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How Did The Civil War Influence The Development Of Big Business

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After the Civil War, the United States had two distinct economies, which is quite significant. The Southern economy was completely damaged by the results of the Civil War. Southerners were forced to readjust their entire economy, because slaves needed to be liberated, leaving slave-owners with no workforce. Meanwhile, in the North, the need to supply Union armies with particularly daily supplies marked the start of an era of industrial development. Which giant corporations essentially emerged known as Big Business. This essay will generally analyze the relationship between the government and businesses, and how “Big Business” essentially took control of the Gilded Age. America’s first true big business mostly arose because of the railroads, which is fairly significant, because it essentially helped lead the development of other business barons such as, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. Pierpont Morgan who all had particularly extraordinary accomplishments in shaping our economy. Most of these men who created big businesses after the Civil War were driven by a compelling desire to become rich and influential. …show more content…

For instance, John D. Rockefeller pursued numerous of strategies, to try to eliminate his competitors. From horizontal integration, in which he tried to buy or force his competitors out, to vertical integration, which Andrew Carnegie also practiced, meaning they eventually owned everything they needed to produce. J. Pierpont Morgan had a different strategy in an attempt to monopolize his company, he would help merge competing corporations by purchasing massive amounts of stocks and selling them at a profit. These strategies helped capitalize the entrepreneurs control in the growing

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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.

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After the Civil War, Americans looked to create a whole, prosperous nation. Corporations grew steadily as Americans migrated west. The owners would create trusts, buying out all the smaller companies in their line of work and thus controlling the whole field. Americans had mixed feelings about these companies. Although post civil war corporations employed many and offered low prices, they ultimately stifled smaller businesses and have some control of the government.

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From 1870-1900 was named the Gilded Age. Mark Twain named this period this in light of how the organizations developed so expansive in numbers, size, and the impact the people(American) reactions had on it. When he named this period the Gilded Age, he was alluding to how it sparkled and shinned on the outside yet was degenerate, or as I put it untrustworthy and screwy, underneath. This paper is going to take a gander at the effect of huge business on the economy, the political perspective, furthermore the reaction of Americans In the political perspective, Robber Barons came to overwhelm the administration, specific in the senate as record 4 indicates us.

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Thesis : After the Civil War, America was in a post-war boom. During the 1870-1890, big business moguls, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, create huge corporations which not only affected the economy, but also affected the political realm of America. While many may assume that during the rise of these big business helped to change the economy and politics,  the real focus was on the responses formed by society, such as labor unions, increase public outcry, and political opposition groups that helped to change society. A: Economically, big business flourished during the late 1800s.

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After the Civil War, America gave rise to a new era of industrialism, the Gilded Age. An era dominated by powerful figureheads of industry, otherwise known as robber barons, America soon became an international economic power. Many believe that America’s international economic power is due to the doctrine of laissez-faire capitalism, where businesses operated without any interference from the government. However, there are multiple instances where the American government had directly supported the rise of industrialism. Thus, the Gilded Age’s success cannot only be attributed to laissez-faire because of the government intervention through the use of corruption practices, foreign policy, rail roads and the government’s response, government

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The Second Industrial Revolution brought many great things to America such as advances in technology, new businesses, job opportunities, and "new" immigrants. America was truly the "City Upon a Hill." America, although booming after the Second Industrial Revolution, was problematic. The period after the Second Industrial Revolution is called the "Gilded Age" by Mark Twain because America at that time was glittering on the outside but corrupt on the inside.1 Alongside all the advances in the economy, technology, and society there are negative factors coinciding with the progress. The negative factors prove to be detrimental to America's society, politics, and economy.

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“Much of the blame heaped on the captains of industry in the late 19th century is unwarranted.” (Document F). The Gilded Age was a time where the U.S. economy grew very quickly and rapidly, due to the inventive minds and entrepreneurs of that time; but it has different perspectives of opinions in history today. This era led the U.S. to its state and place in the present world, thanks to its important contributors, (who are involved in the main debate of whether they were robber barons, unethical men who yearn for money, or captains of industry, leaders who add positive ideas and methods to benefit their country.) The industrial leaders of the Gilded Age are captains of industry, worthy of some gratitude and credit for how our society’s structure

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To say the time period following the Civil War in the United States involved a lot of change would be a understatement. Between the years 1870 and 1900 the people of the United States lived through a period of great change. Not only did they witness technological advances that would change their daily lives, they also saw new laws and organizations formed. All of this was done in hopes of improving the country. Many of these changes came about because of the type of businesses that were formed.

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The Civil War was a tragedy that affected every corner of the country in a myriad of ways. One such place that was effected was the state of Illinois, even though the state had no battles fought within it. The state of Illinois was a key player in the Civil War that contributed to the war effort greatly; After and during the war the state of Illinois had enormous changes to the states immigration, economy, and to a certain extent culture. One major thing that Illinois contributed to the war which drastically changed the outcome were the soldiers that the state supplied to the war effort. With the soldiers contribution to the war was also the effects of war on the soldiers.

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The War Between the States was one of America’s greatest wars—it was the fight for freedom, but it also impacted the economy. Because of this, America’s labor and transportation systems both took a significant turn during the Civil War, impacting America’s economy forever. In the end, the American Civil War greatly benefitted our transportation system, but devastated the South’s labor force. For a war to be fought strategically well, there first must be a form of simple, yet speedy, transportation. That is where the transcontinental railroad came in.

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The United States underwent a period of great change in the years after the Civil War. The steel and coal markets were booming and there was a lot of opportunity to be had to the west. Big companies were reaping the benefits of this boom, not leaving many scraps for the workers who did the dirty work. Workers demanded better treatment and wages in the decades after the Civil War, receiving hope of change during World War I, only for the red scare to tarnish their progress.

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The Civil War was a treacherous war, nevertheless it did bring about massive industrial growth. This growth made the nation not only stronger but also wealthier and without this growth, the U.S could not be what is today. The U.S has only prospered significantly since this industrial revolution. This tremendous growth brought about numerous advantages in addition to disadvantages to the American people at this time. First, there were lots of noticeable advantages the revolution brought.

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Another strategy, horizontal integration, is where a company buys out competing companies. What Carnegie did was he bought out the small steel producing companies so that he could slowly gain control over the whole industry. These strategies together let him not only produce steel at low costs, but also let him keep control of the price of steel. Although it can be argued that monopolies hurt the economy and that Carnegie’s monopoly over the steel industry was not something positive, Carnegie never took advantage of his

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Industrialization after the Civil War One of the most remarkable consequences of the Civil war was the industrialization of the United States, which transformed the economy of the country. While certain industries, such as textiles and clock making saw industrialization during the first half of the nineteenth century, it was not until the Civil War that industrialization spread throughout America. The Civil War spurred the process of industrialization and encourages new production techniques that would have the greatest impact after the end of the war. Some of the significant reasons for the delay of industrialization of America after the Civil War were social, economic, political, geographic and legal reasons. The industrialization affected various groups of the society belonging to distinct races and ethnic backgrounds.

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First of all, John D. Rockefeller, born July 8,1839, was the richest man in the world when he was alive. In fact he is still considered the richest man in the world even after having died. His wealth well surpassed any business man in today’s times and even surpassed any king or queen to have ever existed.(Gladwell) Many things accounted for Rockefeller’s wealth. After his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was 14 he started working doing small jobs.

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