During the Progressive Era (1880-1920) in the United States, influential businesses such as Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, Ford Motor Company, and J.P. Morgan and Co. dominated the economy while growing it exponentially. The economy profited from these major businesses which became more powerful over the course of a 40-year period. These big businesses provided jobs for Americans and immigrants after Reconstruction and created new advancements in technology. Big business leaders contributed to charities and the fine arts (education) through their corporate philanthropy. Prominent businesses helped the American Society prosper during the Progressive Era as it increased revenues and profits, created jobs, innovated technology, and made critical …show more content…
advancements to dated production techniques. Because big businesses could marshal capital, and their means of production and labor, they were much more effective than small companies and their influence brought great creditability to the United States.
John D. Rockefeller and other members of his family produced the fuel that powered America and Europe. In fact, 85% of the world's kerosene supply was produced in a company of Rockefeller's in Pennsylvania. J.P. Morgan, a giant in finance was equally successful by capitalizing small businesses and taking private corporations public. His genius for investing and financing was known world-wide. Because of Morgan and investors like him the American economy grew at a rate that the world had not seen before. His "Gentlemen's Agreement" brought stability to a railroad industry that was unstable because of it's incredible growth. The agreement regulated rates, settled disputes and imposed fines for companies that did not abide by the terms of their contracts. J.P. Morgan helped create a centralized banking system and paved the way for what was to become The Federal Reserve. Henry Ford a corporate giant in transportation built the Ford Motor Company and …show more content…
made great strides in the mass production of the Model T. He once said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Critics say that big businesses destroy competition, that they are bad for the economy. In my view competition keeps a business’s prices fair and its product properly made because if there isn't competition a company doesn't have to innovate or, on occasion, reinvent itself. Competition keeps the economy in balance and leads to industrial modernization. The profits a big business makes over time makes up for the competition it destroys. Big business make the most profit and help the economy grow and expand into new areas. The Progressive Era was responsible for wealth creation and the growing of a blue collar, soon to be, middle class. Big business provided jobs for all kinds of people ranging from natural born citizens and immigrants, alike. Standard Oil, Ford Motor Company, and J.P. Morgan and Co. were billion dollar companies that paid their workers fairly and improved working conditions. The jobs provided money to many households and families to start or continue a living in the U.S. In addition, average American wages had gotten higher near the late-1800s with more and more immigrants coming from Europe. More and more people needed jobs in order to try to start their lives in America. The wages in big businesses were all higher than $1.60 per day, consequently over $550 in one year. This meant that all the workers for big businesses were being paid more than the poverty rate of $500. On the other hand, many skew the results and say that the big business leaders were only paying workers around $350 a year which is around $200 under the actual wages workers get per year. These people also say that 45% of the economy is made up of workers earning lower than the poverty rate. While this may make a good argument, people are forgetting that many people in the 1890’s were immigrants, each decade the number of people in the United States has increased because of immigration. Immigrants made up around 40 million out of 63 million people during the 1890s. Immigrants moved from Europe because of unemployment and poverty. From 1850 to 1890, the population of the United States increased by over 250% because of immigration. These immigrants had a goal of first coming to America, they then saw that a bright future needed hard work. Andrew Carnegie was a poor yet a hard working immigrant once he got to the U.S. He started working as a telegrapher, then became a bond salesman, and finally saved up enough money to create Carnegie Steel Company in the 1880s. Carnegie had worked hard to become a success and said in his later years, “Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.” He had started off poor and small while ending as a powerful industrial giant. While small business was where he started, he knew that big businesses could do a great deal more for the economy. Big businesses provided enough jobs for the thousands of people who lived in the United States during the Progressive Era and with more people coming into the U.S. each day from Europe. The rise of big business has brought innovation and advancements to the lives of everyday people during the Progressive Era. For example, Rockefeller had improved his oil refineries so that he was able to refine crude oil faster, and make it cleaner. In addition, an advancement that changed the world was Edison’s light bulbs which lead to the creation of the nation’s and world's first power plant which gave electricity to the New York City. He also created the phonograph, motion picture, and even more inventions that were supported and financed by J.P. Morgan. Henry Ford created affordable automobiles through the creation of the assembly line which allowed him to build hundreds of cars in a single day. On the assembly line, objects would move along the belt and workers at different points would add something onto the vehicle. Some claim that these techniques would have still been created by small businesses and that they weren’t all significant to everyone. They say that small businesses can make up the economy and that overall they are just as good if not better than big businesses. But, many believe that if these inventions and advancements were left to small businesses, they wouldn’t have been able to support them. These big businesses can support the inventions and use them to benefit their company and the American Society, while small businesses can only create little with the money they have. Major businesses have brought advancements in technology during the Progressive Era that benefited the United States economy. Not only do big businesses boom the economy, they create jobs, and innovation, but big business leaders also affected the economy through their charitable good deeds.
