Erik Low
Franco
U.S history honors P. 6
20 October 2016 Robber Barons, or Captains of industry
In the late 1800’s after the Civil war the United States begins to industrialize. With America’s cities growing, so does business. At the head of major business are the massive business leaders, and investors, such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P Morgan who built major cities with their steel, oil, and electricity respectively. This sets America into the future. However although these leaders in industry pave the way to the future, they do so by stealing, and taking advantage of many. By taking advantage of the poor workers, monopolizing resources, and crushing small businesses, as well as paying lots of money to bribe many
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There is no middle class, and all the workers are desperate for money just to live. They get paid barely enough to survive, and men like Carnegie, and Rockefeller know this, but they only care about making the maximum amount of profit. Also if any workers went on strike, they would replace them with other workers, or immigrants desperate for money, so nothing can change. In addition to this, even children worked, some as young as 7 or 8 years old, just to help support their families, and this is not out of choice, they have to just so their is enough food on the table for their family. Corporate heads ignore this completely to get more money. According to A People’s History of the U.S, “Often the children worked… … in 1880 there were 1,118,000 children under sixteen at work in the United States.” (196) Business leaders only cared about making money, or else they would not let this …show more content…
Plus this kills off many small businesses trying to get on their feet, before they can even begin to stand a chance. The reason that there is a few rich, and many poor, and no middle class at this time, is because they would crush all competition as they started. It makes it so it is the very rich, and the very poor, and that is it. It may be said, that the very wealthy should be rich, and from their kindness they create jobs for the poor, in his book “Wealth”, Carnegie states “This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth… … To provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him.”(Carnegie 426). He states that the poor depend on the rich for jobs, and that their helping the poor to slowly gain wealth. His statement is flawed however, he is very biased, as he is one of the rich, and he does not know, nor acknowledge the point of view of the worker, who are underpaid to the point where they cannot get ahead. In addition if this helped the poor, then there would be no need for children to work, yet they
Robber Barons are known as ruthless capitalist or industrialist of the late 19th century, known to have gain wealthyness by exploiting natural resources, corrupting legislators, or other unethical means. The Myth of the Robber Barons is a book about the entrepreneurs Cornelius Vanderbilt, James J. Hill, Andrew Mellon, Johne D. Rockefeller, the Scranton family, and Charles Schwab. Many in todays sociaty would argure that these men were all robber barons, but this book gives us a hole new look in the history of these men and there lives and all they did for the rise in the U.S economic power.
The period of time running from the 1890’s through the early 1930’s is often referred to as the “Progressive Era.” It was a time where names such as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould and John D. Rockefeller stood for the progress of America and their great contributions to American industry and innovation. This chapter however, has a much darker side. Deplorable working conditions, rampant political corruption and power hungry monopolies and trusts threatened the working class of America and the steady influx of European immigrants hoping to make a better life for themselves and their families. What started as a grass-roots movement pushing for political reform at the local and municipal levels soon began to encompass
Robber Barons and the Gilded Age Did the Robber Barons and the Gilded Age of the 1890’s and early 20th Century have a negative impact on 21st Century Corporate America today? Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt all had something in common, they were all “Robber Barons,” whose actions would eventually lead to the corruption, greed, and economic problems of Corporate America today. During the late 19th century, these men did all they could to monopolize the railroad, petroleum, banking, and steel industries, profiting massively and gaining a lot personally, but not doing a whole lot for the common wealth. Many of the schemes and techniques that are used today to rob people of what is rightfully theirs, such as pensions, stocks, and even their jobs, were invented and used often by these four men.
characterizes the capitalists who shaped post-Civil War industrial America and it is valid that they would be properly distinguished as corrupt “robber barons”.
Try as it might, America as a whole had difficulty dealing with trust monopolizations, southern attempts at industrialization, bad factory working conditions, immigration, and unsatisfied farmers. Though some conflicts were fixed to the best of reformers' ability, the dearth of strong leadership prevented the checking of corporations, and as a result, people suffered economically. However, as industry and agriculture boomed, factory owners and farmers began to look passed the boundaries of America for resources, promoting foreign affairs, and eventually, bringing in the Age of
During the Gilded Age, several Americans emerged as leaders in many fields such as, railroads, oil drilling, manufacturing and banking. The characterization of these leaders as “robber barons” is, unfortunately, nearly always correct in every instance of business management at this time. Most, if not all, of these leaders had little regard for the public or laborers at all and advocated for the concentration of wealth within tight-knit groups of wealthy business owners.
