Objective 5.02

Explain how business leaders accumulated wealth and wielded

political and economic power.

Essential Questions

• What characteristics were vital to the success of industrial leaders of the Gilded Age?

• How did captains of industry accumulate wealth and power?

• Should an individual be allowed to accumulate as much wealth as possible?

Bessemer Process

Process by which Iron was melted until the impurities were burnt off and steel was the end product

Andrew Carnegie

Owner of US Steel

U S Steel

Giant Steel Monopoly

Edwin DrakeDrilled the first Oil Well in New York

John D. RockefellerOwner of Standard Oil Company

Standard Oil Company

Giant Oil Monopoly

J P Morgan

Banker of the Gilded Age, Made money investing in companies like US Steel

Monopoly

One company controls all of the product in a market

TrustBoard of Directors of several companies come together to form a monopoly

Vanderbilt Family

Father Cornelius, family made money from the railroad industry, Biltmore House

George Westinghouse

Developed electric appliances for home use, alternating current

Horatio Alger

American writer that wrote rags to riches stories and fulfillment of the American Dream

Gospel of Wealth

God ordained for me to be wealthy, God favors those that have wealth

Social Darwinism

“Survival of the Fittest”, I’m wealthy because I am better than you

Gilded AgeAge of the “Robber Barons”, ridiculous wealth, political machines, immigrants, industrialization

QuizChoose 5

• Edwin Drake• Bessemer Process• Andrew Carnegie• Gospel of Wealth• J. P. Morgan• U. S. Steel• John D. Rockefeller

• Standard Oil Company• Vanderbilt family• George Westinghouse• Horatio Alger• Herbert Spencer• Gilded Age• “Captains of industry”• “Robber barons”