Essential Question: Were Carnegie and Rockefeller robber barons or captains of industry?

To learn about Carnegie and Rockefeller's roles in the 19th century of America, we began class differently than our usual process. The class was broken up into the small separate groups and we all had to create an essential question together and then get it approved by Mrs. Gallagher. This was very interesting because normally we are given the essential question upon introduction of the unit. We came to find that the definitions of the terms mentioned in the essential question were... a.) Robber Baron- seen as corrupt, unsportsmanlike, bribed government officials, bought out or destroyed rivals, created giant monopolies and trusts, citizens had a love hate relationship with them, and b.) Captains of Industry-business leaders.  

This is an image of Carnegie and Rockefeller.

http://sites.psu.edu/rcldiacont/2013/09/20/billionaire-anomalies-the-robber-barons/

Next, as a class we viewed the multiple ABC-Clio videos to provide us with information on the two men and their roles during the 19th century. Each group had the responsibility of taking notes on a certain topic that was frequently mentioned throughout the videos. These topics include main ideas, key people, important events/key dates, and essential terms. As a class, we created a google doc with everyone on it to share our notes. This made it easier for everyone to enjoy the videos and learn all of the information without having to scramble down all sorts of notes the whole time.

After gathering all of the evidence and information on Carnegie and Rockefeller, it seems most appropriate to remember them as captains of industry. They both made tons of accomplishments that helped America to grow. For instance, Andrew Carnegie built hundreds of libraries which helped to educate the public and offer different sources for people to read. He was also known for his huge production of steel in the U.S. which was very important since steel was so widely used. Carnegie used vertical integration which controlled transportation, manufacturing and sales. All of these things helped to rebuild America which makes Carnegie a captain of industry.

Rockefeller was also a captain of industry for similar reasons to Carnegie. Rockefeller had a standard oil company and with this he helped to advance the economy by buying rival companies. He also helped the consumer and supported education. Both of these men helped improve America economically and industrially which made them captains of industry, not robber barons.