Leaders such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Ford were all philanthropic and gave away their money to those in need. For instance, Andrew Carnegie had given a total of over $350 million in his lifetime and had centered his philanthropy on education and the quest for world peace. Carnegie built libraries mainly because he wanted to promote self-education and that he wanted everyone to have the access to books. He founded Carnegie University. He had always thought that “The rich have a moral obligation to give away their fortunes.” John D. Rockefeller donated over $550 million in his lifetime. Rockefeller built the University of Chicago and then founded Rockefeller University. The Rockefeller Foundation was his last charitable foundation and he had such an abundant amount of money that the foundation is still working “to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.” J.P. Morgan was an equally giving philanthropist after he retired from banking. He had become the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while he was also a trustee (lead donor, vice president, treasurer, and finance committee chairman). His love for the natural sciences gave way to the American Museum of Natural History. Morgan was also a part of the Episcopal Church which he had devoted a great deal of time to. Henry Ford
and the Ford Foundation philanthropy took a different approach. Instead of donating to foundations and charities, he would give his money away in small gifts to individuals; “He preferred to give money to individual people, face to face and with a firm handshake." He was someone who was “unimpressed by money,” so he helped individual families that were in need. Big business leaders were all philanthropists donating what they could for others in need to promote the welfare of everybody in the United States Society and helped the economy thrive during the Progressive Era. To conclude, the economy is flourishing as big businesses makes the U.S. Society a better place to live in. People and businesses can affect the world and it all started with one big business as they advanced the economy. Big businesses have helped the nation profit, boosted the amount of jobs, innovated and invented, and the leaders have donated millions upon millions of dollars to help everyone in the United States. In the 21st century, big businesses still construct the economy with major industries such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc. The U.S. Society is advancing upon itself every day with the assistance of big businesses and the future will likely be the same.
Henry Ford and Walter Reuther are two of the biggest names in the world of automobile industries and organized labor. They were both activists in their own way. Also, they were completely different from each other, one could even argue that they were opposites. Their ideas were contradicting, but still both of them had positive effects on society.
...600 -$700 annually. In the same fashion as Carnegie, Rockefeller gave most of his money to profit other. It has been said that he gave a third of his fortune to charities, organizations, and universities; another third was for him, and the final third he left to his descendants.
Because the Great Depression occurred during Hoover's term as president, in the public's mind, Hoover started his presidency as a liberal and ended it as a conservative. With the end of the Progressive Age in 1910, big business flourished because Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover kept government from intervening in the economy. Compared to the public purpose policies of Teddy Roosevelt, the laissez-faire policies of these presidents seemed extremely liberal. The invention of the production line which spurred on the Second Industrial Revolution, allowed businessmen such as Henry Ford to prosper, while automobiles and electrical appliances became available to the masses. America's success and optimism caused people to support the liberal policies of the 1920's.
In the late nineteenth century known as the Gilded Age (or the Reconstruction period) and the early twentieth century known as the Progressive era, the nation went through great economic growth and social change. Beginning from the 1870s, there was rapid growth in innovations and big businesses. This could be because there was population growth and when there is population growth, there is a high demand of products and other necessities in order to strive in society. Many immigrants from Europe, mostly from the eastern and southern Europe, and Asia moved to American cities. Additionally, farmers from rural America desired to increase economically in society and since corporations ruled and political problems occurred, they decided to move into the cities. Afterwards, the 1900s started with the dominance of progressivism which many Americans tried to improve and solve the problems that were caused or had arisen because of the industrialization of the Gilded Age. It was basically the time when progressives fought for legislations like regulation of big businesses, end of the political corruption, and protection of the rights of the people: the poor, immigrants, workers, and consumers. Thus, between the periods 1870 to 1920, big businesses had arisen and taken control of the political and economic systems through corruption and innovations. In response, American citizens reacted negatively and formed labor unions and political systems to diminish the power that large corporations had in America.
During the Progressive Era, pressure from labor, suffrage, and conservation movements profoundly changed the course of American history. Many of the reformers' ideas clashed with the male-dominated, capitalist economic structure present at the turn of the century. Some of the intended reforms opposed the current system, but the level of social unrest necessitated change. Businessmen and activists alike initiated the reforms during the Progressive Era. Government, due to the intention of calming the common man and quieting the seemingly more and more vocal middle class, supported them. In the final analysis, from the year 1900 to 1920, Progressive Era reformers were successful in bringing about reform to the United States.
The Progressive Era was a period in which the federal government increased its legislation and its grasp of the nation. There were three distinct pieces of federal legislation that seem to stick out, The Meat Inspection Act The Federal Reserve Act,, and The Hepburn Act. All of this legislation gave the government an extremely large amount of power to regulate business and industry as well as the people of the United States of America.
