Grade 8 students explore the rise of big business in late 19th-century America through IMPACT California Social Studies, focusing on the factors of production — land, labor, and capital — and how entrepreneurs used corporations to raise capital for industrial expansion. The lesson examines key developments such as Edwin Drake's 1859 oil discovery in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and the business practices that led Congress to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 to curb monopolies.
Section 1
America Gathers Resources for Industry
For industry to grow, a nation needs specific ingredients. In the late 1800s, the United States had all the necessary factors of production.
The country had abundant land, which provided raw materials like iron, coal, and oil. A growing population, including millions of immigrants, supplied the labor needed to run the new factories and build railroads.
Section 2
Strategies for Monopoly: Vertical and Horizontal Integration
Powerful business leaders aimed to eliminate competition and control entire industries. One method was horizontal integration, where a company buys out its competitors. An oil company, for example, could purchase other oil refineries to dominate the market.
Another strategy was vertical integration. This involved owning all the different businesses on which a company depended for its operation. A steel producer might buy coal mines, iron ore fields, and the railroads needed to transport materials, controlling every step of production.
Section 3
Corporations Sell Stock to Grow
To build huge factories and railroads, business owners needed more money than one person could provide. They began to form a new type of business called a corporation, which is treated as a separate legal entity from its owners.
Corporations raised huge sums of money by selling shares of ownership, or stock, to the public. This allowed many people to invest in a business, providing the capital needed for massive industrial growth.
Section 4
Industrial Empires: Carnegie and Rockefeller
After the Civil War, men like Andrew Carnegie (steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil) built enormous companies that were bigger than anything seen before. This new era of 'big business' saw powerful leaders use aggressive strategies to control entire industries, from raw materials to finished products, creating vast fortunes.
These business titans, sometimes called "robber barons," had different ways of explaining their success. Some used the idea of Social Darwinism, which suggested that the "fittest" in business would naturally rise to the top. Carnegie also promoted the "Gospel of Wealth," arguing that the rich had a duty to use their money to benefit society.
Expand to review the lesson summary and core properties.
Section 1
America Gathers Resources for Industry
For industry to grow, a nation needs specific ingredients. In the late 1800s, the United States had all the necessary factors of production.
The country had abundant land, which provided raw materials like iron, coal, and oil. A growing population, including millions of immigrants, supplied the labor needed to run the new factories and build railroads.
Section 2
Strategies for Monopoly: Vertical and Horizontal Integration
Powerful business leaders aimed to eliminate competition and control entire industries. One method was horizontal integration, where a company buys out its competitors. An oil company, for example, could purchase other oil refineries to dominate the market.
Another strategy was vertical integration. This involved owning all the different businesses on which a company depended for its operation. A steel producer might buy coal mines, iron ore fields, and the railroads needed to transport materials, controlling every step of production.
Section 3
Corporations Sell Stock to Grow
To build huge factories and railroads, business owners needed more money than one person could provide. They began to form a new type of business called a corporation, which is treated as a separate legal entity from its owners.
Corporations raised huge sums of money by selling shares of ownership, or stock, to the public. This allowed many people to invest in a business, providing the capital needed for massive industrial growth.
Section 4
Industrial Empires: Carnegie and Rockefeller
After the Civil War, men like Andrew Carnegie (steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil) built enormous companies that were bigger than anything seen before. This new era of 'big business' saw powerful leaders use aggressive strategies to control entire industries, from raw materials to finished products, creating vast fortunes.
These business titans, sometimes called "robber barons," had different ways of explaining their success. Some used the idea of Social Darwinism, which suggested that the "fittest" in business would naturally rise to the top. Carnegie also promoted the "Gospel of Wealth," arguing that the rich had a duty to use their money to benefit society.