men who built america

Without Carnegie, the steel industry, and the second industrial revolution in general, would never have progressed as much as it did. Carnegie did what was necessary to make the steel industry more productive and more efficient, for less money. He was a shrewd, ruthless, businessman who’s aggressiveness made the steel, railroad, and oil industries so economically successful. These characteristics, though not always looked upon as nice or sympathetic, were sometimes necessary. He had paid his time as a poor factory boy, and now it was his turn to live comfortably and aid others less fortunate to work towards the same success.

According to Les Standiford from scotsman.com, “Carnegie had his plant manager post a notice that the works would close for an indefinite period and that 1,600 men would be put out of work with the stated reason being plant renovation. But Carnegie had resolved that the real purpose was to drive out the unions, only non-union men would be rehired when they reopened the plant. By February of 1885, with the men facing starvation and freezing temperatures and no money to buy food or coal, they agreed to come back in under individual contracts, their wages decreased by up to 33%. The union was crushed forever at the plant."[3]. This quote directly shows the ruthless nature Carnegie had when it came to his business, despite his good views on life and spending money, and even agreeing with workers unions, he does not want them to get into his factories and increase the prices it cost him to pay is workers. He was willing to put off thousands of workers in the dead of winter with them unable to afford food or proper heating due to the lack of work, just so that he could prevent costs of labor increasing. Another similar case was when Carnegie attempted to avoid harming his public image while dealing with protests, according to learningtogive.net, “While expanding his steel empire, Carnegie ran into a series of labor relation problems with Homestead Works, a rival steel mill with the most modern equipment and technology available that he had purchased. The problems began when the workers organized a strike. Carnegie instructed his associate, Howard Frick, to handle the situation however he deemed necessary. Because Carnegie was seen as a friend of the worker and usually handled similar situations by

Did you ever wonder how the United States’ founders envisioned America to be in the years to come? America’s founding fathers were tasked with the difficult challenge of finding a balance between preserving individual rights and forming a strong, long-lasting union. There are many examples of how the founding fathers found a balance. Some examples of this are showcased in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and A New American Nation.

The Founding Fathers put their blood, sweat and tears into the making of the Constitution and created a government out of practically nothing, all while having a vision for the future. This future consisted of a government that focused on liberty over security; a government of minimal intervention. To say that the modern version of the United States government is exactly what the Founding Fathers envisioned is a very debatable topic. There are many instances where todays government has followed the Constitution for the most part, but then there are a lot of other areas where the Founders visions have been twisted to the point that they are unrecognizable anymore. To start off, the basic concept of the United States government is one of checks and balances. This was put in place to ensure that the government never became too powerful. One very good example of checks and balances is the media. Even the founding fathers knew the extreme power of the media and its ability to keep the government in check. Two men by the names of William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were even able to create the Spanish American War by the process of yellow journalism, or the crude exaggeration of events. The first amendment states that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The government today reflects this belief that the media is a watchdog or “fourth estate” as it is so often referred to. Political parties and everything that comes with it, including

Between the years 1870-1900, Americans began to respond to the effects fostered by these corporations. From urban factory workers to rural farmers, Americans began to organize against these big businesses. With mass industrialization, more job’s were made available to women, these jobs were often in factories with terrible conditions, sweatshops. There was a sameness about working in mass production factories. Thus, working in these modern mass production factories created a homogenous environment that diminished individualism and the need for skilled workers. (Doc. C) Strikers were common during this era, workers participated in strikes and joined labor unions, such as The American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor, due to the terrible working conditions. The American Federation of Labor, headed by Samuel Gompers, was specifically for skilled workers and argued for better wages and a reduction in working hours. (Doc. G) Although urban workers were greatly impacted by the growth of these corporations, they were not the ones. Farmers, suffered

Much credit was given to six men, for creating the foundation of America. The first 4

Despite his sixth grade education, Morgan was blessed with the mind of a true inventor, as well as ideas for entrepreneurship. While he worked in a textile factory, he learned the

The early 19th century in America saw the rise of industry and a booming economy, however, with industry came businessmen who saw an opportunity for power and profit. Even with help from the government, it would be a long time before the American people saw an improvement in the condition of the laborers and the regulation of corporations. Fast forward to the 21st century; two hundred years have passed and people are still struggling at the hands of a corporation-run economy. Throughout history, American laborers have been at the mercy of an industry controlled by a small few that did not have the best interest of the people in mind.

