John D Rockefeller Research Paper Outline

940 Words4 Pages

Kayla Aston
Mrs. Findley
AP US History
11 January 2017
John D. Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8th, 1839 in Richford, New York. He died on May 23rd, 1937 in Ormond Beach, Florida. Rockefeller married Laura Spelman, with whom he had his two sons; Nelson and John Jr. Also, he took a singular college course in business before dropping out, which he did in high school, at Folsom Mercantile College. The first enterprise Rockefeller started focused on hay, grains, meats, and other goods and was founded in 1853. He founded the Standard Oil Company in 1863, which grew exponentially. Rockefeller was incredibly competitive, and actively worked towards running competing companies out of business. Rockefeller owned iron mines and timberland and invested in numerous companies in manufacturing, transportation, and other industries. Although he was the of president of Standard Oil until 1911, Rockefeller retired from leadership of the company in 1896. In 1911 the U.S. Supreme Court found the Standard Oil trust to be in violation of the anti-trust laws and ordered the dissolution of the New Jersey corporation. During the 1850s, he made regular donations to the Baptist church, and by the time he was 21, he was giving to other denominations, as well as to a foreign Sunday school and an African-American church. Support …show more content…

For many, this period in time seemed shiny from the outside, however is was corrupt beneath the surface. Rockefeller started a small business, used his partners to expand it, then bought their shares out from under them. However, he also donated millions to charity, making him a perfect representation of the Gilded Age. Rockefeller achieved success through intelligent business tactics, however because of those tactics others fell through the cracks. The Gilded Age is perfectly represented by John D. Rockefeller due to his business successes and