The Market Monopolies And Political Corruption That Existed During The Second Revolution

An ongoing debate remains as to whether John D. Rockefeller was a "robber baron" or a "captain of industry". Rockefeller was highly criticized for his success and the means by which he attained it. Although, in actuality, he

He talks about how the Standard Oil company offered the same quality of oil for lower prices than he could do. Other situations like this was the Credit Mobilier scandal were railroad companies got paid a lot of money but built little railways with the money keeping the rest.

Rockefeller went out and did all he could do to buy out as many oil companies as he could, he started in Ohio and from there business started booming for the Standard Oil company. I believe that the government should not break up the Standard Oil company’s monopoly, this is because John Rockefeller worked hard to get where he was. And although, it might have not benefited the everyday American, how would you feel if your everyday hard work was being taken away from you? John Rockefeller had been working hard since he was a teenager to live his American dream and he ended up accomplishing his dream, and he worked hard to get there so I think the monopoly shouldn’t be broken up for

During the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, the railroads themselves created a large market for the steel and iron industries.4 The steel and oil industries were booming and corruption was rampant. Andrew Carnegie had cornered the market in the steel industry and John D. Rockefeller had cornered the oil market. Rockefeller bought up his competition after essentially putting them out of business by flooding the market with refined oil bringing down prices and profits. He was determined to pay no one a profit because he wanted it all for himself. He created a plan called vertical integration which consolidated his businesses into one by creating The Standard Oil Trust.5 These two men became known as barons and got rich beyond belief. In 1890, the Government enacted the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to prevent large firms from controlling one single industry and finally put a stop to these monopolies and trusts, 6 but it was not rigorously enforced until the 1900’s. This act was designed to restore competition and

Rockefeller was an American business tycoon. His early life made an impact on him with his father’s odd habits and parenting. His father was a traveling salesman who regularly cheated on his wife; even cheating on her when he was home. His father regularly “ cheated” his children by lying to them. He made the excuse that it would make them strong. John did not let this affect him. He got a job at an early age and used this experience and knowledge to become a business partner. By the end of the year the company had made half a million dollars. He used this money to open an oil refinery. He and a few others created the Standard Oil Company, in 1870. Within two years they had owned a majority of the oil refineries in Cleveland. They, in nearly a decade, had a monopoly on the US oil refinery

The Rockefellers feared the temptations of wealth, yet a visitor once described their estate as the kind of place God would have built if only he'd had the money. They amassed a fortune that outraged a Democratic nation, then gave it all away reshaping America. They were the closest thing the country had to a royal family, but the Rockefellers shunned the public eye. For decades, the Rockefeller name was despised in America, associated with John D. Rockefeller Sr.'s feared monopoly, Standard Oil. By the end of his life, Rockefeller had given away half of his fortune. But even his vast philanthropy could not erase the memory of his predatory

Oil policies went deep into the personalities and early experiences of Rockefeller and his colleagues. They had heightened uncertainty and speculation about their activities by their secrecy in building the alliance and by their evasive and legal testimony on the witness stand. There tended to be aroused antagonism because the very

Rockefeller was obsessed with controlling the oil market and used many of undesirable tactics to flush his competitors out of the market. Rockefeller was also a master of the rebate game. He was one of the most dominant controllers of the railroads. He was so good at the rebate that at some times he skillfully commanded the railroad to pay rebates to his standard oil company on the traffic of other competitors. He was able to do this because his oil traffic was so high that he could make or break a section of a railroad a railroad company by simply not running his oil on their lines. Another one of Rockefellers earlier mentioned but not explained tactics was his horizontally integrated monopoly. Rockefeller used this horizontal monopoly to set prices and force his competitors to merge with him. (All with Doc. J) Document J shows that Rockefeller had his tentacles, or his influence and power around every piece of the oil industry. That, also, includes the politicians and their support.

Context: Following the reconstruction era and the introduction of the industrial culture, businesses grew large and powerful, as did their owners and became some of the most influential. The growing production of steel and oil allowed for many businesses to grow and therefore impact Americans life. Big business controlled the government through corruption, controlled the economy that affected many workers lives, and created many different labor conditions that would make change in the society through the constant labor rights. Thesis: Big influence Paragraph 1: Political (Doc 2) With the rise of big industries in politics such as Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, there came consequence for the people .

The monopolizing system ran almost every single oil company out of business putting more and more people and their families through poverty. Finally, in 1904 Ida M. Tarbell daughter of Franklin Tarbell (owner of a targeted oil company that Rockefeller eventually ran out of business) wrote “The History of Standard Oil”, this book exploited all of Standard Oil 's ruthless business practices. In 1911, the corporation was found to be in violation of the Sherman Act and ordered out of business. Yet this wasn’t the only company in violation of the Anti-Trust Act.

In a move that would transform the American economy, Rockefeller set out to replace a world of independent oilmen with a giant company controlled by him. In l870, begging bankers for more loans, he formed Standard Oil of Ohio. The next year, he quietly put what he called "our plan" -- his campaign to dominate the volatile oil industry - into devastating effect. Rockefeller knew that the refiner with the lowest transportation cost could bring rivals to their knees. He entered into a secret alliance with the railroads called the South Improvement Company. In exchange for large, regular shipments, Rockefeller and his allies secured transport rates far lower than those of their bewildered competitors. John D. Rockefeller said, "The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism is gone forever, never to return" (Hawke 128).

Ida Minerva Tarbell was born on November 5, 1857, in the oil-rich region of northwestern Pennsylvania. Her father was an oil producer and refiner whose livelihood—like many others in the area—was negatively impacted by an 1872 price-fixing scheme concocted by the Pennsylvania Railroad and HYPERLINK "http://www.biography.com/people/john-d-rockefeller-20710159" John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, who were operating under the guise of the South Improvement Company. Like many young journalists of her era, Tarbell had become concerned by the proliferation of monopolies and trusts. In 1900, she proposed a series of articles in which she would use her experiences as a child during the South Improvement scandal to illustrate her points and

“I believe the power of making money is a gift of God… I believe it is my duty to go on making money and still more money, and to dispose of the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience.”-John D. Rockefeller. Three examples that will be listed in this paper are John’s early life before his business, how he built the company and how it affected him entirely, and the after effect on how he became successful in his industry. (Segall, 2001).

"With reference to the levels and spheres of corporate power discussed in [chapter 3], how did the power of Standard Oil change society? Was this power exercised in keeping with the social contract of Rockefeller's era?"

In the “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power,” Yergin undertakes the reader upon a thorough and enjoyable journey through oil history, from the first 1859 well drilling by Colonel Edwin in Pennsylvania during up to the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in a wrathful grab for oil and wealth in 1990 August. Yergin explores the role of oil in warfare, depicts the ever-changing organization of the oil sector, and examines the prominent, as well as often flamboyant petroleum players. The book is a well-researched and well-written, and supplement to a history branch, which until very lately, had been regrettably neglected—history of business.