The Men Who Built America

-Industrial Revolution Era; self-built men start industrializing America

Vanderbilt

originally involved in shipping- builds largest shipping unit in the world

eventually sells all of his ships to invest in railroads
by the end of the Civil War, Vanderbilt is the richest man in the world ($68 million)
Vanderbilt mourns the loss of his favorite son in war and is forced to hand down his
business to his less-accomplished son, William
Vanderbilt decides to close the Albany bridge (only bridge in and out of NYC) to reassert
his dominance
Vanderbilt buys the stocks of his competitors which allows him to take control of 40% of
the railroads
He then builds Grand Central Station in NYC
He wants to buy the Eerie track (Chicago to NYC) and begins buying stocks but they
keep being printed in a process called watering down
He continues to buy and ends up purchasing over $7 million in stocks- he was outsmarted
by Gould & Fisk (the stock printers)
Vanderbilt decides to regain his power by gaining control of the kerosene transportation

John D. Rockefeller
Rockefeller is a struggling oil worker who Vanderbilt wants to get in business with to
stay ahead of his competitors
Rockefellers oil company in Cleveland is going bankrupt until Vanderbilt decides to ship
his oil
Rockefeller plans to meet Vanderbilt in NYC but misses his train which ends up crashing
The accident ends up changing Rockefellers life and he decides to make a bigger deal
with Vanderbilt when they meet
He has to find a way to produce the amount of oil that he promised Vanderbilt
[-Rockefeller provided for his family as a young boy; with his father gone, he develops
his work ethic; he invests in refining oil and then makes the deal with Vanderbilt]
Rockefeller provides clean, safe light through kerosene and becomes the largest oil
refinery in the country
He fills Vanderbilts trains with oil for a while but then outgrows this deal
He makes a better deal with Tom Scott (another railroad controller) than he did with
Vanderbilt
Rockefeller then pushes to own every oil refinery in the nation with his wealth; he either
buys out competition or makes them go bankrupt
Proceeds to control 90% of the oil refineries
Vanderbilt and Tom Scott work together to pull all of Rockefellers deals so he is forced
to find another way to transport his oil
Rockefeller build pipelines to transport oil and beat out railroads

In 1873, stock markets crash after people un-invest in railroads (depression period)
Scott and Carnegie still have railroads that Rockefeller need because his pipeline do not
extend there
Rockefeller shuts down the Pittsburg refineries which causes Tom Scott to lose money
and layoff workers who protest and destroy Scotts railroad industry
Rockefeller replaces Vanderbilt as the richest man in the world
Scott dies as a result of his industry being destroyed

Andrew Carnegie
Tom Scott was Carnegies mentor since he was 12 years old
Before Scotts death, he had given Carnegie the project of building a bridge over the
Mississippi River which would allow for transport from east to west
Carnegie finds a way to build the bridge strong enough by using steel
Steel is expensive and causes Carnegie to fall behind on his payments when building the
St. Louis bridge
After finishing it, Carnegie must convince the public that is safe to use so he sends an
elephant across it and it is proven safe
Carnegie build his first steel plant after requests for steel for railroads and bridges
[Tom Scott then dies after industry collapse and Carnegie seeks Rockefeller for revenge]
Using Carnegie steel, skyscrapers are built and Carnegie becomes rich but still wants to
become more powerful than Rockefeller
Carnegie seeks out Henry Frick- a ruthless coal-miner- and hires him in the steel mill so
they can overcome Rockefeller
Frick becomes greedy for more power than Carnegie and creates a members only club on
a lake in Pittsburg
The dam over Johnstown (right by the members only club) breaks and destroys the town
killing many people
The members of Fricks club are blamed
Carnegie feels somewhat responsible for the disaster and donates money for several
organizations
Later on, after Carnegie Hall is built, Carnegie and Rockefellers rivalry takes off
Carnegie plans to beat out Rockefeller by expanding his steel empire- Homestead Mill is
built
To expand his industry, wages must be cut but Carnegie is trying to repair his image so he
turns to Frick to handle the labor issues
Frick has workers at steel mill work in intolerable conditions; the workers start a strike
against Frick
Steel workers fight the secret police leaving 9 workers dead; militia eventually restores
peace
Public is outraged at steel mill massacre and an anarchist group emerges and targets Frick
Frick survives after being shot and stabbed in an attempt assassination

