Economics of the gilded age

Economics of the Gilded Age

Laquan, Rachelle, and Julia S.

This group of men could be viewed in either a

positive or negative light, depending on your views.

While they can be seen as excellent, charitable business men who brought America forward, they can also be viewed as cruel and selfish people who took advantage of workers.

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry

Helped build the American steel industry He went from being a poor young man to one

of the richest entrepreneurs of the age. He incorporated new machinery and

techniques, and invented accounting systems that enabled him to track precise costs.

He controlled as much of the steel industry as he could.

Andrew Carnegie

Vanderbilt gained his wealth through shipping

and railroads. He became one of the richest Americans in

history He provided the initial gift to found Vanderbilt

University He initially worked on steamships, and then began to build his own rail lines.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Morgan was already a banker when he gained

most of his wealth First, When President Grover Cleveland

needed gold to back the currency, he and other bankers under his leadership gave the government gold in exchange for United States government bonds. Later on, these bonds were sold and made huge profits.

In 1898, Morgan formed the Federal Steel Company, and made another fortune in steel.

J.P. Morgan

As a child, he saved $50 by the age of 12, and

then lent the money, with interest, to a farmer. He later said “The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let the money be my servant and not make myself a slave to the money…“

•Rockefeller owned an oil company, which he made a lot of money off of, but he paid his employees very little.

He controlled 90% of the refining business.

John Rockefeller

He made is competitors go out of

business because of business because he sold his productions for very cheap. Then when he controlled the market he hiked prices far above original levels.

• However, Rockefeller later gave away $500 million to the University of Chicago and a medical institute to help cure yellow fever.

Rockefeller (continued)

a U.S. tobacco and electric power industrialist

best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing.

James Buchanan Duke

Technology had a huge effect on economics

during this period.

Technology

• Railroads help spread business

westward, and railroads also gave huge land grants and loans to railroad companies.

Railroads

• Edwin L. Drake used the steam engine

to drill for oil – in 1859 they found oil and started the oil boom.

• This spread to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas.

Oil (Black Gold)

• 1887 – Iron ore deposits were found in

Minnesota – more than 100 miles long and about 3 miles wide.

• Coal went up too, from 33million tons in 1870 to 250 million tons in 1900.

Bessemer Steel

Henry Bessemer – British manufacturer Henry and William Kelly- in 1850, developed the

Bessemer process – injecting air into molten iron to eliminate carbon and other stuff- making steel

• By 1880 American manufacturers were producing more than 90% of the nation’s steel

The Bessemer process was also beat in the 1800s by the open-hearth process

• Open-hearth process – getting quality steel from scrap metal and raw metal

Bessemer Steel (Continued)

Steel was used on the railroads,

innovative construction, the Brooklyn bridge. • William Le Baron Jenney – designed first

sky scrapper with a steel frame • Joseph Glidden- Barbed wire • McCormick and Deere- farm machines

made of steel – mechanical reaper and steel plow

Bessemer Steel (Continued)

• In 1876, Thomas Edison established the first

research lab in Menlo Park, NJ. • Developed the light bulb there and patented it in

1880, then an entire system for producing electrical power

• By 1890 electric power spread to several different machines like the fan and printing press.

• Electric streetcars made travel cheap and efficient • Factories were able to move to different locations

that suited the owner more, moved away from rivers • This enabled industry to grow

Electricity

• Christopher Sholes – typewriter in 1867 • Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas

Watson – telephone on 1876 • These created jobs for women • By 1890, average work hours were

reduced about 10 hours • Women used to sew, now clothing can

be mass produced in factories – women were needed as garment workers

Other Inventions of the Age