Rich PEEPS Flashcards
Robber Barons
Name given to wealthy businessmen who made their fortunes through questionable and unethical business practices and used their power to manipulate the government to serve their own interests. Famous Robber Barons included Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Ford.
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He is a prime example of a Robber Baron, since he ran a monopoly. He is also an example of the rare rags to riches story, but he forgot his roots and treated his workers badly, until right before his death where he donated much of his money.
John Rockefeller
He was a co-founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry, and along with other key contemporary industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie, defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded Standard Oil Company and actively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. Rockefeller’s wealth soared and he became the world’s richest man and the first American worth more than a billion dollars, controlling 90% of all oil in the United States at his peak. Adjusting for inflation, his fortune upon his death in 1937 stood at $336 billion, accounting for more than 1.5% of the national economy, making him the richest person in US history.
Monopoly/ Trust
When a single seller has control over all the sales of a particular product and is therefore able to set the prices because there is no competition.
