Who Were the Robber Barons? what was their impact on the economy today? who are some modern robber barons? What is a robber baron who are the three robber barons listed?

Robber barons, famously known for their ruthless means of acquiring wealth back in the late nineteenth century. They were awful. They were complete menaces to society and only ever created wealth for themselves. Or, at least that 's what is commonly taught in high school American history classes, but author Burton Folsom Jr. offers an unique alternative perspective in his book, The Myth of the Robber Barons. He provides a closer look at the results achieved by these infamous robber barons to give insight into what actually happened in the wake of these entrepreneurs’ conducted business. Folsom uses seven chapters on separate industries ran by robber barons to show, at least from an overall economic view, The United States experienced a gross net benefit by the existence of robber barons.

Rockefeller’s childhood helped mold him into the man he became. He was born in Richford, New York to Eliza Davison Rockefeller and William Avery Rockefeller Sr., a traveling salesman. Being the second of six children, Rockefeller was

J. P. Morgan was born on April 17, 1837 into a wealthy family. His father was a wealthy financier. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut.

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.

In conclusion, is J.P. Morgan a Captain of Industry or a Robber Baron? In my believe he is a bit of both, he saved the country twice from bankruptcy, and he greatly helped the country’s industry in many ways. He did all this, but he did it in a way in which he would greatly profit from, and some people said that he used shady methods to achieve his goals.

James Buchanan Duke was a tobacco and electric power industrialist in the mid-1800s and early 1900s. Duke would not be considered a robber baron due to the fact that he took advantage of the opportunity to sell his own tobacco after the Civil War was over and the tobacco business wasn’t thriving. He also did so without being evil or dishonest.

Charles Dabney and Morgan started their own company named Dabney, Morgan & Co. Morgan's business continued to grow as he intensively involves his company in more trade and commerce transactions. In 1871 Dabney retired and Anthony J. Drexel became Morgan's new senior partner. Drexel was already the head of the Philadelphia investment bank Drexel & and Company. The new company Drexel Morgan & Co. became one of the largest and most

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

John D. Rockefeller Senior is one of the most famous industrialists to date. His fame is well deserved, through decades of hard work that brought prosperity to the American petroleum industry. Rockefeller has been called philanthropist, "great man" 1 "industrial statesman…, robber baron" , thief and other titles of both pleasant and unpleasant nature. His ways of conducting business brought him fame, fortune, and a lawsuit that broke up the Standard Oil Company. Despite these questionable business practices, John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company greatly contributed to the economy, and the well-being of the United States and its people. "The life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., was marked to an exceptional degree by silence,

     When people talk about J.P. Morgan, they often refer to one man. The J.P. Morgan dynasty was in fact a combined effort of three generations of Morgans. In 1838, American businessman George Peabody opened the London merchant banking firm that would establish the roots of the House of Morgan. In 1854, Junius S. Morgan became the partner of George Peabody and eventually took over the firm in 1864, renaming it J.S. Morgan & Co. At the age of twenty four, J. Pierpont Morgan inherited his father’s business, renamed the business to J.P. Morgan & Co., and made a point to consolidate the firm’s American and European interests. Under Pierpont’s authority, J.P. Morgan

A "robber baron" was someone who employed any means necessary to enrich themselves at the expense of their competitors. Did John D. Rockefeller fall into that category or was he one of the "captains of industry", whose shrewd and innovative leadership brought order out of industrial chaos and generated great fortunes that enriched the public welfare through the workings of various philanthropic agencies that these leaders established? In the early 1860s Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, who came to epitomize both the success and excess of corporate capitalism. His company was based in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Rockefeller. A picture in my history book shows a group of people watching an old Rockefeller crouch over to accept a flower from a little girl. The caption reads "John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist, is caught doing one of his good deeds."

Many saw robber barons as deceitful, but this is actually not the case. Within The Myth of Robber Barons,

What Morgan was doing was using his power to gain control of all railways and, this resulted in stopping other companies from trading along these railroads. This made companies very upset, and that the fact that this entire incident was illegal forced Morgan to close one of his companies down. As a middle class citizen, this would make you wary of all of Morgan’s other monopolies also, because if he almost got away with one illegal act, what else could he do? On another note, Morgan dominated certain insurance companies, and was again using his power and wealth to end up making the people pay for his expenses. In an article discussing this, “They[Morgan’s company] had $50 million a year to invest-money given by ordinary people for their insurance policies”. This is just another example of how J.P Morgan used other people’s money for his own self. If you begin to think in the public mindset, the phrase, “They control the people through the people's own money”, begins to make sense. This all connects to a political cartoon showing Morgan controlling a machine labeled “Wall Street” that was controlling the people’s money and forcing an American citizen to work for the company at the same time. Overall, Morgan used tactics that were only for himself, and negatively impacted society.

J. Pierpont Morgan was born on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a famous financer, who started his private banking company in 1871, which after his success the company was known as J.P. Morgan & Co. He