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AP U.S. History Exam 1.28 170 Views


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AP U.S. History Exam 1.28. What made it possible for businesses to consolidate and grow in the way that the image represents?

Language:
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Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by consolidation,

00:07

the transition of a company from its free-form

00:09

early stages into a solid corporate entity.

00:13

All right, what made it possible for businesses

00:15

to consolidate and grow in the way that the image represents?

00:18

And here are your potential answers.

00:24

With technology booming in the post-Civil War era,

00:27

tycoons like John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil

00:30

made big gains in newly emerging markets,

00:32

building monopolies like the one detailed in the image.

00:35

Let's see which answer describes what led to these conditions

00:38

fit for a king of industry.

00:40

Was a major factor allowing these businesses to consolidate and grow

00:44

A - a decrease in immigration?

00:46

Actually, rising levels of immigration were

00:49

hugely important to the success of these companies

00:51

as they provided a cheap source of labor in this period of expansion.

00:54

So it's not A.

00:55

Did these businesses expand so aggressively

00:58

because of the C - development of foreign markets?

01:01

Though foreign markets were developing at the time,

01:03

Rockefeller and friends were doing pretty well within the United States,

01:07

particularly because of the government's

01:09

lack of regulatory legislation.

01:11

So that eliminates C and D.

01:13

Which means that the biggest factor allowing these tycoons

01:16

to consolidate their businesses was B -

01:18

laissez-faire government policies.

01:20

Someone probably should've been keeping watch

01:22

over Rockefeller and the other tycoons on their road

01:25

to monopolies, but strict regulation of business

01:28

wasn't the name of the game during this period.

01:30

So B is the right answer.

01:31

A few decades later, government regulation did

01:34

catch up to these corporations, busting trusts

01:36

and guts alike.

01:39

[ wind whistles ]

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