Aim: How did the structure of business change after the Civil War?
Do Now:

1. How many stoves does this store have on hand?
2. What does Geo L. Ward accept as forms of payment?
3. Evaluate how American society will change as a result of the rise of big businesses.
I. What are the different types of business structures?

Monopoly / Conglomerate / Pool / Trust
A small company or group that has complete control over a particular field of business. / A corporation that owns a group of unrelated companies. / Sometimes competing companies in one field agree to fix prices and divide business. / A group of corporations in the same or related field that agree to combine.

1. What are the benefits of owning a monopoly?
2. What is unique about the structure of a corporation?
3. Evaluate how vertical and horizontal integration impacted the development of big business.

II. How did attitudes towards businesses change during the Industrial Era?

"Law? Who cares about the law. Ain't I got the power?"
—Comment alleged to have been made by Cornelius Vanderbilt

1. What is this image depicting?

2. Evaluate how these documents illustrate the values of big business owners.

Laissez-faire
During the Gilded Age many Americans embraced the principles of laissez faire economics, which argued that economic forces should be allowed to work themselves out with maximum freedom and minimal government interference. Part of the logic was purely economic—it was believed that government involvement tended to hinder, or even prevent, economic development. But part of the argument was ethical. Laissez faire advocates argued that government interference distorted the natural and equitable forces of economic development.

1. What is laissez faire?

2. Evaluate why big businesses would adopt this attitude.

Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism was a leading philosophy during the Gilded Age. It stated that only the strongest and the fittest would survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die. Social Darwinists believed that the government should not interfere with social ills such as poverty.

1. What is Social Darwinism?
2. Evaluate how this cartoon illustrates the concept of Social Darwinism.

III. How did “big business” impact American society?

1. How did the value of manufactured goods change between 1860-1910?
2. How did the amount of workers change between 1860-1910?

Ten Commandments of the American Worker
Second Commandment.—Thou shalt have no other master besides myself, and do as I bid you do; for I am rich, and give you as much wages as I please.
Fifth Commandment.—Thou shalt not call me any other name but sir and master: for I am a rich man and have piles of money, and therefore you are my slave, for I own your body and soul. Six days you must labor and do all I bid, or I will give you another reduction. If you murmur or growl I will make you work also part of the night: for I am all-powerful, and I can use the law to suit myself.
Seventh Commandment.—Thou shall not incite riots with intent to kill. If you do, I will have you arrested and make you give bonds for three thousand dollars and promise of good behavior in the future.
Eighth Commandment.—Thou shalt not strike for any higher wages, so as to be able to make an honest living, and keep your children from begging, and make you eat bread and water three times a day—that’s good enough for a greasy and ignorant mechanic, or a dirty, black miner.
Source: Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen’s Monthly Magazine II (December 1877)

1. How does this document characterize the relationship between business owner and worker?

2. Describe life of an American industrial worker.

3. Evaluate how American society is impacted by the growth of big business.

1. What is this image depicting?
2. Evaluate how this cartoon characterizes Industrial American society.