Industrial Leaders of the 1865-1900 Era: Robber Barons or Industrial Statesmen?

This act didn’t cause any influencial effect on trusts but brought a Supreme Court case United States v. E.C. Knight Company. The Court ruled that the American Sugar Refining Company, one of the other defendants in the case, had not violated the law even though the company controlled about 98 percent of all sugar refining in the United States. The Court opinion reasoned that the company’s control of manufacture did not constitute a control of trade. The Court’s ruling in E. C. Knight seemed to end any government regulation of

The post-Civil War was a time of reform and industrialization. The United States was recovering from a war that left the nation in shambles, left with none other than itself to rejuvenate. As America strived to get back on its feet big companies also attempted to contribute to helping the economy. However, their efforts and intentions does not alternate the fact that numerous issues were still at large. On one hand these alleged captains of industry have created numerous job opportunities and built many factories, but on the other hand, the employees were underpaid and mistreated and that their entire wealth is based on corrupt actions. While they did keep the economy going and the United States wealthy, robber barons manipulated and preyed

The following question requires you to write a coherent essay incorporating your interpretation of the documents and your knowledge of the period specified in the question. To earn a high score you are required to cite key pieces of evidence from the documents and draw on your knowledge of the period.

Reunited by the Union victory in the Civil War, America faced an era of reconstruction during which the value of the individual was reanalyzed and redefined in law. After the reconstruction, a sense of peace and prosperity calmed the American people. Given hope by their success in maintaining the Union, the Progressive Era ensued. The previously forgotten vision of Alexander Hamilton was reborn and finally implemented. America was no longer the land of the yeoman farmer. Denizens of rural areas moved to the city and sought to work in the gradually industrializing regions of the country. As big business gained power, the laborers sought to achieve the American Dream of economic prosperity through self-improvement in a laissez faire economy.

The late 1800s was a time where the American way of life was still developing, including the government. The acquiescent government was certainly not the best. They were unfair in many ways. Businesses were corrupt due to Robber Barons, and the loyal citizens were greatly affected. If the government was ruled by transcendentalists, then they would rule with intuition over reason. If the government was ruled by Robber Barons, then there would certainly be more corruption occurring in the country. The government gave a lot of unnecessary subsidies to businesses who ended up failing. The more active participation from the government and a better relationship with the citizens of America would have posolutely ensured the most successful America.

Mr. Folsom wrote The Myth of the Robber Baron because he believed sides of how America became a world power was left out due to some entrepreneurs who help paved the way for businesses today. With that belief, there is an abundance of knowledge to be learned starting from the first chapter of Vanderbilt versus Collins/Fulton paving the way for the future of business dealings. Knowledge to be gained was presented by Victor Niederhoffer where he states the reasons to read The Myth of the Robber Barons as “making the reader understand the sources of wealth and progress in society, hinting on how to run a business successful and showing the key to success in business was lowering costs, attention to detail, improved technology and sound financial structure” (Niederhoffer). Furthermore, today’s business-government relationship is ever important because the government has continue to dabble in the expansion of business industries by covering costs and imposing taxes without developing opportunities for businesses to create themselves and provide the goods and services that is needed to keep The United States as a world power. Now more than ever, good and services are being provided by countries not named The United States and government is allowing those standards to continue because its cheaper for businesses outside America to develop goods and services for Americans. Ultimately, The Myth of the Robber Barons is influential to today’s businesses because it reveals the implications of political involvement through government and not where it needs to be, which is in the hands of the

In the 1870s the term began to be used to describe business tycoons, and the usage persisted throughout the rest of the 19th century. The late 1800s and the first decade of the 20th century is sometimes referred to as an age of robber barons. “Like those old German barons who, from their eyries along the Rhine, swooped down upon the commerce of the noble river and wrung tribute from every passenger that floated by,” Raymond wrote, “Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt . . . has insisted that the Pacific Company should pay him toll, taken of all America that had business with California.” Railroad builders in particular, needing political influence to build their railways, became adept at influencing politicians through the use of lobbyists, or in some

Directions: The following question requires you to construct a coherent essay that integrates your interpretation of Documents A-I and your knowledge of the period referred to in the question. High scores will be earned only by essays that both cite key pieces of evidence from the documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period. Some of the documents have been edited, and wording and punctuation have been modernized.

The industrial leaders, Robber Barons, of the 19th century are men who are very respected and admired. Andrew Carnegie was a boy from Scotland who came over to this country with nothing. He continued to save and work his way up in the industry until he had complete control over the steel industry. John D. Rockefeller was also one who came from an ordinary home. When he saw an opportunity, he took it, along with the risks. He came to control the oil industry. Another man that took many opportunities to expand and grow was Cornelius Vanderbilt. These men saw what they needed to do to become successful and they did it. These men's' lives reflected the

The name came from the specific situation that inspired their inception: checking the abuses of the huge “trusts” that emerged in the late 19th century. The massive trusts controlled or very nearly controlled entire markets in major areas (i.e. steel, petroleum, rail transport,

After the end of the Civil War, industrialization and urbanization blossomed and changed the nation. Instead of presidential power, men were aiming to be industrial tycoons for their wealth and power. To the people, these capitalists were regarded as either admirable “captains of industry” or corrupt “robber barons”. Even though to some people they may seem like “captains of industry”, but they were actually corrupt “robber barons” for several reasons regarding corruption, employee issues, and matters of the social classes.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the industrial revolution was a period when English society experienced a radical shift in terms of industrial expertise. T. S. Ashton, former University of London Economic History Professor, supports this statement saying, “The industrial revolution was in part cause, and in part effect, of a heightening and extension of the principle of specialization” (The Industrial Revolution 15). England experienced an extreme period of product specialization within the manufacturing system which included production of products, the structure of labor techniques, and the acceptance of improvements throughout the industrial society.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century there was the Industrial Revolution which resulted in society basing their work and life more on factories and production instead of on agriculture . Alongside industrialisation came capitalism which had the aim of creating profit; urbanism which consisted of mass amounts of people moving from rural to urban areas; and liberal democracy which emphasised the citizenship rights of each person and how they could make decisions on how to change their country rather than having to follow the rule of a monarch which loosely ties in with micro theories. Lee and Newby (1983) noted that “there was widespread agreement among observers and commentators at this time that Northern Europe and North America were passing through the most profound transformation of society in the history of mankind” in the early nineteenth century . Along with these developments which affected the way people worked was the Enlightenment which was a time period in which people chose scientific and objective ways of understanding the world rather than blind faith in religion and superstition .Through this new grasp and use of reason and rationality, sociology was clearly bound to develop in some way as people were becoming more educated and their minds were being opened to vast new possibilities of what they could achieve.

The social constructs of laws relate it to be something of complexity, where one’s rights and protections are imagined to be difficult to find. The law is an historic and modern aspect of the world, ensuring uniformity. It is important for the law to become not only a creator, but also a product of its environment. It is evident that laws have progressed over the years, reflecting social values, where laws responded to its time. For society to accept the law and for its effectiveness, it must be made for society to follow and reflect their social values.

In line with the topic I have been given, I shall discuss one after the other, the importance of law to an individual, organization and the economy of a country at large; showing clearly, how law has succeeded in reconciling these various interests. First is the individual