Patents

• Inventors were able to benefit from their inventions and defend their products from being copied

• 1836 - Reorganized patent law + established the Patent Office

• Expanded the economy + encouraged more innovation

Brooklyn Bridge

• Built by John + Washington Roebling

• Completed in 1883

Skyscrapers

• Made of steel

• Designed by Louis Sullivan

• Famous skyscrapers included the Woolworth Building + Empire State Building

• 1st skyscraper completed in 1885

Wabash Case

• 1886

• The Supreme Court stated that because railroads were interstate, they couldn’t be regulated by state governments

James J. Hill

• Rags to riches

• The chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest

• 1893 - Finished the Great Northern Railroad

John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil)

• Took over the oil industry + integration

• 1870 - Formed Standard Oil

• Used horizontal integration for efficient production

• 1911 - Breakup of Standard Oil

• Believed in philanthropy

Cornelius Vanderbilt

• Consolidated railroads

• His use of uniform steel rails improved the efficiency of railroads

Bessemer Process

• 1855 - Bessemer process received patent

• Invented by Henry Bessemer

• Forcing air up through molten iron would make steel

• Process to cheaply manufacture better steel

• Made building American infrastructure much easier

Stock Market

• 1895 - Began issuing annual reports

• Bond trading + stock issuing

• New York Stock Exchange

• People were able to build their wealth and invest in a reliable market

Andrew Carnegie (US Steel)

• Used vertical combination for more efficient production

• In “Gospel of Wealth,” he wrote about how he believed the rich should have a responsibility of philanthropy

• 1901 - Sold US Steel

The Gospel of Wealth

• 1889 - Written by Andrew Carnegie

• Believed the gov’t shouldn’t interfere with companies making money

• Money should be used to benefit communities

• Justified Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism

• Coined in 1877

• “Survival of the fittest”

• Believed that the rich were superior to other people and were therefore justified to their wealth

• Inspired philanthropy

Robber Barons vs. Captains of Industry

• Consolidating businesses helped them survive competition

• Grew US industrial strength

• Because they were so wealthy, they also gained much political power

Whiskey Pool

• Formed in 1887

• A pool is an informal alliance of producers that agree to share the markets

• Reducing competition would lead to high demand and earnings

• The producers in these pools ended up cheating the public and each other on their agreements

Trust

• If a company purchases the majority of stock of another company, they effectively had control over that company

• Huge trusts were able to control smaller companies and reduce competition

Horizontal Integration

• A business strategy in which one company acquires or merges with another that operates at the same level in an industry

• A monopoly was one company that was able to control the entire industry

• Illegal

Vertical Integration

• One company was able to control every step of the production process

• This was more efficient, leading to cheaper prices and higher profits for the company

• Legal

JP Morgan

• Not rags-to-riches

• 1895 - Began his own investment firm

• Acquired companies + railroads (like US Steel) and consolidated them

• Stabilized the US economy

New South

• An economic revival in the South with railroads + cotton mills

• Economy of agriculture + Northern textiles

• Still racist

Henry George

• 1879 - Wrote Progress and Poverty

• Only supported property taxation

• Ideas never seriously applied

Edward Bellamy

• 1888 - Wrote Looking Backward*,* which supported a utopian philosophy

• Believed that perfect societies cannot exist

• Ideas faded from popularity

Henry Demarest Lloyd

• Progressive muckraker

• Exposed the corruption of Standard Oil

• 1894 - Wrote Wealth Against Commonwealth

• Supported laborers

• Defended Haymarket Square Riots

• Populist

Interstate Commerce Act

• A United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices

• 1877 - Munn v. Illinois

• 1887 - Interstate Commerce Act was implemented

Sherman Antitrust Act

• 1890 - Passed by Congress

• Used to prosecute monopolistic trusts

• Initially used to break up unions

• Theodore Roosevelt enforced it heavily

BIG PICTURE

• Developments in technology + infrastructure → Expand US economy

• Giant corporations → Huge fortunes

• Combine markets → Efficiency + economic growth

• Regulate businesses + limit power of trusts

• New legislation → Monitor business + prosecute monopolies