The Business of Success

American Values and Entrepreneurs

• Americans value hard work and admire ambitious people who take risks to achieve material success.
• Entrepreneurs, who start with little but become rich and successful with a good idea and hard work, are a representation of the American Dream.

The Rise of Big Business in the 19th Century

• The mid-19th century US was a land of opportunity for entrepreneurs with a good idea, eager to take risks and work hard.
• Natural resources like coal, iron, oil, and wood were abundant in the country.
• The Industrial Revolution, which began in Europe, had reached the US, with small factories across the country.

Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller

• Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant, came to the US and worked in a factory for $1.20 a week.
• He saved money, invested in various businesses, and made more money.
• Carnegie built a steel factory and implemented vertical integration, controlling all aspects of steel production, including iron mines and railroad companies.
• He became the richest man in the country by buying out competition and achieving a high level of vertical integration.

John D. Rockefeller

• Rockefeller started working at 16 for a shipping company and invested in the oil business.
• He controlled all aspects of the oil industry: drilling, refining, and transportation, buying out small oil companies to reduce competition.
• By 1877, his company, Standard Oil, controlled 90% of the oil industry in the country.
• Rockefeller's business practices led to the creation of a monopoly.

Government Intervention and American Values

• In the 1890s, the federal government took action to reduce the power of monopolies.
• Despite changes, the businesses of Carnegie, Rockefeller, and other major entrepreneurs remained large and successful.
• Their lives illustrate American values such as hard work, independence, and self-reliance, as well as the pursuit of material success and the darker aspects of the American Dream.

This quiz explores the concept of success and entrepreneurship in the United States, highlighting the rise of big business and the country's history of opportunity.