Both Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller dominated giant corporations, but they dictated much of the employees and greatly tried to divide out the employees from desperately trying to organize the reforms that would essentially stop the robber barons from taking advantage of them. The robber barons insisted that if you cannot work the day you are supposed to other than the Fourth of July, some other person will be a willing participant to come and take your job. The economy was dramatically failing because the wealth had been handed out unfairly and much the industry workers in the mining factories decimated during the accidents that occurred in those horrible working conditions. Due to the corruption of the government in the Gilded age, which lasted from the 1870 to the 1900s, most of the working class poor were barely struggling to stay alive and more family members had no choice but go into the labor force to provide for the family. The robber barons were held with much hostility in the society of American Capitalism. The society tried to look at the world in a scientific perspective that according to Social Darwinist’s theory in America, the human society was viewed in regards to the working class poor and the issues of poverty as a result of their own failure, the lack
Industrial development of the late 18th century (around 1865-1900) is often characterized by it’s affluent, aggressive and monopolistic industrial leaders of the likes of men such as Andrew Carnegie, William H. Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller. Due to their ruthless strategies, utilization of trusts, and exploitation of cheap labor in order to garner nearly unbreakable monopolies and massive sums of wealth, these men are often labelled as “robber barons”. At the same time, they are also often referred to as “industrial statements” for their organization, and catalyst of, industrial development; not to forget their generous contributions to the betterment of American society. Therefore, whether or not their aforementioned advances in industry were undertaken for their own personal benefits, one cannot ignore their positive effects on America. Thus, one can conclude that not only were the captains of industry both “robber barons” and “industrial statements”, but that that these two labels, in fact, go hand-in-hand.
The Gilded Age marked a period of industrial growth in America. Mark Twain termed the period of 1865 to 1896 as the “Gilded Age” to {indicate} the widespread corruption lying underneath the glittering surface of the era. Known as either “captains of industry” or “robber barons,” several prominent figures shaped this time period; these capitalists gained great wealth and success with their industries. Corrupt and greedy are two words associated with the term “robber barons,” which referred to the capitalists who acquired their great wealth in less than admirable and ethical ways. On the other hand, many referred to the capitalists as the “captains of industry” that were celebrated as admirable philanthropists; their way of acquiring extreme
Time and time again we hear politicians and office holders preach the need for a powerful middle-class. You may then be surprised to hear that “about 82% of America’s net worth belongs to the top 20%, the next 80% of people only own about 18% of America’s wealth” (UCSC). Some may argue that this disproportion is the beauty of capitalism, the chance to create an empire. I argue that the proportions are simply unfair. Why is it that “ the average CEO makes 350X as much as his/her employee” (UCSC)?
In history, it seems inarguably true that when a nation advanced in power and wealth, changes will soon followed. These changes affected the political, economic and social system of that nation, and often came as an advantage for wealthy individuals, while detrimental to others less fortunate. An example of this notion can be seen in American History. After the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era, America quickly surpassed Great Britain in industrial production thus became the leading nation in industrialization. However, great things do not come without a cost; the rapid technological expansion in the US would initiate the crisis of the 1890s. The crisis of the 1890s was the shift from the rural and agrarian society to a modern urban and industrial society.
The captain of industries were businessmen who also benefitted society through their accumulation of wealth, using methods such as increased productivity, the expansion of markets, offering up new jobs to the working class, and other acts of generosity. All of the notable industrialists dubbed “robber barons” were also named “captain of industries” as well. Therefore, there have been many debates as to whether the term “robber barons” really did justice to the industrialists, when taking into account of their effects on America’s economy, and not just the negative aspects. While the robber barons did harm specific groups of people in order to meet their selfish goals, as well as execute ruthless tactics to surpass their competitors, they have also created an economic boom in which they created larger manufacturing companies, created many employment opportunities for the working class. Even though robber barons went to extreme measures and harmed others in their pursuit of wealth, they have also, and built a stable and prosperous
In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, big business began to boom. For the first time, companies were developing large factories to manufacture their goods. Due to the new mechanics and cheap labor, factory owners can now produce their goods at a cheaper rate. As big businesses brought wealth and capitalism, it also widened the gap between the wealthy elite and the poor. One class in particular was horribly affected by the growth of big factories.
In the gilded age (c. 1870-1900), "robber barons" were men who acquired fortune by ruthless means Half of the main business leaders were robber barons, which were Vanderbilt, Donald Trump, and Andrew Carnegie. There are also leaders called "captains of industry", who consisted of leaders like Rockefeller, J. Morgan, and also Bill Gates. Captains of industry worked hard and actually helped the economy instead of robber barons who insisted on achieving wealth by being ruthless businessman.
After the civil war, the United States had deep social divisions that strictly divided the classes. This period of time was called the Gilded Age. The economy was shifting more and more towards an industrial one, manufacturing in the United States was more than the greater powers of Europe combined. With these industries, there were huge monopolies over steel, oil, and various other markets. The wealthy over these corporations had much influence in the government and politics. All the while, the lower classes were led to believe that they had something wrong with them. They were told they had a “lack of character” that prevented them from being successful (Foner pg. 121). The upper class as well as many economists believed that being successful from unskilled labor was impossible. They believed that entrepreneurial skills were the only thing that would allow people to become successful. The labor movement vehemently disagreed with this. They knew that the reason why most lower class workers would never be promoted or paid a livable wage was because the wealthy believed they were subhuman. They held strikes and rallies against the big corporations, such as the Great Railroad Strike, and the Pullman Strike, but their voices were ignored. .