Rockefeller University

and battles. One conflict still carries through to today: should the Industrial leaders of the late 19th century be characterized more as “captains of industry” or “robber barons?” Two prominent figures to be noted are Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Neither was born into wealth, but rather, they earned it themselves through their success in the oil and steel businesses. But the question here is did they earn it? Or did they cheat their way to the top through exploiting and indirectly…

America’s most powerful financial giants took place on January 8, 1786, in Philadelphia. Born to Charles and Hannah Biddle, Nicholas was known as an exceptionally brilliant child. He progressed so far in his education that he was enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania as a 10-year-old. Because of how young he was, the college denied him a degree and Biddle transferred to Princeton where he graduated as the valedictorian at the age of 15. After travelling to Paris at the time of Napoleon’s…

Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller are men of insight, innovation, and ingenuity. These are the men that started an age of advancement in steel, oil, and railroads within a time period of a few decades. Vanderbilt, a self-made man and cut-throat business man, owned the largest shipping empire in the world. He started with a single ferry which soon became a fleet of ships transporting goods and passengers throughout the country. He soon became known as the commodore.…

The Rothschild’s undoubtedly left a long lasting mark on the banking world. Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who was the first of his family to open a bank, helped introduce concepts like diversification, confidentiality, communication, and high volume which helped define the modern banking industry. Mayer was born in a Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt in 1744. Following his parents deaths at 12 he moved to Hanover and worked as an apprentice at Wolf Jakob Oppenheimer’s firm, providing credit to royalty and…

In late 19th century America, countless industrialists were accused of using unscrupulous or dishonest methods of hoarding wealth and building monopolies. Examples of these accused captains of industry include John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan, nicknamed "Robber Barons." While many consumers and competitors were quick to attack these powerful businessmen, their primary interest was merely to build on the success of their companies, and reach their full potential. I believe…

libraries and hundreds of venues for concerts and meetings. When he wrote The Gospel of Wealth, many other wealthy American citizens joined Carnegie’s endeavors. The Gospel of Wealth influenced many wealthy Americans to donate their excess money to universities and colleges. The central thesis of the essay was that “the wealthy entrepreneur must assume the responsibility of distributing his fortune in a manner that assures that it will be put to good use, and not wasted on frivolous…

owner John Rockefeller were being reviewed. These actions are what determined the decision of what would happen to the fate of Standard Oil. The attorney for the respondent in this case was John C. Milburn. John C. Milburn argued that Rockefeller never wanted to drive others out of market and was seeking out business…

Reading about Andrew Carnegie I got to learn more about the Gilded Age as well as the American Society during the time. Coming from a small house in Scotland to making 23 million dollars a year, Carnegie made the American dream a reality. Growing the steel industry to being bigger than any other company, Carnegie provided jobs and built foundations off his industry. Doing this Carnegie believed in Social Darwinism and felt that the working class was meant to stay poor. Underpaying his workers…

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-born American industrialist who gained great wealth in the steel industry before turning into a major philanthropist. His family moved to America to seek better economic opportunities. He started out working in a cotton factory as a boy and then rose up the latter of command through time. By his early thirties he was already well off and realized he wanted change. In 1901 he sold his company to J.P. Morgan for $480 million dollars and devoted himself to…

Howard Zinn argues that the new industrialists such as John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P Morgan adopted business practices that encouraged monopolies and used the powers of the government to control the masses from rebellion in A Peoples History of the United States of America. Rockefeller, Carnegie, and J.P Morgan all became massively wealthy due the spur of innovation, cheap labor, and other practices. Zinn argues that these “robber barons” used sly business tactics to keep their…