the men who built america notes

The Men Who Built America

-Industrial Revolution Era; self-built men start industrializing America Vanderbilt • • • •

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originally involved in shipping- builds largest shipping unit in the world eventually sells all of his ships to invest in railroads  by the end of the Civil War War !a !anderbilt is the richest man in the world "#$% million& !anderbilt !anderbilt mourns the loss of his favorite son in war and is forced to hand down his  business to his less-accomplished son William William !anderbilt !anderbilt decides to close the Albany bridge "only bridge in and out of '(C& to reassert his dominance !anderbilt !anderbilt buys the stoc)s of his competitors which allows him to ta)e control of *+, of the railroads e then builds .rand Central /tation in '(C e wants to buy the Eerie trac) "Chicago to '(C& and begins buying stoc)s but they )eep being printed in a process called watering down e continues to buy and ends up purchasing over #0 million in stoc)s- he was outsmarted  by .ould 1 2is) "the stoc) printers& !anderbilt !anderbilt decides to regain rega in his power by b y gaining control of the )erosene transportation

John D. Rockefeller •

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Roc)efeller is a struggling oil wor)er who !anderbilt !anderbilt wants to get in business with to stay ahead of his competitors Roc)efeller3s oil company in Cleveland is going ban)rupt until un til !anderbilt !anderbilt decides to ship his oil Roc)efeller plans to meet !anderbilt !anderbilt in '(C but misses his train which ends up crashing 4he accident ends up changing Roc)efeller3s life and he decides to ma)e a bigger deal with !anderbilt !anderbilt when they meet e has to find a way wa y to produce the amount of oil that he promised !anderbilt !anderbilt 5-Roc)efeller provided for his family as a young boy; with his father gone he develops his wor) ethic; he invests in refining oil and then ma)es the deal with !anderbilt6 !anderbilt6 Roc)efeller provides clean safe light through )erosene and becomes the largest oil refinery in the country e fills !anderbilt3s !anderbilt3s trains trains with oil for a while but then outgrows this deal e ma)es a better deal with 4om /cott "another railroad controller& than he did with !anderbilt Roc)efeller then pushes to own every oil refinery in the nation with his wealth; he either  buys out competition or ma)es them go ban)rupt 7roceeds to control 8+, of the oil refineries !anderbilt !anderbilt and 4om /cott wor) together to pull all of Roc)efeller3s Roc)efeller 3s deals so he is forced to find another way to transport his oil Roc)efeller build pipelines to transport oil and beat out ou t railroads

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In 9%0: stoc) mar)ets crash after people un-invest in railroads "depression period& /cott and Carnegie still have railroads that Roc)efeller need because his pipeline do not etend there Roc)efeller shuts down the 7ittsburg refineries which causes 4om /cott to lose money and layoff wor)ers who protest and destroy /cott3s railroad industry Roc)efeller replaces !anderbilt !anderbilt as the richest man in the world /cott dies as a result of his industry being destroyed

Andrew Carnegie 4om /cott was Carnegie3s mentor since he was 9< years old =efore /cott3s death he had given Carnegie the pro>ect of b uilding a bridge over the ?ississippi River which would allow for transport from east to west Carnegie finds a way to build the bridge strong enough by using steel /teel is epensive and causes Carnegie to fall behind on his payments when building the /t@ ouis bridge After finishing it Carnegie must convince the public that is safe to use so he sends an elephant across it and it is proven safe Carnegie build his first steel plant after reBuests for steel for railroads and bridges 54om /cott then dies after industry collapse and Carnegie see)s Roc)efeller for revenge6 sing Carnegie steel s)yscrapers are built and Carnegie beco mes rich but still wants to  become more powerful than Roc)efeller  Carnegie see)s out enry 2ric)- a ruthless coal-miner- and hires him in the steel mill so they can overcome Roc)efeller  2ric) becomes greedy for more power than Carnegie and creates a members only club on a la)e in 7ittsburg 4he dam over Dohnstown "right by the member3s only club& brea)s and destroys the town )illing many people 4he members of 2ric)3s club are blamed Carnegie feels somewhat responsible for the disaster and donates mone y for several organizations ater on after Carnegie all is built Carnegie and an d Roc)efeller3s rivalry ta)es off  Carnegie plans to beat out Roc)efeller Roc )efeller by epanding his steel empire- omestead ?ill is  built 4o epand his industry wages must be cut but Carnegie is trying to repair his image so he turns to 2ric) to handle the labor issues 2ric) has wor)ers at steel mill wor) in intolerable conditions; the wor)ers start a stri)e against 2ric)  /teel wor)ers fight the secret police leaving 8 wor)ers dead; militia eventually restores  peace 7ublic is outraged at steel mill massacre and an anarchist group emerges and targets 2ric)  2ric) survives after being shot and stabbed in an attempt assassination • •

