Big Business In America Dbq Essay

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

As shown in document A, the price of food, fuel, and lighting all dropped significantly from 1870 to 1900. This drop in price of necessary goods meant that people didn’t have to spend as much money on such items and could instead spend it on items for comfort and leisure. This lead to an increase in the quality of living across the entire country. Another way that the big businesses of the time were able to control the economy was by destroying all other competition in their respective industries. Businesses were able to do this through tactical pricing, trusts, pools, and vertical integration. When there was another smaller company entered the industry of one of the big businesses they would most likely charge lower prices in order to compete with the bigger companies. If the smaller business ever got to the point where they were stealing too many customers from the big business, the big business would be forced to drive them out of business. They did this by dramatically lower their prices to a level so low that the smaller company would no longer be profiting if they tried going any lower. The large company would be fine because they had already vertically integrated all other aspects

Whether it was out of jealousy or pure hatred, the American people began to organize into parties that were created in order to impose change in America by taking down big business. One of the most popular of these parties during the time was the Populist party. This party originated as a group of farmers who were tired of how much they were being charged by banks and railroads companies. As stated in document B this group felt as though railroad company owners were more like “railroad kings” because that one man could change prices and wages, the laws around his industry, and corrupt communities and the press. The viewpoint of the Populists was best shown in document F when it says, “ [W]e seek to restore the government of the Republic to the hands of “the plain people,” with which class it originated…. (Doc F).” The Populist party felt that the corruption brought on by big business was ruining the lives of the common man and that the only way to fix this “problem” was to put the common man into positions of power. Another group who was seeking change was the socialist group that was brought to America by the works of Karl Marx. This group felt that all people should be set to equal standard and have equal economic opportunity. But, both these groups would fail in their