During the Gilded Age America experienced the “Second Industrial Revolution”. Between the end of the Civil War and the early twentieth century, the United States underwent one of the most rapid and profound economic revolutions any country has ever experienced. There were numerous causes for this explosive economic growth. The country enjoyed abundant natural resources, a growing supply of labor, an expanding market for manufactured goods, and the availability of capital for investment. The uprising of big businesses, railroads, and factory transformed America from being based on small farm work into an industrial powerhouse. During the Second Industrial Revolution the role of “big business” in federal and state governments was a monumental turning point in the history of this country, setting a foundation which has come to play a big role in government policy today. In a time period where the American Government did not have a real system in place for becoming an elected official, a great portion of the government was “corrupted” by people put in place by owners of big businesses and in turn they agreed to pass laws or do other favors for their benefit. Moguls such as John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie played major roles big business. The rapid expansion of factory production, mining, and railroad construction in all parts of the country except the South signaled the transition from Lincoln’s America—a world centered on the small farm and artisan workshop—to a

The Pullman strike for example was a strike organized led by Eugene V. Debs, where workers had refused to allow any train with a Pullman car to move, Pullman had gained the support of President Cleveland for the use of US troops who had then used harsh methods to end this strike (Document 2, Historical Context). Another well known strike was the Homestead Strike, a protest that had started because of Carnegie’s wage cut, Pinkerton detectives were called up to break this strike, violence had broken out when the workers wouldn’t leave the factory. Other tactics that were used to stop strikes used by both Carnegie and Pullman were yellow dog contracts, court injunctions, black lists and hiring “scabs” or replacements. Labor organizations had just wanted to improve wages and working conditions, and unemployment insurance, job security and wage protection. The purpose of document six was to indicate how there were already acts made by congress to regulate railroads from doing things such as rebates, pools and rate discriminations (Document 6, Purpose). Ways Carnegie had improved society on the other hand was with an article he wrote, the ‘Gospel of Wealth', that had mentioned how the rich should help society by donating to organizations that would improve society. The intended audience for document one were rich white man because Carnegie had believed that in order for the

To begin, the "Robber Barons" of the late 1800's treated their workers poorly. First of all, according to the political cartoon by Keppler and Schwarzmann, business owners paid their workers $6-11 a week (Doc A). This conveys that business owners were not giving enough money to pay their workers. Also, in the article of the Homestead Steel Mill by PBS.org it states,"… for the rest of the year, they worked like animals,"(Doc F). This reveals that in Carnegie's Homestead Mill, many worked

The late 1800’s were a time in American history where the country saw tremendous economic growth. Big businesses ran the country and even held power over the government. According to Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the government took bribes from business leaders. These bribes allowed the big businesses to take advantage of workers. Laborers at the time we faced with extremely long work hours and very little pay. In hopes of reversing their luck, many workers took to strikes and riots to get what they wanted. However, the big business friendly government put an end to many of these occurrences. Due to the fact that America was run by a government bribed by big business, workers received low wages as well as unhealthy

He was the entire steel business; almost any structure made with steel was supplied from one of Carnegie’s factories. But in these factories existed harsh working conditions that resulted in a strike. Since Henry Frick at the time was in charge of the working hours and steel production, it seems plausible that these conditions could be dangerous, and even unethical. Since Carnegie’s industry held a large number of jobs, this affected thousands of citizens. Their families were struggling to survive while the rich only grew richer. This revolted in a strike as Frick had 12 hour shifts for the employees and unsafe working conditions. This strike was countered with Frick sending in mercenaries who ended up killing nine workers. This was a major flaw for Carnegie’s steel as Frick, the financial advisor, was being blamed and nearly assassinated. Frick was eager and ruthless and sought for control over Carnegie, who did not think much of Frick. Frick wanted control of the strongest industry that existed and went to great lengths to see that it would be his. Unfortunately for Frick, this powerful empire never fell into his grasp, and he was later told to leave because of his absurd and ruthless

American was a prosperous country with incredible economic growth between the end of Reconstruction and the Great Depression. It was during this time that "industrial expansion went into high gear because increasing manufacturing efficiencies enabled American firms to cut prices and yet earn profits for financing still better equipment (Henretta 488)." During this era, the manufacturing of steel, the construction of railroads, factories, and warehouses, and the growing demand for technological advancements, increased greatly. Philanthropists, such as Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, and John D. Rockefeller, took advantage of the situation they were in by investing large sums of capital into the growing economy. Carnegie constructed

Nikola enrolled into the Austrian Polytechnic School with a fellowship from the Military Frontier Authority to pay for school. When he got back for his second year, he found out that the Military Frontier was being abolished. So he had to find other ways to pay for school. Even though Tesla went