The Tycoons Who Built America

All eyes were on the elephant as it ambled across the St. Louis Bridge. The longest arch bridge in the world at the time, it stretched gracefully across the Mississippi River. The pageantry that accompanied the completion of the spectacular structure was matched with an equal amount of anxiety. Careers and reputations, not to mention lives, were on the line through the construction process. Over budget and months past its deadline, the bridge was among the most massive American construction projects to date. When it officially opened in 1874, less than a decade after the end of the Civil War, the bridge was important both practically and symbolically. The success of such projects could show that the United States was back, and open for business.

The man who provided the steel for the bridge, Andrew Carnegie, was a rising industrialist. His reputation seemed like it might rise or fall on the outcome of the project. With so many people skeptical of such a massive bridge, the â??test elephantâ? was sent across to bring peace of mind to the American public that its structure was sound. The elephant survived the testâ??and so, too, did Carnegie. He would go on to become one of the nationâ??s foremost business tycoons, having transformed himself from a young Scottish immigrant to a corporate leader and philanthropist whose name still echoes prominently throughout American society today.

At the end of the Civil War the nation was in tatters, both financially and psychologically. Both North and South had poured resources into the war effort, draining the economy, not to mention the optimistic spirit, of the nation. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, just days after the end of the war, dealt another blow to the American psyche. The nation mourned too many of its sons, and now, its president. Given this state of affairs, some would have predicted a deep national decline would follow. How, then, in the course of just a few decades after the war, did the United States become one of the worldâ??s leading economic and political superpowers?