Natural resources, business management, and capital and technology all played a major role in the development of industrial America from 1865 to 1900. Many industries in the U.S. including oil, salt, sugar, tobacco, and meatpacking were highly stimulated. Competition soared and that's when these fundamentals came into play.
             Natural resources such as petroleum began major industry in the United States. Petroleum was turned into oil and replaced animal tallow as the major lubricant. It was also turned into kerosene to fuel for household and public lighting. John D. Rockefeller led the way in the oil industry and controlled 90% of the country's oil-refining capacity in 1879. Other resources include immense coal deposits and steel. America's natural resources allowed for rapid industrial growth and it was growing at a rate 1/3 faster than Germany and 2 times more than Great Britain.
             Managerial innovations of such figures as Edison, Carnegie, and Rockefeller proved readily adaptable throughout American industry, spurring marvels of productivity. Mass production led to mass marketing and eventually to more business strategies that would help to make these men wealthy and American industry boom. Manufacturers built demand for their products and won remarkable consumer loyalty through brand names, trademarks, guarantees, slogans, endorsements, and other gimmicks.
             Along with business mergers and consolidations, the invention and patenting of new machines offered another means of driving up profits, lowering costs, and improving efficiency. Furthermore, mechanical inventions had the added advantage of arousing demand for new products. The development of a safe, practical system of generating electricity, for example, made possible an ever-growing range of electrical motors and household appliances. After 1870 business corporations stepped up their research efforts and introduced a remarkable variety of consumer goods, thus adding to ind...