Carnegie & Rockefeller
The essential question that was asked to us was “Were Carnegie and Rockefeller robber barons or captains of industry?”. Carnegie and Rockefeller were wealthy businessman that benefited from the newly expanding American economy.Rockefeller was able to successfully monopolize the oil business while Carnegie did the same to the steel business, they were able to control prices and flow of products. Robber barons and captains of industry were terms used to describe the owner's businesses that were able to successfully take control over a given product. Robber barons was negative term while captain of industry was positive.In class we watched ABC Clio videos as well as read articles to learn about Carnegie and Rockefeller.
Both these businessmen were very successful. They each had made a large sum of money, but how were they seen from an onlooking eye? First of all, lets start with Carnegie. He was known for the production of steel in the U.S. Carnegie used a lot of his money on other things besides his business and himself. He built libraries and the “Gospel of Wealth”. The “Gospel of Wealth” is the term used to represent how much he gave back to society. He made orphanages and donated to museums. Carnegie can definitely be seen as a captain of industry because he was able to fuel the economy, but also he was not seen as negatively by the public as one would expect a person of high power to uphold. Rockefeller was also seen more of a captain of industry than a robber baron even though the press continually attacked him because of his monopoly over oil. Rockefeller was also willing to lower prices and try to help the consumer in any way that he could. He gave money to education and helped industry to grow in America.
In my opinion I do not believe that they were robber barons because gave they back to society. This in turn makes them captains of industry because they fueled the American economy as well as give back to society.
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