Big Business post Civil War.
Group 2 Question, by: Courtney Bagley
Explain how and why business grew
- John D. Rockefeller organized the standard oil company of Ohio
- He used the horizontal integration method to make his business grow
- He increased his control of industry by forming a trust
- He traded stock, which gave John Oil's board of directors ownership of the other companies
- He created a monopoly, almost total control by a single producer of the oil industry
- He persuaded the railroads to grant him rebates in exchange for his business
John D. Rockefeller and his Company
- John D. Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York in 1839
- John D. Rockefeller was 26 when he and four partners set up a oil refinery ( a plant to process oil) in Cleveland, Ohio
Government restriction
How?
- The government passed laws to prohibit trusts and monopolies
- The Sherman Act in 1890 sought "To protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraint and monopoly"
- Giant corporations were the driving force behind the economic growth
- Some thought that a lack of competition because of giant corporations hurt consumers without competition
- Giant corporations had no reason to keep their prices low or to improve their good and services