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Pros And Cons Of Robber Barons

1093 Words5 Pages

After the Civil War, the Second Industrial Revolution was established due to America’s rapid growth for industry and economics. Capitalists during the industrial period of 1875-1900’s were either accused of being a robber baron or a captain of industry. Some capitalists leaders who were accused of being a robber baron or captain of industry included J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew W. Mellon, and John D. Rockefeller. A robber baron is a business leader who gets rich through cruel and scandalous business practices. The captains of industry is a business leader who wants to better the companies in a way that it would be positively contributing to the country. The most accurate characterization for the time period of 1875-1900’s were both …show more content…

Henry George’s was a critic of big business and since there we social problems he blames it on a few monopolists to grow wealthy as a result of rising land values. He proposed a single tax on land to replace taxes which would be returned to in addition to the people. If they propose this tax it would destroy monopolies, distribute wealth, and it would eliminate poverty. Robber barons are the reason why people were being driven into poverty (DOC 1). The result of this was how the Northern capitalists led the South away from agriculture and economic dependence, and how they used their wealth to further grow the American industry. The captains of industry believed that the poor people were inferior to the rich people. The rich were superior because they had “wisdom, experience, and the ability to administer”. The duty of a rich person was to help out a poor person which was what was said in the Gospel of Wealth. The Gospel of Wealth is about how the rich person's responsibility is philanthropy. Carnegie believes in charity work so he would donate to libraries, and universities and schools and etc. Part of a captain of industries duty were to make sure that whatever he does whether it is “trust funds in which he administered”, it would have to benefit the community (DOC 2). Andrew Carnegie believed in Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is the belief of the “survival of the fittest.” You are rich because God is rewarding and you are poor because you aren’t working hard

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