A man famously feared in the financial world for his sheer genius and power, J.P. Morgan was one of the most wealthy men in the world.
Coming from a highly influential family, Morgan had been destined for greatness from birth. His father had been a banker and he elected to follow in his footsteps when he graduated from school. His family also helped to fund Yale University, one of the many legacies left by the Morgan family that is still relevant today.
Morgan was a financial genius and utilized this skill to not only help himself gain his fortune but to save others from ruin. In order to prevent a rate war between competing railroads, Morgan elected to reorganize them. This reorganization and the deals that they entailed helped to financially stabilize the businesses, indebting them to Morgan. Through these reorganizations, Morgan landed himself a position on the board of directors on multiple companies which gave him a considerable amount of influence over the railroads. He had so much power in fact, that he ended up controlling about five thousand miles of railroad by the year 1902. Another route to success that Morgan took was through the consolidation of large corporations. In 1891, Morgan created General Electric, through the combination of Thomas-Houston Electric Company and Edison General Electric. This company became the dominant electrical equipment manufacturing company in the United States and is still quite prevalent. United States Steel was also a project undertaken by Morgan, he created that particular company by merging Carnegie Steel with Federal Steel in 1901. The United States Steel Corporation ended up becoming the world's first billion dollar company, which goes to show how financially brilliant Morgan was. The final big merge that Morgan aided ended up establishing International Harvester in 1902. International Harvester was a consolidation of agricultural equipment manufacturing companies. Finally, Morgan created J.P Morgan and Company in 1895, the company that was his vessel for helping all of the other institutions to succeed. All of these accomplishments are what allowed Morgan to become the financial mogul that he was.
What Morgan chose to do with his fortune is quite unique and extremely charismatic. The fortune amassed by Morgan was so great that in the Panic of 1907 Morgan was able to bail out the United States Government by loaning it money. Prior to that in 1895, Morgan rescued the American Gold Standard by lending the United States Government sixty million dollars. While Morgan looked to help the nation with his fortune he also chose to invest his money in his own interests as well. Over his life, Morgan became quite the art connoisseur and created an impressive collection for himself. Many of the pieces in Morgan's collection can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. J.P Morgan left quite an impact on the United States during his lifetime, altering the course of history through his actions, and creating a legacy that will be felt by every American who comes after him.
Sources
http://www.history.com/topics/john-pierpont-morgan
https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-P-Morgan
Give Me Liberty (Third Edition) by Eric Foner
Alex - I thought that your summarization about J.P Morgan hit on all the key points and why he is such a significant figure in American history. In fact, we are still hit with his influence today. Chase bank is technically or was technically owned by JP Morgan because Chase Manhattan merged with J.P. Morgan & Co back in 2000. You can really see Morgan's power all over America. I also thought that when you mentioned J.P Morgan's art collection, it gave him some personality and for us to realize that while he may not have been a philanthropist as Carnegie was, he had other hobbies that make him see like a real person. It's still pretty amazing that single man almost single handedly saved the US economy, why do you think he did that? Was it to save his own country or simply because we could characterize him as a "good" man?
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Great job on this post! I think it's really interesting that JP Morgan had so much power and influence, even though he may not have been quite as wealthy as Rockefeller or Carnegie. It's really cool how he used his wealth to benefit the entire country by loaning money to the government. Although he seems very ruthless and intimidating, I'm sure he really helped out a lot of people in his lifetime. It's also super interesting to learn about the companies that he started. My dad used to work for General Electric, and I had no idea that this company was created by JP Morgan. He really did leave a lasting impact on America, in more ways than we might realize.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I think that your post does a great job summarizing JP Morgan and all the financial successes he's had. It's fascinating to read about all the wealth he amassed during his lifetime and how influential he still is in our world today. The fact that he bailed out the government twice shows how powerful men like Morgan were during the Industrial Era. However, do you think he did this to save the government or for his own self interests? While many today still debate over this issue, the American public during the late 19th and early 20th centuries opposed Morgan and his vast trusts.
ReplyDeleteAlex, this post was very interesting to read and gave new insight into JP Morgan, one of the most influential people in American History. It always amazes me how much power he actually had in America, which your post highlighted very well. The fact that he was able to save the US government multiple times was undoubtedly helpful, but many people of the working class criticized him for having too much power. Do you think we would have been better off having to deal with our own economic problems, or was it helpful to have someone who was able to save us?
ReplyDeleteAlex, I think that this is a very strong description of the various charismatic practices of JP Morgan, as well as how he was able to gain his wealth in the first place. I do think that an interesting topic would be to examine exactly why Morgan chose to help the government. I think that clearly, one of the main reasons why he chose to do this was his own sense of American pride and duty. I also think that he also aimed to use it as a sort of a PR stunt. His business practices of taking over the boards of many different corporations, as we learned during class, were quite ruthless and cruel. However, this was his chance to prove that he was more philanthropic than he appeared. I believe that he also felt a sense of pressure/obligation, as other wealthy men such as Carnegie followed the Gospel of Wealth strategy to give their money away.
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