The Gilded Age sparked an era of great economic change for the United States and its citizens, from worker strikes to panics and trusts of America's richest innovators of the time. The Gilded Age will always be remembered for its great innovations that shaped America into what it is today. One of the Gilded Age's best-known philanthropists, John D. Rockefeller, had a lasting effect on the United States. He was the very first American billionaire. Rockefeller entered the oil business by first investing in an oil refinery in Cleveland, Ohio in 1863. He established his own oil company named "Standard Oil", which controlled almost 90% of the refineries in American oil companies in the 1880s. At first, Rockefeller borrowed money from some of his friends to buy back stock and take control of his first refinery in Ohio. He then formed the "Standard Oil Company" with his brother William Rockefeller and other groups of men, John D. Rockefeller was the largest shareholder of the company. Standard Oil held a monopoly in the oil industry to purchase other refineries that competed with Standard Oil in order to distribute and market their oil worldwide. Standard Oil even went so far as to manufacture its own oil barrels and employed scientists to develop other uses for kerosene and petroleum products. John D. Rockefeller was considered a target for "smear" by journalists, who viewed him as a monopolistic giant creating a monopoly corporation in America that helped him build his vast oil empire. Critics accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as competitively pricing products and negotiating with railroads to eliminate competitors. U.S. Supreme Court ... middle of paper ... federal court ruling that Pullman workers' strike was illegal. However, the workers still did not return to their workplaces the next day, so President Garfield sent federal troops to break the strike and help the trains move. Angry rioters turned violent towards the soldiers escorting the trains, and as a result, many rioters and workers were killed by federal troops who opened fire on them. Most workers returned to their old jobs, still earning the same wages as before. The Gilded Age was a wonderful time in history because of the innovations of some of America's best-known philanthropists who shaped America into what it is today with their monopolistic companies at the time. Even though workers would be treated unfairly due to other companies competing with each other, the Gilded Age was a time to remember...