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Carnegie was on a trip abroad but is forced to return home- Carnegie and 2ric)3s relationship fades

D@7@ ?organ •

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=orn into a ban)ing family- controlled and taught by his successful father but ?organ wants to grow up to be even more successful ?organ becomes a ban)er who ta)es over failing companies Carnegie fears that his steel mill will become ?organ3s net target ?organ see)s out 4homas Edison who has >ust invented the light-bulb "?organ sees the opportunity to ta)e control over the new electricityF& Edison displays ?organ3s house with light-bulbs and then powers almost all of '(C ?eanwhile Roc)efeller is losing customers after electricity starts replacing )erosene  'i)ola 4esla 4esla is one of Edison3s apprentices but after coming up with the new AC AC "alternating current& instead of Edison3s GC "direct current& 4esla leaves and starts his own business 4esla 4esla shows people that AC is safe and builds a plant that is capable of providing electricity to the entire east coast D@7@ tells Edison to eliminate his competition- 4esla Edison tries to prove AC is dangerous by inventing the first electric chair and the eecution of a human through the electric chair becomes associated with ?organ and Edison damaging their reputation 4esla 4esla rips up his contract with his investor Westinghouse Westinghouse and tells him to ma)e AC success over GC 54esla 54esla did not care about his own powerHwealth rather he wanted his invention to succeed for the good of the people6 Guring a world fair 4esla 4esla and Westinghouse Westinghouse light the entire fair with AC lights forever showing the public the safety of AC 4eslaHWe 4eslaHWestinghouse stinghouse and ?organHEdison fight to win the contract for 'iagara 2alls power  plant; Westinghouse Westinghouse wins the the contract badly defeating ?organ ?organ moves on to create .eneral Electric Company Compan y ta)ing ta)ing out Edison and ma)ing ma) ing himself one of the most powerful men in America n the other end Roc)efeller Roc)ef eller is going out of business until he finally realizes that gasoline "which is a runoff of )erosene& is actually valuable 5gasoline saves Roc)efeller as he realizes its potential6 D@7@ ?organ begins cutting wor)ers from companies to get the most profit which comes co mes to  be called ?organization- Roc)efeller and Carnegie begin following along too

Election of 9%8$ and 4heodore Roosevelt William William Dennings =ryan is a politician who runs for president p resident in 9%8$; he sympathizes with the 8+, of Americans who are poor  =ryan wor)s to tear down the most powerful men in America which include Carnegie Roc)efeller and ?organ •

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4he : business men must unite together to stop =ryan from being elected ?cJinley is elected instead and the : men have defeated their common enemy causing them to brea) apart again Roc)efeller plans to ta)e down Carnegie and begins producing steel and ta)ing Carnegie3s customers; Roc)efeller is planning to build a steel plant Carnegie stops him by buying out all of the mines that Roc)efeller owns- Roc)efeller then agrees not to build a plant  'et D@7@ ?organ plans to buy out Carnegie3s steel empire and Carnegie agrees to sell at #*%+ million 54he deal ma)es Carnegie the most powerful man in the world even more powerful than Roc)efeller but he has given up an empire e mpire he spent a lifetime building /oon ?cJinley gets re-elected as president allowing powerful business men to continue to prosper  owever ?cJinley is assassinated by a former factory wor)er and vice president 4heodore Roosevelt ta)es over as president Roosevelt starts ta)ing out business trusts devastating ?organ Carnegie and Roc)efeller  Roc)efeller is forced to fight in a court case to )eep his oil monopoly together  4he people believe large businesses are holding the country bac) 

enry 2ord 2ord has built a car and hopes to start his own business but he must get permission from AA? car company 2ord believes the new cars he has built can change transportation because the common man will be able to drive himself; AA? AA? re>ects 2ord3s idea 2ord races against the fastest driver in America and wins ma)ing him famous- he earns money and builds his own factory factor y but AA? monopoly tries to sue him "fails& 2ord pays wor)ers double what other wor)ers earn Creates the assembly line which changes manufacturing ?eanwhile Roc)efeller is sued for unreasonable business tactics and is forced to dismantle his company In court it is decided that AA? no longer ta)es ownership of 2ord and he is free to sell his cars- the ?odel-4 is mass produced Assembly lines start appearing in company factories everywhere; 2ord influences future  production •

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Roc)efeller and Carnegie come together toge ther to honor the death of D@7 ?organ "989%& Carnegie starts giving away some of his money to donate to education and libraries Roc)efeller gives away billions in today3s money to go to the church and health When World World War War I starts Americans Americans loo) to theses well-established companies c ompanies for  products