Monopolies During The Gilded Age

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.

The term “Big Business” was first coined in the 1800’s, used as an insult against companies that controlled the market, like monopolies. Monopolies are bad because they allow one company/organization/individual to produce a product and sell it for whatever price they want because the product has their name on it. Certain businessmen, like the richest political and business tycoons, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Ford, Morgan, etc. were able to capitalize on the 5 biggest industries which were oil, steel, railroads, automobiles, and textiles. These men were entrepreneurs that took America into the Gilded Age and created some of the biggest companies of the era, most of which are still around today and dominate the industries. Rockefeller

The late 19th century witnessed the birth and development of a variety of businesses that eventually achieved monopoly and influenced national politics. The robber barons in industries such as railroad, steel production, and oil became the richest citizens during the “Gilded Age” and caused widespread hatred among the poor. The prevalence of big businesses significantly increased wealth gap, enhanced industrial production, and promoted a laissez-faire government; meanwhile, the oppressed groups of Americans, including most notably farmers and factory workers, started to organize against the efficient yet extremely polarized society. Both economy and politics were revolutionized in the late 19th century as a result of the newly established

“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

Instead of wasting money on unnecessary objects or luxurious items, the rich should use it for public good. Carnegie was a “Scottish immigrant” (Roark 524) who worked hard to become an influential figure in the Industrial era where competition meant everything. Since Carnegie knew the value of hardship and money, he could relate to those who were victims of big private corporations. According to Carnegie, “whether the change be for good or ill, it is upon us, beyond our power to alter, and therefore, to be accepted and made the best of it” (Carnegie 53). Again, Carnegie here advices other wealthy individuals to wisely spend their money on public, even though many imperialist at the time did not agree with Carnegie.

The Gilded Age was an age of rapid economic growth. Railroads, factories, and mines were slowly popping up across the country, creating a variety of new opportunities for entrepreneurs and laborers alike. These new inventions and opportunities created “...an unprecedented accumulation of wealth” (GML, 601). But the transition of America from a small farming based nation to a powerful industrial one created a huge rift between social classes. Most people were either filthy rich or dirt poor, with workers being the latter.

In the late 19th century, Mark Twain coined the name “Gilded Age”, meaning the period in which this era was taking place was a point in time where greed, cunning intelligence, speculators, scandalous politics, and shady business would arrive in the United States causing an era of corruption. This was the duration where the United States government was referred to as the “Third Party System” where the 19th century saw the advent of economy, mass immigration, and class division all within the seams of the country. A modern American economy arose along with big businesses that were controlled by a small number of giant corporations. Carnegie believed that there should be no restrictions on how a man makes his money or how much he makes,

The saying that history repeats itself has been proven to be true time and time again. History seems to be doomed to repeat itself as if lessons were never learned from past mistakes. The Gilded Age is a unique period in American history that is undoubtedly repeating itself in the modern day. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the massing of wealth by the top 1% of the population are just a few of the things that characterize this period of American history. The same issues that plagued America over 100 years ago are re-emerging in todays’ society leading scholars to say that America has arrived in “The Second Gilded Age”.

In the more developed regions of the world such as the United States, the United Nations and some of the Asian Countries, the form of economy there is Capitalism. Capitalism allows business owners to expand as much as they like since businesses are privately owned and the government have little to no influence on them. To the rich, capitalism is great, it allows them to be as rich as they want, but to the poor, capitalism only makes them poorer, it creates a disparity in social class system, and the varying changes in employment rate as a result of monopolization. Capitalism, due to monopolization makes the poor stay poor. To elaborate: a monopoly is when a person or a group owns the majority of the supply for the public.

In a time after the Civil War, when a transcontinental railroad was created connecting the East and West, people began to move and settle across the country, creating new urban cities and manufacturing hubs. It was because of the railroad that the Second Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age took place which rapidly increased the manufacturing of products through the new machines in factories and the spread of ideas by the telegraph and railroad. It was in this context that many farmers, as well, began to move West and experience a loss in the prices of their crops. It is also in this context that many workers were forced to work long, laborious hours with little pay. Farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age by forming organizations such as the Granger movement and the Farmers Alliance as well as creating the Populist Party.

Karl Marx argues that the traces of capitalism first appeared as early as the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but the capitalist era truly begins in the sixteenth century . Marx, as well as others, believed that capitalism emerged in these European countries after the abolition of serfdom . North and Thomas argue that the “Marxian historians” are wrong to believe that feudalism was directly followed by capitalism in Western Europe; however, the two and a half centuries following the fall of feudalism were filled with “nascent” or “commercial” capitalism

In the Communist Manifesto (1848), the bourgeoisie and the proletariat had a tight relationship since a beginning of proletariat caused a collapse to the bourgeoisie. Karl Marx and his friend Friedrich Engels introduced their view and led to a very first beginning of a proletarian revolution. Marx believed that the replacement of the model of economic of Adam Smith is seen as evidence for the developing stages of history, the end of feudal system led to the birth of the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie lasted for a moment in history before collapsing and leading to the proletariat. Karl though that in Adam Smith’ economic model, the laissez-faire system, which focused on the individual entrepreneur, just benefited for big businesses and capitalists

Capitalism saw its inception during the reign of Henry VIII who, in his search for capital and a speedy divorce, oversaw the dissolution of 600 monasteries. Establishing himself as the Supreme Head of the Church of England, he then seized the monastic lands which he then sold to the aristocracy. This triggered the first great land privatization in history during which he essentially sold the nations entire welfare system and ended the common rights to land. This meant that free men and women, were ejected off their commons and had no way to provide for their way of life.

Willy Loman, for example, is suffering though the side effects of capitalism. He participates in a society which races against each other even though the “competition is maddening.” (Miller,

The Contemporary economies of the world, in my opinion, can truly be examined by two abstract models: Capitalism and Socialism. In this essay I will outline the defining characteristics of each economic model, and compare and contrast these two economic models in terms of economic productivity, economic quality and personal freedom and liberty. To do this we must begin by defining these two economic models: Capitalism may be defined as an economic system where the means of production are privately owned and operated, and where the investment of capital, and production, distribution, income, and prices are determined not by government (as in a planned economy) but through the operation of a market where all decisions regarding transfer of money,