Jay Gould was titled “Most Hated Man in America”, yeah that’s right he was that type of Robber Baron. He had his ups and downs but in the end he turned out on top. A Robber Baron is defined as one of the American industrialists who became wealthy by “cheating” or using the stock market operation and unfair selfish treatment of labor. Jay Gould was a selfish Baron who owned railroads. He was named “Most Hated Man in America” most likely for his selfish treatment of labor and his “cheating” from early on. This Jay Gould guy owned 15% of all railroads at the time when he was on top, including the big one, “The Union Pacific.”
Before Jays golden days, his past was quite normal and non-rude. Jay Gould was born in Roxburg, NY on May 27th, 1836. He had obtained education at a local academy and also learned surveying. Gould had moved to New York City where he set up as a leather merchant in 1860. Between the ages 18 and 21 he had helped prepare maps of New York’s southern countries. Now it gets bad. Gould had found his forte in Wall Street. In that period of unregulated finance he mastered the intricacies of corporate management and security trading manipulation. He traded in the securities of his own companies, manipulating banks. From 1867 to 1872 he was a power and terror in Wall Street. That was his background of before he went for the big stuff.
Gould had a series of ways to get his wealth and some failed but in the end everything went his way. Jay wanted to make a huge profit by buying gold cheaply and selling it when the price rose. When the price of gold was good, Gould started to quietly buy up gold. On 24th of September 1869, the government’s gold hit the market and price of gold went way down and Gould lost money. Gould once ...
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...arely did. When he would die, all the money would go to his family and nothing outside of that. All of that money was 70,000,000 went to his heirs. To the few charities that he did donate to was the Vanderbilt Union Navy. He also donated $10,000 to a Presbyterian building fund because that was his religion. So with all the money he had earned, he had never donated one cent to public charities or works of beneficence with exceptions of religion and Vanderbilt.
To sum everything up, Jay Gould was a selfish Robber Baron that never spent or donated money outside of his family and business. He owned several railroads which was 15 percent of all roads in America. He was a terrible sport when it came to his workers. I would say that I believe that Jay Gould did earn that title of “Most Hated Man in America” and probably the worst Robber Baron there was at that time.
It's said that before John D. Rockefeller died, "he gave away about $550,000,000 to charity, more than any other American before him had ever possessed" (98). His money went to schools, churches and also "paid teams of scientists who found cures for yellow fever, meningitis, and hookworm"(97).
Matthew Josephson agreed that Rockefeller was indeed a "robber baron". In the book Taking Sides, he claims that Rockefeller was a deceptive and conspiratorial businessman, whose fortune was built by secret agreements and wrung concessions from America's leading railroad companies (Taking Sides 25). When John D. Rockefeller merged with the railroad companies, he had gained control of a strategic transportation route that no other companies would be able to use. Rockefeller would then be able to force the hand on the railroads and was granted a rebate on his shipments of oil. This was a kind of secret agreement between the two industries.
Andrew Carnegie, the monopolist of the steel industry, was one of the worst of the Robber Barons. Like the others, he was full of contradictions and tried to bring peace to the world, but only caused conflicts and took away the jobs of many factory workers. Carnegie Steel, his company, was a main supplier of steel to the railroad industry.
During the 1800’s, business leaders who built their affluence by stealing and bribing public officials to propose laws in their favor were known as “robber barons”. J.P. Morgan, a banker, financed the restructuring of railroads, insurance companies, and banks. In addition, Andrew Carnegie, the steel king, disliked monopolistic trusts. Nonetheless, ruthlessly destroying the businesses and lives of many people merely for personal profit; Carnegie attained a level of dominance and wealth never before seen in American history, but was only able to obtain this through acts that were dishonest and oftentimes, illicit. Document D resentfully emphasizes the alleged capacity of the corrupt industrialists. In the picture illustrated, panic-stricken people pay acknowledgment to the lordly tycoons. Correlating to this political cartoon, in 1900, Carnegie was willing to sell his holdings of his company. During the time Morgan was manufacturing
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.
