Robber Baron's Role In The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a different type of change in the United States. It was like the wild west of economics, a time where no real rules existed and businesses fought for survival anyway they could to a point. These men who stood on top were the pioneers of their time and set forth the principles in which we now see the financial side of business. Three of these men were Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. They are held in high esteem and added their own unique twist to the building of the economic statues we hold today, while still having a few things in common.

Andrew Carnegie rose from a bobbin boy in a textile factory to become one of the richest men in America. In the late 19th century, Andrew Carnegie was known as one of the wealthiest Scottish American industrialist who basically ran the American steel industry in the late 19th century. Some people believe that Andrew Carnegie was a philanthropist automatically means he’s a Captain of Industry. However Andrew Carnegie was a robber baron, and was wealthy for that exact reason.

People such as John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Andrew Carnegie are known as some of the major robber barons during the Gilded Age. Although they made major contributions to the economy, they paid their workers unfair wages. In fact, “most working class men were paid very little, so they didn’t have the option of a single-income home” (Child Labor in the Gilded Age). Women and children were also sent to work to earn an income for their family, and often that was barely enough to survive. While “Carnegie amassed a fortune, steelworkers in his plants labored 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, for about 15 cents an hour” (Lapsansky-Werner, 69). These wages and working hours gives the robber barons their rightful name. Another reason that these captains of industry were named robber barons was the

People were pushed to work ,the saying" the man who dies rich dies as a disgraced " and lastly low wages. First way people can think he was a robber baron by pushing workers to work because he wanted more things accomplished. This is not the only way Andrew Carnegie was thought as a robber baron he was also thought as " the man who dies rich dies as a disgraced". Another way he was thought as a robber baron was "the man who dies rich dies as a disgraced" because he worked hard to get his money but eventually he would die as a disgraced. This is not the only way he was thought as a robber baron because he paid low wages for the workers .Finally he had low wages for the workers because he didn’t want them to become rich so they won't take advantage of him and leave

In the Gilded Age when America was forging an industrial society, some were becoming extremely wealthy, while some were very poor and couldn’t do anything about it. The capitalists who shaped post-Civil War industrial America should be characterized as corrupt “robber barons”.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Gilded Age industrialist, the owner of the Carnegie Steel Company, and a major philanthropist. He epitomized the Gilded Age ideal of the self-made man, rising from poverty to become one of the wealthiest individuals in the history of the world. Born into a humble family in Scotland, Carnegie came to the United States with his impoverished parents at the age of thirteen. He worked as a bobbin boy and a telegraph messenger before taking a job with the Pennsylvania Railroad at the age of eighteen. By the Civil War, he held an administrative position with the railroad. At the war's end, Carnegie entered the iron industry, and recognizing that steel rails would soon replace iron rails, he invested in the steel business.

By 1900 the United States not only matched but outproduced the three leading industrialized European countries in manufacturing. This rapid industrialization was no miracle however, behind every great stride in American history there have been people willing to go above and beyond what is accepted to further their goals. In the glory days of the industrial revolution there were many leaders, however a special few, more ruthless and advantageous than the rest, stood out as the captains of industry or as they were more infamously known robber

After the American Civil War, a laissez-faire government allowed for a new class of businessmen to rise to power: those who dominated an entire industry, sometimes several markets. They were the hallmark of the so-called Gilded Age, which lasted from the end of reconstruction until the early 1900s. These men, known as Robber Barons, shaped the American economy, necessitating new laws to be signed to limit their power . Although there were only four main Barons (John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan), they controlled much of the economy with their four respective trades: Oil, steel, railroads, and banking . Although all four were important, Rockefeller and Carnegie stand head and shoulders above the rest, becoming among the richest and most successful people the world has ever seen with the exception of some royalty.

While it was commonly known by prior generations of Americans that businessmen such as Andrew Carnegie were ruthless regarding capitalistic ventures in the late 19th century. It is far more apparent to the current population the inherent value that men like Carnegie held in regards to the growth and development of American cities. The philanthropic ventures set forth by many of the robber barons, most notably Carnegie, proved to establish a societal standard for philanthropic contributions globally. The genuinely thought out humanitarian efforts propagated by Carnegie and facilitated by his foundation truly proved to be influential in the betterment of urban and agricultural communities

Industrialists at the time did what they could to become successful. Each one knowing that how they become successful may not be approved by everyone but at the time, they saw the need in the United States and created their industry. All of the industries created were in some relation to the railroad system, which had become America’s first big business. The industries created included Carnegie Steel Company, Standard Oil Company, and what had become of Carnegie Steel Company, United States Steel. These industries were all created and were continued through processes such as Vertical and Horizontal integration, the trust, and “a community of interest.”

American society is constantly evolving and changing, but has been consistently shaped by the American economy. The American dream of “rags to riches” drove production and allowed for the rapid rise of industry under the theory of Social Darwinism. The ideas of vertical integration, horizontal integration, and monopoly led to the expansion of railroads, the use of kerosene from refined oil to light homes, and the American domination of the steel industry. These recently introduced concepts and their repercussions are indebted to the businessmen who sought to manipulate and dominate the industry. Despite beginnings in poverty, determination and innovation led Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller to become not only captains of industry in their own time, but also legacies of American success.

The Industrial economy had a rapid growth with the increase of factory production, especially in the North and West. By 1913, the U.S made one third of the world’s industrial production. Most of this manufacturing took place in the large cities. With the growth of population, came the need for mass production, mass distribution, and mass marketing of goods. Businesses started to grow and engaging in ruthless competition. The marketplace was so chaotic that they formed pools that divided up markets between supposedly competing firms and fixed prices. This is when they formed the trusts, so the matters of rival companies were managed by one sole director. With this came the growth of national chains and they started to eat up the smaller companies. Andrew Carnegie who led the steel world and John Rockefeller who owned 90 percent of the nation’s oil industry controlled major amounts of the economy. Business men like Carnegie and Rockefeller were knows as robber barons because they got rich through ruthless business deals and exploiting workers.

The 19th century, the industrial revolution. These were times times of new manufacturing processes. The time of captains of the industries. Entrepreneurs, people who organize and operate a business or businesses while taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so, dominated with wealth. However they ruled with social respect. These powerful men were mistaken for robber-barons, unscrupulous plutocrats that gain a fortune through ruthless means. However, through proof of treatment to workers, their effect in politics, and their distribution of wealth; entrepreneurs are not robber barons.

During the industrialization era there were 3 people who stood out among the rest of the depression stricken America. 1 of these 3 exceptional individuals was the creative mastermind behind the steel enterprise that became one of the most successful companies in American History, Andrew Carnegie. Another was the caring Jane Addams who helped thousands of people get through difficult times in her famous Hull House. The last was considered to be the wealthiest American of all time by virtually every source, the leader of the booming oil business, John D. Rockefeller. These 3 helped shape America into what it is today by the way that they responded to economic and social problems created by industrialization during the Nineteenth century.

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes during the 1760’s. Matthew Boulton was introduced from the Lunar Society. The Lunar Society was a place where many people from different backgrounds came to share their knowledge and ideas that could change the society they lived in. Matthew Boulton met James Watt, a self-taught scientist from the Soho House Together, these two men exchanged ideas which helped transform the Industrial Revolution. As time progressed, Boulton sets up a manufactory which made small metal goods. He powered them with water from a nearby place called Hockey Brooks, but then