Warm Up Vocab

• Industrialist– A person who owns an industry that focuses on using

machines, factories, mines, or railroads to produce goods.

• Monopoly– The exclusive possession or control of the trade of a good

or service.

• Robber Baron– Nickname given to successful/highly wealthy industrialists

who often gained their fortune using ruthless tactics.

• Subsidy– Government money given to a producer(business) to keep

costs of production low and therefore prices of the good they make low.

Topic 5B – The Robber Barons

Jay Gould

• Railroads• 9th richest in US

history• Took over the Erie

Railroad and the Union Pacific

• Caused financial panic and ruined other investors.

• “I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half.”

J.P. Morgan

• Banking, Electricity, Railroads

• Board member of 48 corporations.

• Used the government to keep out foreign competitors

• Controlled half of U.S. railways

• “A man generally has two reasons for doing things, one that sounds good and a real one.”

Leland Stanford

• Railroads– Used his position as

governor and senator to assist this Central Pacific Railroad

– Funneled CA state money into his company

– Hired Chinese workers at low wages• Used them to threaten Irish

immigrants with losing their jobs for complaining.

• “The employee is regarded by the employer merely in the light of his value as an operative.”

John Rockefeller

• Oil• Controlled oil interests in

the US• Formed a monopoly• Never lowered prices

despite new technologies making it cheaper

• Could buy or easily put others out of business by withholding oil

• “God gave me my money. I believe the power to make money is a gift from God…”

Andrew Carnegie• Steel• Rags to riches

– Came to the U.S. poor, died one of the richest in history

• Kept worker wages low• Broke steel and rail unions• Hired managers that

lowered wages despite record profits.

• Philantropist• “I resolved to stop

accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.”

The Robber Barons

• Often used exploitative practices to gain massive amounts of wealth.

• Paid extremely low wages to workers.• Created monopolies to crush

competition.• Took control of most of U.S. natural

resources.• Ruin acquired companies to make even

more profits.• Using government influence to maintain

control, and profit even further.