What is a robber baron? Webster’s New Dictionary defines it as an American capitalist of the late 19th century who became wealthy through exploitation (As of natural resources, governmental influence, or low wage scales) or a person who satisfies himself by depriving another. In America we had a lot of these kind of people. For this report I am going to tell you about the ones that I found most interesting to me. I would first like to tell you about Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Theodore Roosevelt claims that “probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures.” The former President of the United States emphasizes that greed is an obstacle to the good working of modern societies. The novels, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñonez portray that the greatest harm is made up of vast wealth. In the Great Gatsby, the protagonist, Jay Gatsby has made his wealth and gained his made-up sense of celebrity through bootlegging. In Bodega Dreams, the main character, Willie Bodega also sells illegal drugs. The Great Gatsby and Bodega Dreams are similar because both Gatsby and Bodega earn their money by selling illegal items, they are madly in love with somebody and want them to tell that they never love their husband, and both protagonists are murdered in cold blood.
George M. Pullman is best remembered for his contributions to the railroad industry through the invention of his Pullman Cars. The cars sold well and the railroad industry flourished with this new invention. Although the success attached to his name, not many people know the real truth behind this robber baron. His greed for money took him to extreme measures as his workers were seriously mistreated and put under strict
The year after he dropped out, he worked on Lake Superior fishing for salmon and digging for clams. One day, he saw a yacht owned by Dan Cody who was a wealthy copper mogul and rowed out to warn him about a coming storm. The grateful Cody took young Gtz, who gave his name as Jay Gatsby. On board, Gatsby worked as Cody’s personal assistant. Traveling with Cody to the Barbary Coast and the West. At that time ,Gatsby fell love with wealth and luxury. When Cody died, he left Gatsby $25,000. But Cody’s mistress prevented him from claiming his inheritance. Gatsby then dedicated himself to becoming a wealthy and successful man. At the same time ,he had gained the skills of making money which was vital to his success, However, his poor background and exorbitant desire for wealth and success were obstacles to him.
Jay Gatsby is a cryptoquote within himself. Who is this man? Gatsby is not only one man, but two. James Gatz, the son of dirt poor ranch farmers from North Dakota, had always dreamed of something more. Likewise, Jay Gatsby, the exuberant man behind the posh parties had also dreamed of more. But just how exactly did James turn into Jay; how did one man go from one financial extreme to another? Gatsby is an interesting character, yet many fail to notice. Within the novel no one knows how Gatsby had gotten the money and no one specific individual knew exactly what he looked like. Many knew the person, but not the man. If anyone were to recognize this mysterious man at any of his parties, he would be lurking around and not joining in on the festivities. Why would a man of such an extravagant lifestyle willingly hold partie...
They both acquired their wealth through nefarious means and utilized it for selfish reasons. They lied and were obsessed with achieving their dream. Joe Keller was so obsessed with achieving his American dream that he lied about selling broken engine parts to avoid jail, keep his business, and retain his wealth. Although Joe Keller was talking about Steve Deever, he described himself perfectly when he said, “There are certain men in the world who rather see everyone hung before they’ll take the blame” (Miller 64). Keller let his business partner take the fall for his crimes. As a result, Keller did not go to prison and his business boomed. His son, Chris, knew what his father had done and would not tolerate his wrongdoings. He realized his father had dirty money and wanted him to turn himself in for his actions. Keller said to Chris, “I’m telling you what to do, if it’s dirty [money] then burn it. It’s your money, that’s not my money” (Miller 80). Keller shows us that his American dream was more important than other people’s lives. He says to Chris, “The paper, it was all over the front page, twenty-one went down, and it was too late… Chris…Chris I did it for you, it was a chance and I took it for you” (Miller 70). Keller’s selfishness led to his downfall. He killed himself because of his son’s beliefs. Only Jay Gatsby had more greed than Joe Keller. Jay Gatsby was too selfishly obsessed with achieving his goal and a repulsive liar. He lied about many things such as how he got his money, where he was from, and even his name. Gatsby used his dirty money to try to impress Daisy and he did not care how he earned it. His motive was to make sure that what he had was good enough to keep Daisy satisfied. Gatsby became so obsessed with getting Daisy back that he said, “but of course I’ll say I was [driving]” (Fitzgerald 143). He took the blame for the death of Myrtle to keep Daisy out of trouble. This directly led to his murder.
" well-to-do people in this Middle Eastern city for three generations. ".. pg.2 Why did he have to lie when he knew that if they really got to know him they would find out the truth. Jay gave everyone the impression that he was this kind. of a rich, snobbish guy.
Jay Gatsby grew up in a family where money was not an easy thing to come by, but he was determined to change his social standing. He worked hard and dedicated himself
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.
won millions to his cause. Even though he said that at his death he was "...the