(Sidenote: I Always Thought Carnegie Hall Was Named for a Musician)

Rockefeller in 1885. Doesn't
the mustache just scream
"business superpower"?
Image from wikipedia.org.

During the second half of the 19th century, America experienced a period of major economic growth known as the Age of Industry. Most of this was driven by top businessmen who represent some of America's wealthiest men in history, like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. These men, known as captains of industry, gave generously to charity, education, and the public. Yet, these same men were also accused of shady and unethical business practices like bribing politicians, earning some of them the nickname of robber barons. The essential question for this unit, which we came up with as a class, was: Were the captains of industry a positive or negative impact on the public? To learn more, the class watched a series of videos and analyzed some sources surrounding two of the most important and famed captains of industry, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. (Bios for the two: Rockefeller Carnegie)

Andrew Carnegie, leader of the
steel industry and philanthropist.
Image from wikipedia.org.

While I approve of both Rockefeller and Carnegie's ideals and goals, I think their business practices were unethical and ultimately impacted America negatively. Rockefeller ran the Standard Oil Company from Ohio, and eventually became one of the biggest businessmen of the country, all while donating millions of his money to charity and education. How he got to the top, however, was somewhat questionable; one of his business tactics was to drop prices low and take the loss until rivals went out of business, at which point he would drive prices up. This is a very effective business tactic, but I don't approve because it destroyed competition rather than taking part, and created a monopoly on oil. Carnegie falls in a similar boat; a wealthy philanthropist whose workers are paid incredibly little for grueling work is somewhat contradictory. Carnegie, who headed the steel industry, attempted to destroy steelworkers' unions. This partially led to a fiasco known as the Homestead strike. (We watched a video on it here.)

I stand by my opinion, but I think it is important to recognize that captains of industry were actually pretty good people, like donating money to the public because they truly felt that it was a moral imperative for the wealthy to give back. One of them, J. P. Morgan, personally bailed out the government on more than one occasion. But this is not about the character of these men, it is about their effect on America. Low worker wages, shady business practices... They treated America as a whole very well, but screwed over a lot of people in the process.

This unit was somewhat challenging because the class was collaboratively learning without the direction of a teacher; the sources were analyzed, notes were taken, and the essential question was proposed as a class, following the plan that Mrs. Gallagher gave us. Some students started taking leadership roles, and I think that also helped. We were somewhat inefficient in our work because we were getting used to the process, and I think we should be able to improve when we do this again for the next units.