Robber Barons Dbq Essay

The time between the Granger laws in 1870 and, the antitrust acts in 1900 is known as the gilded age, courtesy of Mark Twain. It was the time where business boomed and when monopolies were born. But, once looked into, these heavily influential businesses began to look more and more corrupt to the average American. These Big businesses led by so-called Robber barons, took a major part in the american economy using political corruption and bending the rules to their liking. However, the working class people didn't take kindly to such actions and formed labor unions and took political action to oppose working conditions and, political corruption.
One of the reasons many of these big businesses got away with their robber baronistic ways was the

Monopolistic trusts still had their feet planted firmly in politics, they passed laws that only benefited themselves, and allowed them to make more money (Doc D). Acts like the Mckinley acts (Passed through the billion dollars Congress) allowed for business to limit outside competition by raising the tax, forcing people to buy inside the country. The Previously mentioned granger laws were passed in 1870 but reversed by the supreme court in 1886 with the Wabash case, it was a Steel Railroad company who brought this to attention and was passed through bribes and other sorts of corruption. This was later Reversed by the Interstate commerce act, which stated the railroads must be reasonable; however, the government did not retain the right to verify what is reasonable or not. Showing the corruption in these industrial monopolies and their ties to the local and federal government. Over time, these union workers joined the populist party, this party was opposed to all corruption, Political or what have you. The main goal was to return the power of the government to the hands of the people (doc F, this message was spread through the Omaha Morning World-Herald with the purpose of spreading the word.) The populist party did go on to hold substance in American politics and was eventually backed in the early 1900s by President Roosevelt who was the bane of

Some of the ways Monopolies because monopolies were through both horizontal and vertical integration, These two processes were the foundation of Industrial businesses like the Standard oil company led by Rockefeller and Carnegie steel, it allowed these power houses to control the amount of competition they had and how much it cost. These companies would have the reduced processing price because they set the price then sold it at a cheaper price, putting other businesses in shambles, An example of this is in (Doc H). This apparent genius of a process made it so people could only buy their product from them, it did allow for them to fix prices for items like food, fuel.(Doc A) this did allow for a sort of comfortable lifestyle that was defined as American consumerism. Through corporations like sears in the 1870s people were able to buy luxuries through this new affordable lifestyle. (Doc I). This rose the standard of living for all people, it called for even more workers. With the call for more workers, women step up to the stage, and become typists, brining more money into the American households allowing for a furthered comfortability. (doc J) Industrial leaders often late in their lives gave back to communities of religion, and other charities. Whatever their motives may have been they did, and it aligned perfectly with the views written in the gospel of wealth. Social