During both the Progressive Era and New Deal Era many American citizens faced low pay. To deal with this, workers from both eras fought unfair labor practices by creating unions and strikes. During the Progressive Era employers soon realized better paid workers are better able to afford the products they were selling. Henry Ford was one of the first employers to realize this, in result he raised the pay of worker to an average of $5 per day. This resulted in Ford’s annual input increasing from 34,000 cars to 730,000 cars from 1910 to
ownership participations. This was enough to make them millionaires in their own right. He also gave back by funding over 2,500 libraries throughout America. Carnegie managed to give away 90 percent of his wealth before he died. He was able to make sure that the people around him were happy financially so that they could all work happily and achieve success together.
Cities grew in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As specialized industries like steel and meat packing improved, jobs also increased in the cities. These factories work lured former farmers, immigrants, and American workers moved into the cities. These people lived in tenements and ghettos and were unable to earn an authentic living due to unreasonable wage cut. Progressivism is an umbrella label for a wide range of economic, political, social, and moral reforms. The early twentieth century acted as the Progressive Era, when Americans find solutions to resolve problems that were engendered by industrialization. Predicated on the documents, Progressive Era were effective because of child labor, working conditions, and women's suffrage.
Rockefeller was America’s first billionaire, and he was the true epitome of capitalism. Rockefeller was your typical rags-to-riches businessman, and at the turn of the twentieth century, while everyone else in the working class was earning ten dollars max every week, Rockefeller was earning millions. There has been much discussion as to whether Rockefeller’s success was due to being a “robber baron”, or as a “captain of industry”. By definition, a robber baron was an industrialist who exploited others in order to achieve personal wealth, however, Rockefeller’s effect on the economy and the lives of American citizens has been one of much impact, and deserves recognition. He introduced un-seen techniques that greatly modified the oil industry. During the mid-nineteenth century, there was a high demand for kerosene. In the refining process from transforming crude oil to kerosene, many wastes were produced. While others deemed the waste useless, Rockefeller turned it into income by selling them. He turned those wastes into objects that would be useful elsewhere, and in return, he amassed a large amount of wealth. He sold so much “waste” that railroad companies were desperate to be a part of his company. However, Rockefeller demanded rebates, or discounted rates, from the railroad companies, when they asked to be involved with his business. By doing so, Rockefeller was able to lower the price of oil to his customers, and pay low wages to his workers. Using these methods,
Reformers known as Progressives attempted to undo the problems caused by industrialization. The Progressive movement sought to end the influence of large corporations, provide more rights and benefits to workers, and end the control possessed by party leaders. At the national level, Progressivism centered on defeating the power of large businesses. The Progressive Era was a period in American history in which improving working conditions, exposing corruption, improving the way of life, expanding democracy, and making reforms were the objectives at hand. With the emergence of the Progressive Era, two important figures gradually emerged as well.
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, economics, business, and industry began to change in America and all around the world. Many would credit the Industrial Revolution as a whole to describe the changes that were made in so many different industries in America; however, these changes can be largely credited to only a few different individuals. Many different people made impacts on American economics and society, although much of this change can be credited to three individuals who stood out among the many. John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan can be credited with financially supporting many different industries, as he was the top banker of his time. Thomas Edison is given credit for many electrical inventions that changed the way people live their everyday lives. Henry Ford was a great industrial innovator who
John D. Rockefeller, born on July 8, 1839, has had a huge impact on the course of American history, his reputation spanning from being a ruthless businessperson to a thoughtful philanthropist (Tarbell 41). He came from a family with not much and lived the American dream, rising to success through his own wit and cunning, riding on the backs of none. His legacy is huge, amassing the greatest private wealth of any American in history. Rockefeller’s influence on our country has been both a positive and a negative one, he donated huge sums of money to various public institutions and revolutionized the petroleum industry. Along with all the positives to the country, Rockefeller also had many negative affects as well, including, by gaining his riches by means of a monopoly, often using illegal methods, by giving others a reason to frown upon capitalism, and by hurting smaller businesses.
By founding his Standard Oil Company, he became the richest American of all time and one of the country’s first business tycoons. He was self made and not born wealthy, he used his financial success to donate over $500 million to philanthropic causes. Among his achievements, he funded the Rockefeller Sanitation Commission, the University of Chicago, and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. His charity and generosity might give him the label of Captain of Industry. However, his control over the oil industry was tight and monopolistic. He was often accused of unfair business and was censured by reformers and journalists. His philanthropic achievements in contrast to his industrial practices keep us from classifying Rockefeller as a baron or
John Rockefeller was an American entrepreneur who amassed a fortune in the petroleum business. He was the head man behind the advancement of the Standard Oil Company, which developed to command the oil business and turned into one of the first huge trusts in the United States, subsequently causing much discussion and restriction in regards to its business practices and manifestation of association.