ipl-logo

Monopolies During The Gilded Age

1768 Words8 Pages

We live in a world where the money we make is taxed to help the community, despite the fact that some people in the community don't deserve benefits because they don't work for it. This idea of spreading the wealth has been in the America for hundreds of years. The Gilded age was a era of American history where the capitalist market flourished. During this period revelations about Capitalism formed. Two great minds came to totally different conclusions about Capitalism. One named Andrew Carnegie believed that businesses worked for their money, ergo they should be able to do what ever they wan with it. The other named David McCullough believed that in order for Capitalism to succeed the people with responsibility needed to act responsibly, …show more content…

There was also minimal job security for the workers because immigrants were fighting against citizens for jobs. This allowed the monopolies to take advantage of the workers because they would hire whoever worked for the lowest price. Also the Labour contract law permitted industrial employers to pay for the passage of workers in advance and deduct the amount later from their wages. This allowed businessmen to exploit their workers and extend their contracts by lying. These monopolies allowed a single company to own the entire market of a product. This allowed the businessmen to increase the price of their product because there wasn't any competition. This was a problem because without competition all people are forced to by the product from one company no matter the price because there wasn't any where else they could get it. Not only did these crooked businessmen swindle their workers and rig the market they also claimed to help the community. These businessmen “attempted to help the community by creating opportunities for people to move forward in life”. This can be seen through the libraries Andrew Carnegie built. Andrew Carnegie claimed to have built libraries so that people could “pull themselves up from their own bootstraps” just as he did, but this didn't make sense for the time period he lived in. During the era most people were illiterate making the books in the libraries useless to him. This caused people to believe that he created the libraries strictly to spread his name through the country and become more famous. If Carnegie truly wanted to help the community he would have houses for the children living in crammed homes. Jacob A. Riis observed the living condition of some inner-city children and wrote, “There was

Show More
Related

  • Morgan, Monopolie, And Businessmen In The Late 1800s

    152 Words  | 1 Pages

    The actions of these Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie, businessmen in the late 1800s have a negative impact on society. These three men didn't have respect for their workers. Morgan criticized for creating monopolies by making it difficult for any business to compete against his. Criticized that for having too much power and was accused of manipulating the nation's financial system for his own gain Morgan he financially rescued the United states government twice but also Did Not treat workers well. Morgan forced his workers to labor under harsh condition for long hours and low pay.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Carnegie And Steve Jobs

    150 Words  | 1 Pages

    Every growing economy needs competition and Rockefeller and Carnegie were no other than the two who had discovered this perfectly. Through modification and deals with private owners, these men found their way to the top just like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates do now. Windows

    Read More

  • How Did Robber Barons Help The Economy In The Late 1800's

    594 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the other hand businessmen who were fair to workers, helped

    Read More

  • Big Business In America Dbq Essay

    1432 Words  | 6 Pages

    The big businesses in America during the gilded age (1870-1900) were controlled by a small group of very wealthy men who would each monopolistically control their industry. The growing fortune of these men allowed them to control their workers, prices, and all other aspects of the American economy without fearing any sort of restriction or punishment. Big business was able to get away without any repercussions because their great wealth allowed them to control the politicians, thus they controlled all politics and legislation as well. Even though these acts by big business seem terrible at first glance, they greatly improved the economy and changed the politics in such a way that allowed America to grow into one of the most powerful nations

    Read More

  • How Did Andrew Carnegie's View Of Wealth

    928 Words  | 4 Pages

    Morgan, and became a philanthropist (“Andrew Carnegie Biography”). His decisions in how to go about his philanthropy were influenced by his own experiences. While Carnegie didn’t spend much time in a formal classroom, he learned to read and gained knowledge from books (“Andrew Carnegie Biography”). Because of this, Carnegie saw books as the key to helping communities. “Those worthy of assistance … seldom require assistance,” he said (Carnegie 17).

    Read More

  • How Did Andrew Carnegie Address The Main Idea Of Wealth

    454 Words  | 2 Pages

    Andrew Carnegie believed that money from wealthy men should be used for projects that would benefit the society. As a power of major business was growing, the difference between rich and poor was great concern for the government. He emphasized that giving money away to the poor will not bring any benefit to people in need, but if you use this money to build schools, libraries, or parks, then it will improve the overall lifestyle of the underprivileged. It would improve their thinking abilities and improve their general condition. Andrew Carnegie always had an eye to bring change that will be the permanent solution for the ongoing issue.

