The Men Who Built America Sparknotes

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The Men Who Built America: Episode 4: When One Ends, Another Begins
Summary
The American Economy was Linked by Railroads, Fueled by Oil and Built by Steel. Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford – their names are synonymous with innovation, big business and the American Dream. These leaders sparked incredible advances in technology while struggling to consolidate their industries and rise to the top of the business world. The Men Who Built America is a History six-hour, four-part miniseries documentary drama, broadcasted in Fall (Autumn) 2012, and on the History Channel UK in Spring 2013. The series focuses on Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan and Henry Ford …show more content…

The episode started by displaying the control of John D. Rockefeller; the founder of the Standard Oil Company, by the early 1880s on the oil business and how he became one of the world’s wealthiest men and a major philanthropist. Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller have been rivals for decades and that competition has driven both men to incredible heights. The events sequenced and Carnegie began his negotiations with Rockefeller for months and finally they made an agreement in which Carnegie bought all of the output from Rockefeller’s mines and Rockefeller agreed not to build a steel mill. After inheriting and expanding his father's banking empire J. P. Morgan was among the most powerful man in the nation. His influence over the country is matched by only two other men; Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller. At the peak of their power, J. P. Morgan, John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie are worth the modern equivalent of over $1 trillion dollars combined. The titans managed to buy a new president in the White House; William McKinley. Rockefeller, Morgan and Carnegie each give over $200,000 to McKinley. With McKinley in office they were free to conduct business in the way they've become accustomed. After his election a number of the issues that had bothered the big businessmen conveniently went away. Because of his unfair policies which focused on businessmen’s benefit and neglected the common people, McKinley was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz, who lost his job at a company J.P. Morgan took over during the creation of U.S. Steel. As Czolgosz struggled, he took refuge in the growing anarchist movement. He became convinced that the Government is helping the rich exploit the poor and he's determined to put an end to that by assassinating

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