Robber Barons Analysis

A Review of The Myth of the Robber Barons a book by Burton Folsom JR.

Question 1: When Zinn refers to industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller as “robber barons” he means that those industrialists are taking all the wealth and privileges for themselves and not sharing them with the rest of the country. When Schweikart and Allen refer to the industrialists as “titans of industry” they mean that they revolutionized the way of their industry and made their products cheaper and better and easier to produce.

In the early nineteenth century the USA was very corrupt. It was a time were monopolistic businesses thrived, and small ones failed. In this time was when J.P. Morgan became the man controlling the most money in the world and ended up owning at his peak, forty companies. In the early nineteenth century J.P Morgan was both a Captain of industry and a Robber Baron.

During the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, both robber barons and captains of industry were terms used to place businessmen into a good or bad category. The term robber baron is a representation of industrialist who used manipulative methods in order to reach enormous quantities of wealth. Some characteristics of robber barons were: they depleted America of its valuable resources, forced authority to pass laws that would work in there favor, make opponents in the industry go out of business, and force laborers to work in hazardous circumstances with little pay. The term captains of industry meant the exact opposite, these businessmen did positive things in order to reach enormous quantities of wealth. Some characteristics of captains of industry were: they constructed factories to make the accessibility of goods rise, increased production, developed markets, gave to charity, and created more jobs with generous pay. While many historians believe that the industrialist of the 19th century were captains of industry there are others that would object and say that they were indeed robber barons. Would you consider the great industrialist of the 19th century to be robber barons or would you consider them as captains of the industry?

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

Rockefeller was an American business tycoon. His early life made an impact on him with his father’s odd habits and parenting. His father was a traveling salesman who regularly cheated on his wife; even cheating on her when he was home. His father regularly “ cheated” his children by lying to them. He made the excuse that it would make them strong. John did not let this affect him. He got a job at an early age and used this experience and knowledge to become a business partner. By the end of the year the company had made half a million dollars. He used this money to open an oil refinery. He and a few others created the Standard Oil Company, in 1870. Within two years they had owned a majority of the oil refineries in Cleveland. They, in nearly a decade, had a monopoly on the US oil refinery

Often considered as the most unscrupulous of the robber barons, Jay Gould was involved with Tammany Hall and William “Boss” Tweed from the initial stages of his business career. Shortly after hurting his reputation in a gold speculation that induced the Black Friday panic 1in 1869, he went on to gain control of western railroads such as the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. By 1882, Gould had a firm grip on 15% of the United States’ total trackage. Although many of his contemporaries feared him because of his ability to influence the market, he was recognized by other magnates as a rather skilled businessman. From his rather corrupt business practices, Jay Gould built up and ultimately established his reputation in the 19th century through his involvement with the Erie railway, the panic of Black Friday, and Tammany Hall which reassured his position as one of the leading robber barons during the Industrial Revolution.

Typically, the capitalist leaders of the Industrial Revolution were considered robber barons. This was because, in comparison, the majority of the population was poor. The common misconception is that the “robber barons” were the cause of horrible working conditions and unfair labor practices. The capitalist captains of the Industrial Revolution created many job opportunities, built industries that benefited the economy, and used their money in philanthropist ways. The industrial leaders post-Civil War should be considered captains of industry because they helped put the U.S. on the road to economic success.

The time period following the Civil War was a time of national rebuild. During this time, we grew industrially and economically. Looking back on these times of reconstruction, historians sought out answers to the characteristics of the capitalists. Some saw them as amazingly beneficial, and others believed otherwise. The most accurate characterization of these men are that they were neither "robber barons” or "captains of industry”, but successful people in the business world who helped in the ways they knew how.

During the late 19th century, the industrial leaders were either characterized as “robber barons” or “industrial statesmen”. The extent of this classification comes with the power of how they use their leadership to better improve the economy of the United States. Although both groups impacted the United States industrial economy, “robber barons” had the advantage because they applied their technique to innovate American history. Robber Barons gave lower wages, built monopolies, provided poor working conditions for the employees and didn’t offer any working benefits. Industrial Statesmen helped improve the economy, gave jobs, and donated money to charity. Both the Industrial Statesmen and Robber Barons maintain a higher economic status, along

These giants would be classified as monopolies and trusts’ that had unprecedented control over entire parts of the American economy. These trusts’ did not try very hard to hide their shady activities. For example, Andrew Carnegie wrote a letter to Former President Roosevelt that basically called for legal price fixing. (Document 2). This letter proves that Carnegie and other prominent business leaders were getting tired of hiding their price fixing agreements and wanted the government to make it legal so that they could gain yet another competitive advantage that would keep any competitor out of “their” market.

They argued that they created high prices and could charge whatever they pleased. George Rice, claims that Rockefeller's Oil company ruined him by knowing how to market the prices of oil. ( Document 6) At the time the Rockefeller would manage their marketing and buy out other companies. It became what charles Darwin created as survival of the fittest, that only the successful could achieve success.

Rockefeller was born on July 8th, 1839. He was an American Business man and the co-owner of the ‘Standard Oil Company.’ He created Standard Oil Company with his brother, William Rockefeller, and four other investors in 1870. As the oil industry grew, his company expanded at a fast past, resulting in the Standard Oil Company pushing out competition and taking over their markets. At Standard Oil’s peek, they owned 95% of all oil produced in the USA, making them the first known monopoly in the country. Rockefeller owned nearly the entire oil business in the United States, and he could set prices at will. Companies in other industries quickly imitated this trust model and used their broad market control to push prices higher. Rockefeller soon became the richest man in the U.S., with his wealth growing to more than a billion dollars. At the time of his death in 1937 he was considered the richest person in US history, having earned the equivalent of more than $336 billion according to inflation, accounting for more than 1.5% of the national economy’s

Rockefeller, one of, if not history’s richest man was in leading the relentless oil industry. Having a monopoly in the early years of America meant that Rockefeller could truly do as he wished. Rockefeller made most of his fortune during the Civil War when literally anything and everything ran on oil. The industry was beginning to explode, and Rockefeller is now remembered for creating/running one of the most successful businesses in history. “In 1882, all Standard Oil’s properties were merged into the Standard Oil Trust, and by the end of the decade (1890), it controlled 88% of the refined oil flows,” (Selwyn-Homes. 10 Greatest Monopolies. The Ministry of Fear). With this being stated, it was easy for Rockefeller to maintain his empire. Since he started in the industry before most and, more importantly, become successful first so he could expand his empire. Growing and buying up new startup businesses to grow into his already large company and maintain the monopoly. Unfortunately, process was ended early and, the business was broken up do to the Sherman Anti-Trust

After the American Civil War, the industry of American began to grow and new technologies and ideas were developed. John Pierpont Morgan, an American financier and banker, helped with the financing of many industries such as the railroad, steel, and electric industries. However, he used his wealth and power to control and buy out businesses. Morgan was a robber baron who is a person who profits off of an industry or people by means of ruthless and unfair business practices for their own personal gain.