What does Zinn mean by referring to industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller as “robber barons”? What did they do to deserve that name? Why do Schweikart and Allen refer to them as “titans of industry”? What good do they think Rockefeller and Carnegie did? By referring to industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller as robber barons, Zinn means they acquired their wealth through dishonest means. For example, Rockefeller removed a rival refinery with “a small explosion arranged by Standard Oil officials with the refinery’s chief mechanic”. In addition, Carnegie became a millionaire by selling bonds for people and charging them enormous commissions (Zinn 257). In contrast, Schweikart and Allen refer to Carnegie …show more content…
as caused by the interests of the upper class. He states, “the ideology of expansion was widespread in the upper circles of military men, politicians, businessmen—and even among some of the leaders of farmers’ movements who thought foreign markets would help” (Zinn 298). The elite wanted expansion mainly to increase foreign trade, to take advantage of foreign markets, and acquire resources. In Cuba, Americans “began taking over railroad, mine, and sugar properties when the war ended” (Zinn 310). However, there were also extremely negative consequences. The Spanish War affected the lower class negatively by raising prices dramatically, and crushing the rebellion in the Philippines led to an enormous death rate on both sides (Zinn 312-313). Conversely, Schweikart and Allen state that American intervention was often in the interests of both countries. They describe the annexation of Hawaii as reasonable because Hawaii had asked for annexation before and because the U.S. did not want the islands to become a part of Japan (Schweikart and Allen …show more content…
While Zinn argues that the U.S. fought the war mainly because of business interests, Schweikart and Allen expand on the topic and point out three concerns including the one Zinn named. First, there was the political component in which Americans sympathized with the Cubans’ yearning for independence. Second, businessmen had important interests on the island, cultivated over several decades. Sugar, railroads, shipping, and other enterprises gave the United States an undeniable economic interest in Cuba, while at the same time putting Americans in a potential crossfire.Third, there was the moral issue of Weyler;s treatment of the Cubans, which appealed to American humanitarianism (Schweikart and Zinn 483). In addition, Schweikart and Allen give detailed descriptions of the battles that happened during the Spanish American War, while Zinn simply states that the “Spanish forces were defeated in three months” (Zinn 309). The authors also explain the end result of the battle, reporting that the United States bought Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, but did not annex Cuba. Schweikart and Zinn’s interpretation is more compelling because they describe all aspects of the war, whereas Zinn only explains a couple of
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Show MoreRobbers of Industry: Exploring Rockefeller's Case of This False Binary Looking at Google Search trend data shows that the person most associated with the term ‘robber baron’ is business tycoon John D. Rockefeller. Interestingly enough, however, is that the same is true for the term ‘captain of industry’ (Google Trends). To this day, the legacy of Gilded age business leaders like Rockefeller is conflicted, with people struggling to decide whether they were captains of industry, a robber barons, or both. Rockefeller's case, however, is most conflicting given the enormous impacts he had, both good and bad, by improving quality of life but decreasing competition in the industry.
Therefore, even though Carnegie shaped America’s economy into the super power it is today, it was not ethical to do so at the expense of people who were forced to
American history is full of events that have changed the curse of its history, some more recent than others, an often overviewed war or conflict is the Mexican war, probably because it was only 13 years before of one of the most bloodshed periods and important periods of this country 's history, the Civil War; the Mexican War might have nit had as big as an impact as that of the Civil War, but nonetheless it was a period that is certainly important, we can also think that no war is ever unimportant (Shaara,10). Since the Louisiana purchase, there was a fervor for expansion among the American people, in 1845 the then independent nation of Texas was annexed by the United states (Shaara, 12). But there were several doubts about what was the real
The Spanish American War was short and fought over a period of 10 weeks. Most Americans supported the war because we were freeing the natives in territories such as Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines from Spanish rule, but our definition of freedom was to only make money. " But freedom was above all economic in nature for most Americans: it involved private property, free enterprise, and opportunities for material gain. Most Americans thought that political rights, civil liberties, and private enterprise were all of a piece and that it was not possible to have one without the other” (Boller 200). The press told the public that the war was for a good cause.
