Robber Baron essays

Robber Baron essays During the late 1800s many prominent business leaders arose in America, such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefellar, and Thomas Edison. Some of these business giants contributed to America, while others were considered robber barons. This was so due to the monopolizing and use of illegal means to gain affluence. From this control of economy and monopoly came the name robber barons. Andrew Carnegie arrived as a poor immigrant from Scotland. In 1899 he established the Carnegie Steel Corporation, which grew to one of the largest steel corporations in the world by 1901. Carnegie owned the steel market by buying all other steelmills, and thus controlling the steel prices, being able to increase them at his will. By coming up with vertical integration, middleman fees were eliminated, furthering contributing to his affluence. This control of the steel market placed him into the group of robber barons. As Andrew Carnegie dominated the steel market, John D. Rockefellar was alike but in the oil industry. His method which classified him into the robber baron category differed from Carnegie in the fact that he would cooperate with other companies to control the monopoly, known as horizontal integration, contrary to Carnegie's. The control of these companies was conjured by the Standard Oil Trust, made up of a board of trustees and the company's properties were given, where each shareholder received the share of the profits. Rockefellar's company was also shown to be tyrannical of the oil market by buying out smaller companies and the restrictions on trade, which was stopped by the government on the grounds of being in violation to the Sherman Antitrust Act. Out of the three aforementioned prominent business leaders, the only who is not to be considered as a robber baron is Thomas Edison. Edison was a great inventor, creating the incandescent lamp and the world's first electric power station. Creating...