A Business Organization Of The Gilded Age

As the age of Reconstruction ended, the Gilded Age of big businesses began in the United States and with it came new jobs and goods for Americans. When new corporations became more successful, it made an immense impact on the economy, the political system and the lives of citizens. Economically, the cost of food and living went down significantly as well as a surplus of jobs. Political leaders were corrupted by big business as their decisions and laws were influenced by the wealthy class’ bribes and stealing from the common man. Though mass production allowed goods to be made quicker and in greater quantity, the workers’ horrible working conditions and remarkably long hours caused the creation of unions and strikes. Despite the great effect big business had on the economy in the Gilded Age through the decline in the cost of food and fuel, the daily lives of average working-class citizens were negatively impacted by long hours, horrid working conditions leading to unions and a corrupted political system.

In the period following the civil war often referred to as the Gilded age, American Economy advanced both in size and function ( manufacturing rose from $3 billion to $9 billion) at an exceptional rate. New technologies, improved transportation and communication network , small businesses and sector’s of American economy like banking, manufacturing, steel, oil refining were now dominated by corporations, and new managerial techniques were some of the prominent changes in the business operations during the gilded age. This eventually led to the per capita income to rise to a new level and the United states became the largest industrial nation.

The late 1800s were a period of industrial innovation and corporate growth. Many men amassed huge fortunes by means that were legal and illegal. During this age of corruption and greed, a man named John D. Rockefeller rose to the top. It is heavily debated whether or not he was a captain of industry or a robber baron. John D. Rockefeller was undoubtedly a robber baron.

Settlers used oil as an illuminant for medicine and as grease for wagons and tools. Rock oil distilled from shale became avaialable as kerosene even before the industrial revolution began. While traveling in Austria, John Austin, A new york merchant, observed an effective, cheap oil lamp and made a model that upgraded kerosene lamps. Soon the u.s rock oil industy boomed as whale oil increased in price owing to the corporation, which was created to develop oil found floating on water near titusville, Pennsylvania, was the pennsylvania rock oil company of conneticut ( later the seneca oil company). Pipelines early became a major consideration in standards drive to gain buisness and profits. Samuel syckel had built a four-mile pipeline from pithole,

During Gilded Ages, the farmer criticized big businesses like banks and railroads for using their power to abuse the small businesses. The government increased taxes to the goods that farmers required to perform their job such as machinery and equipment. The Farmers protest, which leads to the Progressive Movement by introducing the idea that the big businesses needed to be restrained in during the Gilded Age. This movement passed legislation to guide big business, combat corruption, free the government from special interests, and secure the rights of consumers, workers, immigrants, and the

The Gilded age was a time of deception and industry. Many businesses tried to make it to the top but most failed. Very few went on to become a huge success, such as Carnegie’s steel production. Being a captain of industry is a big importance, and even though people may not like your methods, they work for you and your business.

Most people made very little money. The average wage for one week was around sixteen dollars. By the late 1800s, Rockefeller was worth billions in todays money. John Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1869 , which soon became the leading

The Gilded Age after the Civil War caused the American economy to grow drastically during the 1870s. Due to the manufacturing business spreading across the nation, entrepreneurs such as Andrew Carnegie, J.P Morgan and John D. Rockefeller were considered the “captains of industry” who helped grow the economy. But, there were some who believed these entrepreneurs were “robber barons,” as people who worked in the manufacturing business were treated badly, underpaid, and forced to work long hours in dangerous circumstances. Although these so called “captains of industries” may have helped the economy when it needed them the most, they perfectly represented the term given to their era, the Gilded Age, where their monopolies and gold exterior came from their dangerous and “robber baron” factory working.

The market mechanism of the Gilded Age was laissez-faire capitalism, an economic system based solely on the law of supply and demand, driven single-handedly by the motivation of entrepreneurs to generate profit, regulated purely by the ruthless competition between companies and owners. Such an economic environment inevitably resulted in monopoly and encouraged illegal business practices to get ahead due to the lack of government intervention. In this free-market capitalism, large companies were able to lobby the government and hurt, or even prevent other businesses from kickstarting and competing, by controlling the nation’s political outcomes through financing its politicians. These robber barons running these billion-dollar companies extracted the maximum profits from labor by bitterly preventing their employees from organizing unions. Ultimately left with a monopoly, these companies were able to deceive their consumers about their products and were to set skyrocket prices without any competition for customers to turn to for cheaper alternatives.

The late 19th century and early 20th century, dubbed the Gilded Age by writer Mark Twain, was a time of great growth and change in every aspect of the United States, and even more so for big business. It was this age that gave birth to many of the important modern business practices we take for granted today, and those in charge of business at the time were considered revolutionaries, whether it was for the good of the people or the good of themselves.

After the Civil War, the nation was changed from an agrarian society to an industrial one. People were getting adjusted to this new way of life and some did not know what to expect. Due to peoples’ naivety, they were taken advantage of by a group of entrepreneurs. These tycoons were William H.

Going to work and being treated like a military organization where worker practically have a king ruling over them…no thanks. This is how it was during the Gilded Age for the workers of big businesses. Employees had no job security and never knew how much they'd be getting payed. The political leaders had a very tricky mindset which always seemed to get them ahead. Although many jobs were created because of big businesses during the Gilded Age, many workers were not satisfied with their hours, pay, and working conditions.

John D. Rockefeller also started at humble beginnings. By taking risks and investing he found himself engulfed in the rapidly expanding oil industry. Not yet in the business directly he started his own company, The Standard Oil Company of Cleveland. Rockefeller's stake in the oil industry increased as the industry itself expanded caused by the rapidly spreading use of kerosene. The Standard Oil eventually, in a few years, purchased and controlled almost all the refining firms in Cleveland, plus two refineries

Standard Oil’s sales continued to increase, and the company began to acquire smaller companies to continue their rapid growth. When Rockefeller would acquire smaller companies, he would completely shut down the ones he believed were inefficient and keep the ones that he thought he could bring up to his caliber of quality. Unfortunately for the workers from the companies that were shut down, they were put out of work. Rockefeller also began to warehouse oil products in order to have more control over the oil market by having the ability to possess large amounts of oil. Rockefeller had the ability to send in oil, or hold the oil in the warehouses which could cause a riff in the oil market. In order to acquire more business from customers Rockefeller struck a deal with Lake Shore Railroad, to give Standard Oil a 71% discount in return for a promise to ship at least 60 carloads of oil daily and to handle the loading and unloading. This move cut the throats of smaller refineries because they could not produce enough oil fast enough to be able to be offered discounts by railroad companies like Rockefeller did. These deals that Rockefeller had in place allowed

In 1859 Colonel Drake stuck oil for the first time and became the first man to create an oil well in which he produced roughly 15 barrels of oil per day. Once word spread of this discovery you saw many men attempt to accomplish the same feat and create oil wells of their own. Some of oil’s first uses were as a lubricant