    Read More

  • Andrew Carnegie Dbq

    418 Words  | 2 Pages

    Andrew Carnegie Essay If I told you Andrew Carnegie was two-faced, would you believe me? He is the all powerful, self-made hero right? Well this “hero” was born in November 1835, in a Scotland settlement, living in the attic of a small cottage. He attended a one-room school with 150 people crammed into it.

    Read More

  • Why Is Unregulated Capitalism Bad During Industrialization In The Gilded Age

    279 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another reason why Unregulated Capitalism was negative during Industrialization in the

    Read More

  • Andrew Carnegie Is Not A Hero Essay

    791 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most interesting being, Andrew Carnegie is not a hero, he took money from his employees to give to people who hadn’t worked for it, he had very firm beliefs about the rich and how they should spend their money, not only that but he also made those donations mainly to get his name out there to make people think he was a good guy! Andrew Carnegie is best known for his donations, but how did he get all this money? The answer is simple, he took a lot of this money from his employees. He gave out multiple wage cuts to all his employees that left

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Andrew Carnegie's The Gospel Of Wealth

    835 Words  | 4 Pages

    The late nineteenth century was a pivotal moment in American history. During this time, the Industrial Revolution transformed the nation, railroads had dissipated all throughout the country, and economic classes began to form, separating the wealthy from the poor. One of the wealthiest men of this generation was Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who fled to America to make millions off the railroad, oil and even steel businesses. Carnegie is considered one of the richest men in history, and even with all that wealth he decided to give back to the community. As a matter of fact, Carnegie donated most of his funds to charities, universities and libraries in his last few years.

    Read More

  • Was Andrew Carnegie A Hero

    589 Words  | 3 Pages

    If you were the richest person in the world what would you accomplish with all the money you had? Andrew Carnegie, an American Captain of Industry By far off the greatest profitable businessman during his age, Carnegie left his mark on industry, and ordinarily greatly impacted the expansion of business enterprise in America. Essentially, Carnegie rose from poverty to become one of the most influential, industrial men in history by single-handedly building the American steel industry. Andrew Carnegie was famously known for being a hero because he would provide plenty to the poor.

    Read More

  • Captain Of Industry Essay

    643 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even the negative side effects of their actions led to long term benefits for many. The creation of monopolies led to government intervention in business on behalf of fair competition. The exploitation of workers led to regulations guaranteeing safety codes, minimum wage, abolition of child labor, and the rise of unions. While they did not intend for these things to occur, they are still byproducts of their efforts to build American industry. They set up the country to become, financially speaking, the largest beneficiary of World War I as the U.S. supplied much of the material used to fight the conflict.

    Read More

  • Explain How Big Businesses Controlled The Economy And Politics Throughout 1870-1900

    170 Words  | 1 Pages

    Justin Clement APUS DBQ Big businesses controlled the economy and politics throughout 1870-1900. They were in control of the prices for certain items because they destroyed their smaller competitors until there was no competition left. They had much sway over politics and took away the people’s say. As we can see from Document A, between 1870-1899, the price for food, fuel, lighting and living decreased with the emergence of big businesses.

    Read More

  • The American Dream In The 1900's

    1553 Words  | 7 Pages

    In deciding what to do with his money, he exclaimed, “It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive... as the founding of a public library”(Andrew Carnegie’s Story). As a kid growing up with hardly any money, the only way he was able to become educated was thanks to a local public library: public libraries were very rare at the time. Because of this, a lot of his money was dedicated to founding 2,509 libraries all around the world. Over one thousand of these libraries were built in the United States and are still standing today.

    Read More

  • Who Was Responsible For Andrew Carnegie's Downfall

    976 Words  | 4 Pages

    During Andrew Carnegie's life, life he was blamed for many things. Like treating his workers like pieces of machinery instead of people. Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland in 1835 to a poor scottish family and forged his way to the top using the steel industry. He was taught the ways of business by Thomas Scott who told him to invest in certain companies to make money. He then used that money to build his first steel mill the Homestead steel mill.

    Read More

More about Monopolies During The Gilded Age

Open Document