Debbie Aguilar March 20, 2015 History Robber Barons During the Gilded Age, from 1870 to 1900, there were two different groups of people who shaped living in one way or another; one of them was the Robber Barron. The robber barons were a group who controlled about 76% of the population. Some men in the robber baron group who were widely known as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and James Buchanan Duke, were seen as greedy pigs. These robber barons created ways like increasing prices on objects, paying low wages, and creating a monopoly to increase their wealth and their benefits. In the antebellum period, John D. Rockefeller’s family owned a store-like building, which helped Rockefeller understand the concept of running a business-like facility. During the Civil War he was able to create a small oil factory by 1700, and developed his oil factory to control all oil in the United States by the 1800s, as stated through Mr. Wallace’s lectures. The oil that he was able to control was the Carlson oil, which was considered oil of the working poor class, used to light homes and cook. He started becoming a greedy pig once he was able to get total control of the oil, and began increasing oil prices on the poor and middle working class. Instead of helping these people, who were already struggling financially, he raised the price for his own benefits to become …show more content…
He bumps into a man named Henry Bauman, who showed Carnegie how to make steel. By the early 1880s, Carnegie was the largest steel company in the United States, not because of himself, but because he removes himself of his day-to-day company and hires a man named Henry Frick. Carnegie’s steel factory was successful and rich, but he paid very little to his employees who would work hard hours, for practically nothing. He paid very little so he could remain rich. Another man known as a robber baron was James Buchanan