The Industrial Revolution

 

The Industrial Revolution was a time period where several famous inventors improved and invented things to help improve America’s development. This time provided citizens access to health, education, and new materials such as steel that were unavailable. These new inventions helped lead America down the right path and gave birth to several successful businessmen.

Cornelius Vanderbilt always had great energy and determination in the shipping industry, so he started his own business. In 1807, the first steamboat travel was completed, and in 1825 the Erie Canal provided travel to New York, but Vanderbilt would help innovate steamboats to a greater extent.   Cornelius’s great success in his business helped provide him with several routes and steamboats. Thomas Gibbons worked with Vanderbilt and provided him with useful information about how to run a business.  Throughout his career, Vanderbilt found ways to beat each of his competitors usually by bringing lawsuits down on competing businesses, or just becoming partners with that business. In the 1850’s, he noticed that there was soon to be a new use of transportation that would be a strong competitor, travel by train.   Due to this new travel industry taking over, Vanderbilt made a risky move by selling his whole shipping business and used that money to invest in railroads. He gained control of the New York and Harlem Railroad by buying its stock, and he competed well against other railroad companies. In 1869, the First Continental Railroad was completed.  Cornelius created one of the first giant corporations in 1870, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. He knew that it would be a good investment to connect all his New York railroads, so he built the Grand Central Depot in Manhattan. Cornelius was now king of the Northeast railroads.

John Rockefeller was king of the oil industry, and it started with him investing in an oil refinery in 1863.  In 1865 he was in control of his own oil refinery, and by 1870 he founded Standard Oil in Ohio, adding several more refineries to his company. Standard Oil had control of 90% of the American kerosene industry bringing lamp light to every American home. John decided to expand his business and cut costs, by building pipelines from Cleveland and Pittsburgh to several big cities in the East. Although this addition was expensive, it removed his need to pay for rail transportation.     A new threat had caught John’s eye, the Sherman Antitrust Act, which brought lawsuits to monopolistic businesses.  Although Rockefeller did nothing illegal in the building of Standard Oil, his business was sued by the government in 1909 and John was forced to end his company in 1911. Due to his shares of stock in each of the new companies, his wealth went up to $900 million, and at his death his money came out to $400 billion in today’s money.

Andrew Carnegie was the creator of the steel industry. Before his success, Andrew was trained by a railroad businessman named Tom Scott. In the starting of Carnegies’ Keystone Bridge Company, it introduced him to a new material, steel. Andrew then started a steel mill to help produce steel for his bridge company, but later realized steel would be important for other industries as well. This realization led to the Carnegie Steel Company in Pittsburgh. This helped in the finishing of the first structure to use a large mass of steel, the Eads Bridge, in 1874.  Andrew monopolized the steel industry, and J.P. Morgan offered to buy Carnegie Steel in 1901. Carnegie wanted to beat Rockefeller as the richest man, so he sold the company for $480 million, and gained $225 million. Andrew was now the richest man at that time.

J.P. Morgan is remembered for controlling several industries during his time. Morgan got involved in his father’s banking business, and in 1858 he decided to move to New York to join the main part of this banking industry. In 1895, Morgan was put on the front pages of newspapers throughout the country because of an astonishing deal he had made. The U.S. Treasury, during the Panic of 1893, was close to losing its gold reserves, but Morgan bailed out the government.   J.P. was now at the top of the banking industry. Morgan supported the electric lighting industry and he also bought Carnegie Steel for $480 million. Morgan decided to organize the United States Steel Company, which is known today as US Steel. J.P. had now controlled almost all the electric industry, 30% of the railroad industry, and 60% of the steel industry.   The newly elected president believed that Morgan’s power had grown enough, so the president had the attorney general sue Morgan’s railroad industries due to breaking antitrust laws. Although he was forced to break up his railroad industry, Morgan was still active in his other businesses. In 1907, the U.S. had another panic, so the president called for Morgan to bail out Wall Street. Morgan used $30 million from US Steel to halt the panic on Wall Street. Morgan was rewarded for his actions by having his US Steel immune from any antitrust laws. After his death in 1913, Morgan left behind some of America’s largest corporations, US Steel and General Electric.

Thomas Edison is known for starting several businesses throughout his life, and was always remembered for being good at tinkering with things and finding solid opportunities to make profit. He had over 1,000 patents signed in his name including: a commercially available fluoroscope, a commercially available electric lightbulb, the electric chair, a two way telegraph, and a kinetograph and kinetoscope to view and create motion pictures. He is mostly remembered for innovating the lightbulb. Edison innovated and invented several products that were useful to America during this time. Thomas Edison is often depicted as the most successful innovator and inventor in American history.

Nikola Tesla is remembered as Edison’s greatest rival. In 1882 he was hired by the Continental Edison Company in France. Nikola moved to New York 1884, and was hired by Edison and soon became Edison’s best engineer. After improving one of Edison’s designs, Tesla left the company to work on his own, but in 1888 he was hired by Westinghouse Electric. Westinghouse was all about promoting AC and thought that Tesla would be a great addition. After Westinghouse won the War of Currents, Tesla decided to give his patents to Westinghouse, and went on to develop several unsuccessful projects.

Henry Ford was the creator of the best known automobiles during his time. Ford served as a machinist for several companies from 1879-1891, but he later began to work for the Edison Illuminating Company in 1891. By 1893, he was Chief Engineer and tinkered with several automobile inventions. He gained approval by Thomas Edison to continue his work on automobiles, in 1896. On June 4, 1896 Ford completed a test drive for his Ford Quadricycle, and started the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. After this business was unsuccessful, he looked into race cars. He is remembered for setting a record of 91.3 mph with one of his cars. In 1908, his greatest success was the Model T. This automobile had the steering wheel on the left, had the engine enclosed, and was $825. Ford was all about cutting cost, which made him unlike most automobile companies. Ford’s employees are remembered for inventing the first assembly line, which was implemented by Ford. Ford sold 15 million Model T’s by 1927, which was a huge success for him and his employees. Ford, unlike most businessmen, desired to improve the life of his employees, so Ford raised the lowest wage in his factories to double the national minimum. This act helped reduce employee turnover, and Ford won over much respect from his employees.

These businessmen were great role models and still are today, showing that hard work and determination will end with great success. The Industrial Revolution helped make America what it is today, and inspired several innovators to help improve fascinating inventions. The Industrial Revolution will always be remembered as the turning point for America.