Carnegie was on a trip abroad but is forced to return home- Carnegie and Fricks
relationship fades

J.P. Morgan

Born into a banking family- controlled and taught by his successful father but Morgan
wants to grow up to be even more successful
Morgan becomes a banker who takes over failing companies
Carnegie fears that his steel mill will become Morgans next target
Morgan seeks out Thomas Edison who has just invented the light-bulb (Morgan sees the
opportunity to take control over the new electricity)
Edison displays Morgans house with light-bulbs and then powers almost all of NYC
Meanwhile, Rockefeller is losing customers after electricity starts replacing kerosene
Nikola Tesla is one of Edisons apprentices, but after coming up with the new AC
(alternating current) instead of Edisons DC (direct current), Tesla leaves and starts his
own business
Tesla shows people that AC is safe and builds a plant that is capable of providing
electricity to the entire east coast
J.P. tells Edison to eliminate his competition- Tesla
Edison tries to prove AC is dangerous by inventing the first electric chair and the
execution of a human through the electric chair becomes associated with Morgan and
Edison, damaging their reputation
Tesla rips up his contract with his investor, Westinghouse, and tells him to make AC
success over DC
[Tesla did not care about his own power/wealth, rather he wanted his invention to succeed
for the good of the people]
During a world fair, Tesla and Westinghouse light the entire fair with AC lights, forever
showing the public the safety of AC
Tesla/Westinghouse and Morgan/Edison fight to win the contract for Niagara Falls power
plant; Westinghouse wins the contract, badly defeating Morgan
Morgan moves on to create General Electric Company, taking out Edison and making
himself one of the most powerful men in America
On the other end, Rockefeller is going out of business until he finally realizes that
gasoline (which is a runoff of kerosene) is actually valuable
[gasoline saves Rockefeller as he realizes its potential]
J.P. Morgan begins cutting workers from companies to get the most profit which comes to
be called Morganization- Rockefeller and Carnegie begin following along too

Election of 1896 and Theodore Roosevelt

William Jennings Bryan is a politician who runs for president in 1896; he sympathizes
with the 90% of Americans who are poor
Bryan works to tear down the most powerful men in America which include Carnegie,
Rockefeller, and Morgan

The 3 business men must unite together to stop Bryan from being elected
McKinley is elected instead and the 3 men have defeated their common enemy, causing
them to break apart again
Rockefeller plans to take down Carnegie and begins producing steel and taking
Carnegies customers; Rockefeller is planning to build a steel plant
Carnegie stops him by buying out all of the mines that Rockefeller owns- Rockefeller
then agrees not to build a plant
Next, J.P. Morgan plans to buy out Carnegies steel empire and Carnegie agrees to sell at
$480 million
[The deal makes Carnegie the most powerful man in the world, even more powerful than
Rockefeller, but he has given up an empire he spent a lifetime building
Soon, McKinley gets re-elected as president, allowing powerful business men to continue
to prosper
However McKinley is assassinated by a former factory worker and vice president,
Theodore Roosevelt takes over as president
Roosevelt starts taking out business trusts, devastating Morgan, Carnegie, and
Rockefeller
Rockefeller is forced to fight in a court case to keep his oil monopoly together
The people believe large businesses are holding the country back

Henry Ford
Ford has built a car and hopes to start his own business but he must get permission from
ALAM car company
Ford believes the new cars he has built can change transportation because the common
man will be able to drive himself; ALAM rejects Fords idea
Ford races against the fastest driver in America and wins, making him famous- he earns
money and builds his own factory but ALAM monopoly tries to sue him (fails)
Ford pays workers double what other workers earn
Creates the assembly line which changes manufacturing
Meanwhile, Rockefeller is sued for unreasonable business tactics and is forced to
dismantle his company
In court, it is decided that ALAM no longer takes ownership of Ford and he is free to sell
his cars- the Model-T is mass produced
Assembly lines start appearing in company factories everywhere; Ford influences future
production
Ending
Rockefeller and Carnegie come together to honor the death of J.P Morgan (1918)
Carnegie starts giving away some of his money to donate to education and libraries
Rockefeller gives away billions in todays money to go to the church and health
When World War I starts, Americans look to theses well-established companies for
products