for the greater good in their area of business. A Robber Baron is a person who lies and cheats people to make more money in their industry. Jay Gould had a monopoly in trains and gold. His Robber Baron traits outweighed his Captain of Industry traits. Jay Gould started as an investor, helping people start their companies. One the other hand, he cheated Cornelius Vanderbilt, a wealthy entrepreneur, by selling Vanderbilt big shares in his company and immediately splitting his company up into more shares, so each share dropped in value. Gould lowered prices of his products to put smaller businesses out of business and donated none of his money to anybody but his kids. Therefore, he was not a philanthropist.
Jay Gould was a Robber Baron. He had a monopoly on the railroads. He rigged stocks and he would join people's business or have people join him, take their money, and then back out. He then used his money to buy off other people. He could have been a Captain of Industry like Andrew Carnegie, who donated $4.2 billion and started libraries with his money, if he had donated some of his money or used it for something good, but instead he kept it all for himself. He once got in a fight with Vanderbilt, who was another business owner, but when he was found guilty he paid people to change the law. He owned many railroads around the country and a lot of the big ones that went from city to city, so he eventually had a monopoly, which is when one person owns most or all of one industry. He cared very little about the working class and other people in general. He once said, "I could hire half of the working class to kill the other half." Another bad thing he did was purchase a lot of gold which made the price of gold go down. All the people who had invested in gold lost a bunch of money. He did one good thing and that was making all of America accessible to citizens.