CHAPTER 11
Rise of Corporate Capitalism in the United States,
1865-1900
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Explain the reasons for the progression from a world of small competitive businesses to a
climate controlled by monopolistic giants.
Identify the questionable behavior of the entrepreneurs of this age and explain how
OUTLINE OF CHAPTER
I. The U.S. Industrial Revolution, 1865-1900
II. Rise of Monopoly, 1865-1900
VI. Women after the Civil War, 1865-1900
VII. Sharecropping and Racism against African Americans
KEY TERMS
collusion
a secret agreement between two or more parties, usually for fraudulent, deceitful, or illegal
purposes
grassroots
prices
ANSWERS TO END OF CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS
Explain the reasons for the progression from a world of small competitive businesses to a
climate controlled by monopolistic giants.
1. List and explain three to four reasons for the shift from an agricultural based state to a
capitalist one. How did the use of railroads affect national economic growth?
Intercontinental railroad and telegraph line facilitated movement of goods and people
3. What factors in the economic, social, and political atmosphere were conducive to the
formation of monopolies? Give at least three examples from the reading.
Corporation form of organization allowed more investors in a single enterprise. New
the trust.
Identify the questionable behavior of the entrepreneurs of this age and explain how
industrial warfare affected the political and social atmosphere.
4. Name a few methods used by the robber barons to create monopolies (industrial warfare).
How did railroads have an effect on the growth of cities? How did they abuse this
power?
Robber barons such as Standard Oil destroyed competitors by artificially low prices and
5. Describe the relationship of many of the large banks and the robber barons. Describe the
relationship of many of the large banks and the government.
Banks worked closely with robber barons, and bankers were part of some corporate
6. How did government regulation actually help business achieve greater profits? Which
group did the Sherman Antitrust act have the biggest effect on? Explain.
The primary effect of the Sherman Act following passage was to weaken labor unions
7. Explain how industrial warfare affected the political and social atmosphere of the time.
Explain the role of women and African-Americans, conditions for workers, and the
environmental impact during this period of time.
8. Explain the economic, social, and political situation most African-Americans were in
after being freed from slavery.
9. How were worker strikes usually resolved? Through negotiation or other means? Which
group in society was behind this?
10.
in equal rights?
11. Did African-Americans receive any compensation from the government after being freed
for their years of oppression? What job(s) were they forced to work in? Name two other
minority groups and explain how they were also discriminated against.
African Americans received nothing from the government. They moved into
12. How did the system of sharecropping inhibit the growth of technology? How did it strip
the incentives from both landowners and sharecroppers?
Any investment in new technology by the sharecropper would result in an increase in
13. How did entrepreneurs treat the environment? Why was there no incentive or
government regulation designed to protect it?
The land was harmed by mining and oil drilling and depletion of forests. Air was
incentive not to pollute. Government reflected the interests of business.
Describe the changing relationship with Britain during this period and the move toward
colonialism.
14. Before the late 1800s, what would happen to the U.S. economy if
went into a recession?
15. As the U.S. economy became stronger, what part of the world did it began to exert its
influence upon through colonialism?
The U.S. expanded to the Pacific by a war with Mexico in the 1840s. In 1898, the U.S.
APPENDIX 11.1
Socialist Critique of Corporate Capitalism, 1865-1900
SUMMARY OF APPENDIX
This appendix briefly describes the socialist movement in Western Europe after the death of
Marx in 1883.