John Pierpont Morgan, as we all know as J.P. Morgan, is known as one of the most important financiers in American history. The story of how he came to be one of the most infamous people in America, especially in New York City, is not an uncommon one. To start, Morgan’s family was already wealthy and had a thriving business before he was born. During his childhood years, Morgan’s father provided extensive conditioning on how to act, think, and speak like a banker. He was provided an excellent education which included being taught at an English school in Boston, a school in Switzerland and Gottingen University in Germany. Also, during Morgan’s first years in American banking, his father who was a strict and conservative business man chastised his son for making risky decisions. This ultimately helped JP to become a wiser financier later on in his career.
During most of John’s career, America did not have a central banking system. Banks during this time were independent and controlled all business matters concerning mergers, legal issues, and stock values. Some of John’s accomplishments during this period were playing a key role in financing the Union Army after the Civil War, the depression of 1895, and preventing the economic crisis of 1907. The economic crisis of 1893 was when J.P. Morgan made his decision to control the business world by merging businesses into large industries in which he controlled.
Throughout his lifetime, Morgan accomplished many mergers in which several made top headlines in the media. One such merger was the consolidation of the railroad industry during the late 1890’s. The merger allowed Morgan control over one sixth of the nation’s railroad, all of which he controlled from New York. Even though consolidation of the railroads was a large merger, the formation of the United States Steel industry was his largest. Not only did this merger form the first billion dollar corporation, Morgan accomplished this task by taking over the industry from other well known tycoons such as Carnegie and Rockefeller. One industry in which Morgan played a large role in developing was electricity. During the late 1870’s, Thomas Edison was researching electricity and Morgan decided to invest heavily in to his research. This investment was one time in which he ignored his father’s rule about being conservative and funded Thomas Edison’s ideas of electricity. The result of this action was the creation of the largest leader in the electrical industry in which we know today as General Electric.
Besides many hours consolidating and taking over businesses, many people wondered what Morgan did during his personal time. Even though he was a prominent and hard figure to deal with in business, scrutinized by the government for forming monopolies and undermining people, he did have a life outside of business. He was an avid sailor who participated in several America’s Cup yacht races. He was also an avid art collector and collected many famous pieces of art throughout his life. In New York City, Morgan was instrumental in creating the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History through his generous contributions to these institutions. In the ever changing process of how the industrial world is ran, the name J.P. Morgan will always be known and revered.
Contributed by Michael Thomas
References:
A&E Television Networks: “John Pierpont Morgan Biography”. Bio True Story. Biography.com. web.
Accessed 04March2011.< http://www.biography.com/articles/John-Pierpont-Morgan-9414735>
Bowen, Liz:”J.P. Morgan”. Biography Journal. Fordham University. Web. Accessed 04March2011.
Upside Trader. Upsidetrader.com. J.P.Morgan picture.
