Diagram of the British slave ship Brookes, published in 1788. Public domain, British Library.
Rockefeller’s Standard Oil began in Ohio and set out to control refining, shipping, and the price of kerosene.
A household that bought lamp oil often paid whatever the combination left on the barrel, with no strong rival to undercut it.
A small refiner who would not sell was denied fair railroad rates and squeezed until he quit.
Rockefeller and his partners already had capital, secret railroad rebates, and a plan to buy or ruin competitors.
Standard Oil Company was incorporated in Ohio in 1870.
Through rebates, drawbacks on other shippers’ freight, and buyouts, it came to dominate American refining.
In 1882 the Standard Oil Trust put the combination under a small group of trustees.
Allan Nevins, Study in Power (1953); Ida M. Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904)