what factors influenced american growth and expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth...

What factors influenced American

growth and expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century?

Natural ResourcesNatural Resources

• America had tons of natural resources

– Coal, Iron, Oil, Farmland

• Natural resources were used to generate huge profits by new American businesses

Laissez – Faire CapitalismLaissez – Faire Capitalism

• Gov’t should not interfere with private businesses

• Businesses took advantage of people and abused workers’ rights

• Businesses did “anything to turn a larger profit”

Special Business Special Business ConsiderationsConsiderations

• Gov’t granted special privileges to business owners

• Gave free land to railroad owners by stealing it from rightful owners

ImmigrationImmigration

• Immigrants increased the labor supply

• Businesses paid immigrants as little as possible in order to generate huge profits

New InventionsTechnology led to new industrial

growth

Transportation

• Airplane – Wright Brothers

• Allowed businesses to transport products to new markets overseas

Business Production• Bessemer

Process – Henry Bessemer

• Made steel cheap and affordable to increase construction of cities

Communication• Telephone –

Alexander Graham Bell

• Allowed businesses to expand to different markets

Communication

• Telegraph – Samuel Morse

• Allowed businesses to expand to different markets

Business Production

• Electricity – Thomas Edison

• Increased production by allowing work at night

Business Production• Mechanical Reaper

– Cyrus McCormick

• Increased farm production and helped clear landscape in west for settlers

Business Production• Alternating Current

– George Westinghouse

• Increased production by allowing electricity to spread across the country

Business Production

• Assembly Line – Henry Ford

• Used by all factories to increase production

New Business New Business PracticesPractices

MonopolyMonopoly• One business

owner controls the market of a product

• Drives other competitors out of business by lowering and raising prices

TrustsTrusts

• One company controls the making of a product

• Allows company to control the price of the product

CorporationCorporation• Large companies

made up of smaller businesses

• Limited Liability

– Allowed people to invest money with little risk by investing in profitable parts of corporation

Modern Corporations

Robber barons or Robber barons or Captains of Industry?Captains of Industry?

Robber barronsRobber barrons

• Wealthy business owners who lied, cheated, and stole fortunes from average Americans

Captains of IndustryCaptains of Industry

• Smart businessmen who earned their money through legal business practices

• Gave millions of dollars to charity

Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie• Scottish

Immigrant• Created US Steel

–first corporation worth $1 billion dollars

Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie

• Believed in Social Darwinism

–people can do whatever they want to make money

Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie

• Gave 80% of his money back to the public

• Workers protested working conditions in his factories

J. P. MorganJ. P. Morgan

• Banking tycoon who made millions off of investments and investment companies

John D RockefellerJohn D Rockefeller• Created the

Standard Oil Company in 1870 (trust)

• Able to control the price of oil in America by owning all aspects of oil production

John D RockefellerJohn D Rockefeller• Gave $500

million dollars to various charities

Cornelius VanderbiltCornelius Vanderbilt

• Made a fortune in the railroad business

• Introduced the use of steel rails and a standard gauge (distance between rails).