Thomas Alexander Scott
Encyclopedia
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
. He was the 4th president of what was the largest corporation in the world, the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, during the middle of the 19th century. In connection with his railroad interests, he also took a leading role in crafting what eventually became the Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Corrupt Bargain, refers to a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election and ended Congressional Reconstruction. Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J...
, which marked the end of Reconstruction following the Civil War.
Early life
Scott was born in Fort Loudoun, PennsylvaniaFort Loudoun (Pennsylvania)
Fort Loudoun was a fort in colonial Pennsylvania, one of several forts in colonial America named after John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun...
. He joined the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1850 as a station agent, and by 1858 was general superintendent. It was during this time that a young Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
began working for the Pennsylvania Railroad under the supervision of Scott. Their association continued through the Civil War and for some time after, until Carnegie turned his full attention to iron and steel. In 1860, Scott became the first Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad. From 1871 to 1872, he was President of the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
and assumed the Presidency of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1874. The Pennsylvania Railroad expanded from a state line railroad to a transportation empire in the 1860s and 1870s.
Manager
The charter issued in 1846 by the state to the Pennsylvania Railroad was an attempt to diffuse power within the organization by giving executive authority to a committee responsible to stockholders. By 1878, however, power had been centralized in the hands of the officers led by John Edgar ThomsonJohn Edgar Thomson
John Edgar Thomson was an American civil engineer and industrialist. Thomson was an entrepreneur best known for his leadership of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1852 until his death 1874, making it the largest business enterprise in the world and a world-class model for technological and...
and Scott.
Historians have explained the successful partnership of Scott with J. Edgar Thomson in terms of the melding of their opposite personality traits: Thomson, the engineer, cool, deliberate, and introverted; Scott, the financier, daring, versatile, and a publicity-seeker. In addition, were their common experiences and values, their agreement on the importance of success, Thomson's paternalism, and the financial stability of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
After the war Scott was heavily involved in investments in the fast-growing trans-Mississippi line
Scott took a special interest in mentoring aspiring railroad men, such as Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
; Scott taught him the basics of railroading, investment, and management and had a great impact on his later business life.
Civil War
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin called on Scott for his extensive knowledge of the rail and transportation systems of the state. In August 1861, President Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
appointed Scott as Assistant Secretary of War
United States Assistant Secretary of War
The United States Assistant Secretary of War was the second-ranking official within the American Department of War from 1861 to 1867, from 1882 to 1883, and from 1890 to 1940...
. The next year, he helped organize the Loyal War Governors' Conference
War Governors' Conference
The Loyal War Governors' Conference was an important political event of the American Civil War. It was held at the Logan House Hotel in Altoona, Pennsylvania on September 24 and 25, 1862. Thirteen governors of Union states came together to discuss the war effort, state troop quotas, and the...
in Altoona, Pennsylvania
Altoona, Pennsylvania
-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...
. Later on, Scott took on the task of equipping a substantial military force. He assumed supervision of government railroads and other transportation lines, and made the movement of supplies and troops more efficient and effective in the war effort on behalf of the Union. In one instance, he engineered the movement of 25,000 troops in 24 hours, turning the tide of battle once more to a Union victory.
Reconstruction
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the southern states wanted their economic infrastructure restored and the railroads competed to acquire and construct lines in the south. Federal assistance was desired by both interest groups, but the Credit MobilierCredit Mobilier
Credit Mobilier may refer to:* Crédit Mobilier, a large French bank* Crédit Mobilier of America, an American railroad construction company setup by the Union Pacific Railroad to build the First Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s *...
scandal had made this difficult. Scott made a proposal that came to be called the "Scott Plan" by which largely Democratic Southern politicians would give their votes in Congress and state legislatures for government subsidies for various infrastructure improvements, including in particular, an enterprise headed by Scott, the Texas and Pacific Railway
Texas and Pacific Railway
The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California....
. Gibson employed the expertise of Grenville Dodge in buying the support of newspaper editors as well as various politicians in order to build public support for the subsidies. The Scott Plan became the basis for the Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Corrupt Bargain, refers to a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election and ended Congressional Reconstruction. Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J...
, which included an end to the Federal occupation of the South and the concomitant abandonment of African Americans in that region.
University of Pennsylvania Endowments
Scott and his widow made a variety of endowments in his name at the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, including:
- the Thomas A. Scott Fellowship in HygieneThomas A. Scott Fellowship in HygieneThe Thomas A. Scott Fellowship in Hygiene was a competitive academic grant made at the University of Pennsylvania for the study of scientific hygiene and sanitary science, the precursors of the modern science of pathology...
- the Thomas A. Scott Professorship of MathematicsThomas A. Scott Professorship of MathematicsThe Thomas A. Scott Professorship of Mathematics is an academic grant made to the University of Pennsylvania. It was established in 1881 by the railroad executive and financier: Thomas Alexander Scott.-Recipients:*Ezra Otis Kendall, 1881 – 1899...
- endowed beds for patients of chronic diseases at the university hospital
Further reading
- Ward, James A. "J. Edgar Thomson And Thomas A. Scott: A Symbiotic Partnership?," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Jan 1976, Vol. 100 Issue 1, pp 37–65
- Ward, James A. "Power and Accountability on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1846-1878," Business History Review, Spring 1975, Vol. 49 Issue 1, pp 37–59
- White, Richard. "Corporations, Corruption, and the Modern Lobby: A Gilded Age Story of the West and the South in Washington, D.C.", Southern Spaces, 16 April 2009. online
- Woodward, C. Vann. Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction, (1956)
External links
- "Corporations, Corruption, and the Modern Lobby:A Gilded Age Story of the West and the South in Washington, D.C." by Richard White, Southern Spaces, April 2009. http://southernspaces.org/2009/corporations-corruption-and-modern-lobby-gilded-age-story-west-and-south-washington-dc
- Gangs of America by Ted Nace, Chapter Six - The genius: The man who reinvented the corporation (1850-1880)
- Re-Assessing Tom Scott, the 'Railroad Prince'
- The Great Strike of 1877: Remembering a Worker Rebellion