Oil In Pennsylvania Summary

The beginning of the book starts out with Brands talking about the United States and the banks along with the need for a strong centralized bank. As large banks came into play so did Wall Street. The books continues with the drawbacks of investing, the big payoffs, and the Wall Street for leaders. And when technology improved to the point of telegraphs internationally, foreign investment in American markets. Soon enough, "The American market was the largest in the world," ( Brands 21). Brands then talks about the Erie Canal and the investments that took place, which segued way for the railroads. The railroads were all corrupt and brands does a good job on sharing specific examples of this, one being Vanderbilt and his rail empire. The railways lead to gold rushes which created boom towns and then later bust towns. The dream of the Pacific rail line came true after years of awaiting it. "But it was the gold rush of 1849 and after that made the a rail line to the pacific appear both necessary and possible," (Brands 44). With the new lines down, transportation from east to west was easy and lead to other great things. The steel industry was the most affected by the railway expansion in a positive manner. The railroads also lead to greater expansion and later the dream of going west for so many. The railroad expansion also provided many new jobs; that the Chinese immigrants filled. Though they were treated like the indentured servants of colonial America they still came in huge numbers. When the railroad was finished there were huge gatherings to celebrate all over the country. Brands then goes on to talk about the next big corporation; oil. …show more content…
The discovery of oil in Pennsylvania sparked another rush, but this time for 'black gold'. Oil has innumerable uses:lighting cities, lubrication for machines and many more. Brands talks about the elite leaders of oil and steel and how they all got their start and many of the troubles they ran into along with all the corrupt breaks they got. These men dominated over all of the industry, as they all had the monopoly, they would even sell product at a loss so they can run other businesses out of business. The lifelessness of the mine operators in Carnegie's operation is seen throughout the strikes. Brands then leads into the Molly Maguire trials and more strikes. The second section of the book focuses on building the land up after the war. Reconstruction was a big factor in this. The questions about what to do with the now freed slaves arose. Jobs and payment were promised but, for most, never happened. The large plantation owners ended up tricking the slaves into working for them using the share crop system, which was oddly a lot like slavery in that they would never be able to gain back their freedom. General Sherman came into view with the perspective of, "Slavery had caused the war; emancipation would help end it," (Brands 140). The issues brands talks of shift focus from the freed black men to the Indians in the plains. Reconstruction brought more settlers to the west than prior but in order for the west to