While Mrs. Gallagher began to grade our history papers, we had to take matters into our own hands. We began the unit that would consist of learning material, then writing questions for our final. We were given a weekly plan, and limited guidance. Without Mrs. Gallagher giving us explicit directions, we had to self govern. Certain people came forth as leaders, assigning tasks, while others dedicated themselves as workers. First, as a class we made a Google Doc, and watched overview videos, taking notes in the Doc. We noted main ideas, key people, important events, and essential terms. As a class, we read biographies on John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Finally, we decided on the essential question of "Were the captains of industry a positive or negative impact to the public?".
Let’s take a closer look at Rockefeller and Carnegie. John D. Rockefeller was a business mogul in the American petroleum industry who gave millions of his dollars to educations. Rockefeller was once described as the “Greatest business leader in American history”. He graduated from Cleveland High School, and his father was a farmer from New York. It was his father who encouraged him to enter the business world, and he did so, starting Standard Oil in 1870. Rockefeller created a monopoly on fossil fuels in the United States. Though Rockefeller donated large sums of money to various charities, he had a bad public reputation. He was known for his “cutthroat” business tactics, eliminating rival companies and bribing politicians. The public largely believed he was motivated by greed, but he ultimately helped to eradicate Yellow Fever, and gave away 500 million dollars to charity and education.
Andrew Carnegie (Carn-a-gee? Carn-a-jee? Carn-eggy?) was born in Ireland, and immigrated to America. As Aubrey Drake Graham would put it, he “Started from the bottom, now [he’s] here”. Carnegie started as a bobbin boy in a textile mill before working as a telegrapher operator. Carnegie boasts the honor of being among the first operators in country to take messages by sound alone, an impressive feat. Soon, Carnegie was promoted to Superintendent of the Eastern Telegraph Line, and later chose to retire to travel across Europe, expanding his business skills. A budding steel manufacture, Carnegie took note of the British production system and later employed it in his factories. He invested half his fortune into steel manufacturing, and teamed up with Henry Bessemer, who had introduced the Bessemer process of making steel for cheap. He was then able to produce a higher quality steel at a lower price than his competitors. Carnegie was caught up in controversy when his plan to destroy the Iron and Steelmakers industry, and his workers began a strike. Carnegie was also famous for expanded his company in financial depression while others were downsizing. Finally, as the second richest man in the world, he sold his company to JP Morgan and began his life of philanthropy, making schools and public resources.
I think it’s clear that though people may have seen Rockefeller and Carnegie as money grubbers, they had a positive impact on their society.
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