Justification of this is seen in Document 3, as Andrew Carnegie writes, “The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmony.” Surely, a manipulative man would not believe in such fair distribution of wealth. Carnegie is also famous for large charitable donations, meaning his business methods were not enacted solely for his own benefit. This statement highlights Carnegie’s compassionate side and proves that he is not completely a “robber baron.” Similarly to Carnegie, Rockefeller’s compassionate side is also portrayed in Document 7.
Because popular media and especially photojournalism functioned as the main resource people had to find about what really happened. This event not only shafted Americans perspective, but also displayed the visual representation of a shifting ideals from Cuba’s freedom to the United States imperialist conquest. Chapters three through five specifically cover the enemy’s during the The War of 1898. Miller emphasizes throughout these chapters the
Americans learned more about what happened during the Spanish American War through articles that exposed the violent tensions in Cuba. The Americans then felt the need that we should help Cuba against Spain. The Americans in power wanted to remain neutral, while the public wanted to go to war. The U.S. Maine was a battleship that was sent to Cuba to spy on them and understand the situation in person. While the ship was there, it mysteriously blew up, the blame was put on Spain for the explosion.
The imperialistic mentality of the American government after the Civil War, led to some degree to the Spanish-American war that would render a great acquisition of land for the United States. However, imperialism would not be the sole factor that led to the war against Spain, but also the sympathy felt by the American government towards Cuba’s efforts in fighting for their independence; additionally, the United States would seek to protect its commercial interests (sugar) in the island. Therefore, after invoking the Spanish to secede from their brutal practices towards Cuban rebels and attain a peaceful end to the situation, the United States arbitrarily sent a navy ship, “The USS Maine” to monitor the area.
Essay One: Imperialism Flies circle great black lumps as the moist air ravages the corpses. Dried blood soaked into the ground after faceless soldiers brutally destroyed its owners’ lives. These were the stories in the newspapers, the movies, and the films. Horrified by these crimes against humanity, the American public was spurred into action against the Spanish oppressors. the United States invaded Cuba in 1898 to pursue humanitarian efforts.
As stated before, the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because of three reasons, Americans were killed, Texas was already annexed, and Manifest Destiny allows it. The United states had many superb reasons for going to war with Mexico. This essay is significant because it helps explain the United States’ choice to go to war with
For instance, Carnegie presented his library named Carnegie Library, he considers this “the best kind of philanthropy” (Ernsberger). By this he indicates the correct way a wealthy individual should live,is by giving back to the community. On the contrary, Richard argues this as negative affect to the company due to the loss of income. Richard believes that Carnegie shouldn’t have spent his money on helping the community instead, he should have continued to invest it on the steel industry. Overall, Richard views Carnegie as “little capitalist who urged presidents to do right things in Philippines, Panama and international diplomacy [but] had never done the right or moral thing as a businessman,” (Ernsberger).
Thirdly, a second reason the Mexican War was not justified because US soldiers were in a disputed area. According to Jesus Velasco Marquez from “A Mexican Viewpoint on the War With the United States,” he states that “From Mexico’s point of view, the annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons.” As well as, “The American government acted like a bandit who came upon a
The Spanish-American War was heavily supported by pro-imperialists looking to expand America’s power. Anti-imperialists believed in their cause because they thought it was a violation of self-determination, too expensive, and would get America too involved foreign affairs. Support for the Spanish-American War was not seen from many anti-imperialists. These opposing viewpoints on imperialism are seen in Editha through the characterization of Editha and George. Editha supports the Spanish-American War and represents the pro-imperialist view.
The Spanish American war was a product of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis and the urbanization of America. In 1895, a rebellion broke out in Cuba, as Cuban patriots wanted independences from Spain. Through the yellow journalism, reports of Spain’s cruel military tactics lead to a public uproar in the U.S. However, most of these stories were exaggerated as a form to promote war. After an American battleship, the USS Maine, was destroyed, America was “forced” to start war and stop Spanish occupation.
Another reason why America was aggressive is because for example, when there was a meeting on what action the US should take against Cuba and USSR, three out of the four proposals were ones that could probably cause another war. One of the proposals was to destroy the Soviet missiles in Cuba by an airstrike, which is a very intense act. Furthermore, another reason why I agree with Cuba’s point of view, is because America was unfair with its ‘regulations’ with Cuba. Castro was not allowed to keep Soviet missiles in his land, because Kennedy stated that it was a threat to the security of the US. While on the other hand, the US had all the nuclear power to fire at Cuba at any time without any conditions.