In the late 1800’s, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were both robber barons because they were ruthless and cruel. Rockefeller used mean harsh tactics to make money. In addition to that, Carnegie tried to stop unions in his company that represented his workers. Rockefeller bought out other companies so that people who needed oil would have to buy it from him. He also used thugs to make companies sell if they were stubborn. Carnegie squashed other businesses. Because John D. Rockefeller was able to make a lot of money, he kept using his strategies to get rich. Carnegie received lots of money because of his industry. He also used cruel tactics to make money along with Rockefeller. They were both ruthless when it came to money.
Although some of these criticisms are well founded, men like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were, in fact, Captains of Industry because they employed millions and created new ways of doing business. Before all these industrialists can along, America was just another country that had little significance to the world. If it was not for them, we as a nation would not be where we are today. The industrialists prospered mainly due to their wit, and the many innovations that they brought to their various fields of business. They created monopolies because they were the most effective forms of enterprise, and there were no laws that prohibited or restricted their use. As John D. Rockefeller himself said, "I believe in the spirit of combination and cooperation when properly conducted .It helps to reduce waste, and waste is a dissipation of power."(Danzer 424) Critics say that these men ruthlessly took over their fields of business, and "did not play fair". What's wrong with striving for success? What's wrong with being efficient? What's wrong with making a product that no one can equal? What's wrong with besting your competitors? Nothing.
Two of the most well-known and successful companies of the Industrial Revolution were the Standard Oil Company, and the Carnegie Steel Company. Both were exceedingly successful in virtually removing all competition in their respective fields of business and controlling almost all of the production capacity of their respective products in the United States. Their founders, John D. Rockefeller of the Standard Oil Co., and Andrew Carnegie of the Carnegie Steel Co. conducted business practices that were different from one another in how they dealt with competition as seen in the undercutting or cheap type
On February 9th, 1859, editor of the New York Times, Henry Raymond, pronounced something unusual about Cornelius Vanderbilt. Raymond disliked Vanderbilt, a steamship magnate with such an extensive convoy that he was commonly known as the Commodore, the highest position in the US Navy. In the article “Your Money of Your Line,” Raymond attacked Vanderbilt for stealing a substantial monthly payment from the Pacific Mail Steamship Company which was in exchange for Vanderbilt’s preceding antagonism on the sea lanes to California. Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Morgan fit into the concept of the Gilded Age because they all embody the ideas of robber barons or captains of industry. These individuals all helped to create the huge corporation
Write a coherent essay that integrates your interpretation of Documents A–H and your knowledge of the period to answer the following question:
Many saw robber barons as deceitful, but this is actually not the case. Within The Myth of Robber Barons,
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
A Review of The Myth of the Robber Barons a book by Burton Folsom JR.
The Gilded Age was an era in American history characterized by prosperity and idustrial growth. The Three decades following the Civil War are referred to as "The Gilded Age," in part because of the 1873 satirical novel by Mark Twain entitled The Gilded Age. During the Gilded Age, America saw a growth in industry that greatly benefitted the nation. One of the biggest industrial advances was the construction of the First Trans- continental railroad. Although the idea of the Transcontinental Railroad had existed since the United States purchased "A chunk of territory bordering on the southwestern United States"(United States History Book) from Mexico in 1853, but production didn't officially begin until 1864. The railroad was built by two different railroad companies, the Western Pacific Railroad company and the Central Pacific Railroad company, These companies started building at different points, the Western Pacific
From 1865 to 1900, a surge in industry and business began to come into effect. Railroads, oil, steel, and various inventions enabled the rise of these businesses. As time went on, the leaders of the businesses would become more eager to achieve wealth. Some historians have described these people as ‘robber barons’ or people who use extreme methods to control and maintain their wealth and power. Others would chastise that belief, declaring that it is an unjust conclusion to draw. Despite the oppositions fervent belief, the undeniable evidence supports the belief that many of the businessmen in the late 19th century were ‘robber barons’. These men had a blatant disregard for human lives and an unquenchable urge to assume control over citizens’ lives that instilled corruption and greed in them.
Industrialism started in 1800s and it was managed by the Industrialists. These industrialists were wealthy business owners and they owned big corporations. They were famous men like Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Ford etc. which to some people are robber barons but to others are captains of industry. These men provided positives and negatives to the US economy in 1900s. These individuals did hard work to drive the US in 1900s but on the other hand, they provided harsh working conditions to their laborers. The economy in the 1900s wasn’t stable but these men provided a back to America and they should be considered as the captains of the industry,
Some say Rockefeller was a robber baron because he earned his wealth in a bad way. Others say he took risks and knew how to get rid of competition, which was fair in his eyes. He believed that by buying out competition would make oil cheaper for Americans. His method was more efficient, which made it cheaper to produce and cheaper to sell. To me, his method
When the names Carnagie, Rockefeller, and Pullman come to mind, most of us automatically think of what we saw or read in our history books: "These men were kind and generous and through hard work and perseverance, any one of you could become a success story like them," right? Wrong. I am sick of these people being remembered for the two or three "good deeds" they have done. Publicity and media have exaggerated the generosity of these men, the government has spoiled these names with false lies, and people have been blind to see that these men were ruthless, sly businessmen who were motivated by your money and their struggle for power.
Captains of industry were defined as the business leaders whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributed positively to the country or society in some way. Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were considered to be captains of industry because with their profits from either their steel company or standard oil company, they give back to the society instead of themselves. They believed in the idea that people give in to you, in which you must give out as well. They established many charitable foundations that allowed them to become well known philanthropist and made them distinguishable from the rubber barons.
Although Carnegie liked to be the tough businessman, he was not a monopolist and did not like monopolists. On the other side of the pool, Rockefeller was dominating the oil industry with no mercy. He believed in primitive savagery in the world of business, where only the fittest survived. He helped coin the term ‘ruin or rule.’ Rockefeller had a great belief in ruthless business, yet Carnegie did not. But in the end both had the most successful companies in their industries.
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?