The robber barons book. The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom Jr. 2022-10-29
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The term "robber baron" was coined in the late 19th century to describe a group of powerful and wealthy industrialists who were seen as using unethical and manipulative tactics to amass their fortunes. These men, known as the "robber barons," were often criticized for their lack of social responsibility and their ruthless pursuit of wealth.
One of the most well-known robber barons was John D. Rockefeller, who founded Standard Oil and became one of the wealthiest men in history. Rockefeller is often credited with pioneering the concept of the modern corporation, but he also faced criticism for his business practices, including using his vast wealth and influence to crush competition and secure favorable deals with railroads and other businesses.
Another robber baron was Andrew Carnegie, who built a fortune in the steel industry through a combination of technological innovation and aggressive business tactics. Carnegie is known for his philanthropy, but he also faced criticism for his treatment of workers and his role in the Homestead Strike of 1892, which resulted in violent clashes between workers and Pinkerton guards.
Other notable robber barons include J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Ford. These men were all known for their tremendous wealth and influence, but they were also criticized for their lack of concern for the well-being of their employees and their disregard for the negative effects their businesses had on the environment and society.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the robber barons were a controversial and polarizing figure. Some saw them as visionary entrepreneurs who were responsible for the rapid industrialization and economic growth of the United States, while others saw them as greedy and ruthless capitalists who were more interested in personal gain than in the welfare of the general public.
Despite their controversial reputation, the robber barons played a significant role in shaping the modern economy and continue to be remembered as important figures in American history.
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Josephson tells some thrilling tales of men struggling to lay track ahead of their competitors, engaging in bloody battles over a railroad line or its cargo, ruining their own health by empire-building, manufacturing fortunes out of nothing by a cunning process of borrowing and inflating. A robber baron was a derogatory slur against business people who grew their wealth through unethical and cruel methods. A new class of business leaders was born, dominating their sectors of the nation's ever-expanding industrial base. This was one of the first effects that struck the eye Of visiting foreigners, such as Alexis de Tocqueville. We are repeating it.
The Robber Barons: The Great American Capitalists 1861 1901 by Matthew Josephson
It was also highly competitive, and soon became large in scale. By 1910, the U. The Financier: The Critical Edition. Rockefeller: The Heroic Age of American Enterprise, 2 vols. Whitten, "Russian robber barons: Moscow business, American style. But this book focused on the stock market, legal aspects, and law changing effects of those hungry for power and money.
Are Silicon Valley’s Most Notorious Fraudsters Today’s Robber Barons?
Franklin believed that given personal restraint and prudence in the conduct of his affairs, God would oversee the rest. When the abyss of the Civil War suddenly yawned before men's eyes it but registered a "lag" which had existed already during the whole of the preceding generation. This chapter explores three leading college texts in U. The entrepreneurs studied are Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. But judgments of character are fallible and, as innovation ripens into fashion, can be swayed by moralistic appeals.
Lest anyone forget the consequences of such a thing, I highly recommend you read this book. Franklin, the historic Yankee, the legendary Self- made Man, owed his success as a printer as much to his strict attention to new machinery studied in London as to his good and prudent business management; just as in journalism he owed his success to enterprise in the current of new ideas. We are repeating it. This is a very well researched piece that covers an enormous subject and period of history. They say those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. While many industrialists were concerned with their profit margin, they also revolutionized how the industry functioned.
As their traffic in goods and moneys, while limited to narrow regions, was carried on at the pace of the horse-drawn post, the ox-cart, the river or canal vessel, so their opportunities were narrowed, while differences in station were correspondingly moderate. In order to secure my character and credit as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid the appearance to the contrary. They tried to gain subsidies, or in some way use government to stop competitors. In my opinion, this is the best book written on the subject of the economic transformation of the U. This was a good read, and I highly recommend it. The author, Burton Folsom, divides the entrepreneurs into two groups market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs. Rockefeller revolutionized the oil industry with his refining process.
The Robber Barons: The Great American Capitalists, 1861
New York: Gallery Books. However, this list is not exhaustive, and historians have argued that some men on this list should be identified as Captains of Industry. Morgan and their acquisitions. The process was one not just of tremendous battles in the stock market, but actual battles on the ground, with bloodshed in many cases. Famous Robber Barons While several industrialists were termed "robber barons," a few prominent industrialists are well known. In a fascinating narrative, mixing social, economic, and political history, Josephson shows that under the command of these industry titans, the country progressed from a mainly agrarian-mercantile society to an economy propelled predominantly by mass production. The contentious views surrounding Robber Barons continue even today.
He was called a monopolist by his competitors, but he actually brought competition to the industry. It was Franklin, philosopher of the new middle class, inventor of a stove and the lightning rod, who lamented that we lose so much time in sleep; who framed the immortal dictum: "Time is money"; whose whole life was one long worship of "holy economy. The stock market was their roller coaster, and it is interesting to see how it was forced up and down and all over the map by the This was a wonderfully written, insightful, and often subtly humorous account of the lives of the businessmen who laid the foundations of American enterprise in the 1800s. This cartoon shows that industrialists often reaped their wealth off the backs of their workers, who generally worked long hours for little pay. He is aided, to be sure, by local capital in the person of the pious Moses Brown of Providence who had written to him in 1790: If thou canst do this thing, I invite thee to come to Rhode Island, and have the credit of introducing cotton-manufacture into America. For example, Andrew Carnegie successfully used the Bessemer Process in his steel company, and John D.
Josephson's book is important mainly in proving that the so-called captains of industry were financial pirates who built their empires on the backs of impoverished miners, railroad workers, foundry workers, and countless others. The great fortunes of the 19th century were made by convincing, legally or illegally, government officials to underwrite great strategies, like the railroads, while allowing all gain to accrue to those who dared promote these stratagems. Speaks quite a bit about Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J. . The world burns faster than ever. . Author's points are hard to interpret.
The keeping of clients, the avoidance of encroachment upon others' trade, was part of the atmosphere of those unhurried times which referred back to a world already passing, in which man and his life were "the measure of all things" and, to a greater extent than ever afterward, of his business. COM All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. The rate cut on the wealthiest Americans, from 73 percent to 25 percent, freed up investment capital and led to American economic growth during the 1920s. Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics. Harriman, Jay Gould, Henry Clay Frick. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, E. Even if they later put huge sums of money into philantopic endeavors in a PR effort to clean their reputation, their imprint on the American industry and American experience in general was stupendous.
To their minds, every new method which led by a shorter road to wealth, every machine which spared labor, diminished the cost of production, facilitated or augmented pleasure, seemed the grandest effort of the human intellect. In a fascinating narrative, mixing social, economic, and political history, Josephson shows that under the command of these industry titans, the country progressed from a mainly agrarian-mercantile society to an economy propelled predominantly by mass production. . They were aggressive, and in important crises, nearly all of them tended to act without those established principles associated with the common people of the community. There was some but not enough in this about how they screwed over the working man and consumer but it was laugh out loud funny to see how they would backstab each other.
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