Robber Barons And Captains Of Industry: Heroes Or Villains

Throughout history, there were many men and women that changed the United States. Some people were able to find ways that helped the United States grow exponentially and others made America decline in growth. People today call them Robber Barons. When you hear the words Robber Baron, it brings on a negative stereotype. This negative stereotype is what makes many people think that all Robber Barons did was corrupt and unjust actions. They were able to make great strides in our country, but they also did bring forth some negative consequences. I will first explain the childhood and their life leading up to becoming a major impact in the United States. I am going to explain you both sides of these arguments. This will allow you to come up with your own conclusion on the topic. I will then tell you my thoughts on whether or not the leaders of industry were heroes or villains. The three main robber barons we will be focusing on are Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and John D Rockefeller.

The first Robber Baron that comes to mind when thinking about industrial times is Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25th, 1835. Andrew was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. Andrews’s family was grounded on education, he was taught at a young age the greatness in books. At around the age of 13, Andrew and his family moved to the United States. Upon moving they decided to live in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Andrew started working at a factory when he moved to the United States. Andrew was paid barely 1.25 a week. Andrew upgraded his job after about a year and went into the telegraph business. He started out as a messenger and then moved up to an operator. Andrew went into working at a railroad. He became the assistant and telegrapher to Thomas Scott. Thomas taught Andrew about business and railroads. After about 3 years Andrew was able to become the superintendent. Andrew started making investments. His oil and other investments began to skyrocket so he ended up leaving the railroad business. Andrew began focusing all of his time on the steel industry. He called his company Carnegie Steel. He was able to revolutionize steel production in the United States. Andrew was able to put his steel plants all over the United States and use his new technology and steel creation methods to increase his hold on the steel industry. Andrew already had all the factors that were needed to make a great steel company. Thanks to Andrew Carnegie's Steel company the United States had a great economic boom that has lasted even until today.

On the negative side of Andrew Carnegie, some felt that he took his workers for granted and that the success of his company was at the fault of his employees. This is shown by the company trying to lower the wages. The workers refused to work with lower wages and horrible working conditions. This event was called the homestead strike of 1892. The workers and the management of the plant began to get violent. Managers called in hired guards to get rid of the strike. This shows the bad aspects of a steel plant. Andrew had terrible wages, exhausting hours, and bad working conditions. The working conditions were so bad that people were dying and their families were getting no compensation for their death. Andrew was not at the plant for the riot but he was still held responsible for what had happened.

Later on in life, Andrew decided to change his lifestyle. Andrew sold his steel company. He was able to make around 200 million from his sale. Andrew decided he wanted to spend his time helping others. He was 65 years old and he began philanthropic work. He built libraries, made donations, and increased his efforts in helping others closer to the end of his life. Some of his donations were The new york public library where he donated 5 million, as well as 2,800 more libraries, were opened thanks to Andrew. Andrew also established the Carnegie Institute of Technology, which is located in Pittsburgh. Andrew also made the Carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The second of the robber barons is J.P. Morgan. John Pierpont Morgan was born on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut. His family was a wealthy New England family. His grandfather was the founder of the Aetna insurance company. Morgans’ father was a big partner in the dry goods business. As a child, Morgan had seizures a lot of mysterious ailments that were not understood at the time. Morgan had a great academic career when he reached high school. Around 1854 Morgan moved to London with his family. When he moved to London he partnered with a banking firm by the name of George Peabody & Co. Trying to further his education Morgan went to the institute Sillig in Switzerland. Morgan studied french and mathematics, then he furthered his education even more by going to Gottingen University in Germany. After finishing his schooling Morgan moved to the United States in New York. There he worked at Duncan, Sherman & Co. This was his father's banking branch that was in the United States.

Morgans’ first string of becoming a successful businessman was when he was in New Orleans for a business proposition and he stumbles upon a captain of a ship. This captain was trying to sell a large shipment of coffee but could not find a buyer. Morgan took this opportunity to buy the coffee and flip it for a profit. This gave Morgan confidence in himself to start going on his own. Morgan created his own banking company by the name of J. Pierpont Morgan & Co. Morgan met his future wife Amelia. The two were dramatically in love and quickly got married. His wife was the daughter of a great merchant. Unfortunately, she passed away and despite Morgans’ best efforts he was unable to save her. His wife’s death made Morgan pull all his time and effort into his work. He moved back to New York and joined with Charles Dabney to create Dabney, Morgan & Co. J.P. Morgan’s dad became the head banker over the London branch. The Morgan family exponentially grew in wealth with their great investment choices. After a while of mourning, Morgan found new love with a woman named Frances. Frances was the daughter of an experienced New York lawyer. They married each other and had 4 children together. Dabney retired and so Morgan merged with Anthony Drexel to form Drexel, Morgan & Co. Morgan was already having an amazing financial life when William Vanderbilt (our 3rd robber baron) came to Morgan with a proposition of selling 250,000 shares of the New York Central railroad stock. Morgan made great choices and ended up securing a spot on the New York Central board of directors. Later on, Morgan sold 40 million in bonds for the purpose of financing the Northern Pacific Railroad. Eventually, Morgan’s father passed away, Morgan was able to turn this grief into a new lifestyle. Morgan was able to merge Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Company to create General Electric. Everyone truly knew Morgans’ great influence when the panic of 1893 hit. The United States gold reserves had diminished significantly. Morgan and his investors gave gold for exchange for 30-year bonds. This sole action was able to balance out the economy. Drexel died and Morgan put his company back to J.P. Morgan & Co. Morgan put his efforts towards the steel industry by buying Andrew Carnegie's steel company. This was U.S. steel and was the first to become a billion-dollar corporation. This, however, did show off that Morgan could easily make a monopoly. Another way he did this was by joining James J. Hill in an endeavor to create Northern Securities Company. This company held the most shares in many of the major railroads. This gave Morgan around ⅓ of the entire country's railways. Right before Morgan's death, he entered a bailout for the government when there was an economic depression. He then died in Rome, Italy. March 31st, 1913 was the day he died and even after his death, the New York stock exchange closed until noon on his funeral date.

On the negative side of J.P. Morgan people thought that he had too much power. He showed this through his great authority. People also thought he had too much influence on the government. This can be seen because he not only had helped out the economy twice but one of those times was a bailout. Morgan also was shown to be too powerful because of the fact that he bought out small companies and formed monopolies which would kill out the businesses that wouldn't let him buyout. On the other end, the goods of J.P. Morgan were his modernization of businesses and capitalism. He showed this through his expertise in his field. Morgan also helped the United States overcome not just one but two economic disasters. Morgan can also be thanked for his support of Nicola Tesla which we all know led to great strides in electricity.

The third Robber Baron is John D. Rockefeller. John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8th, 1839, in Richford New York. John’s family moved to Cleveland Ohio when John was only 14. Even at a young age, John was able to make great business decisions because of his hard-working personality. John’s first job in a real office was when he was only 16. John was an assistant bookkeeper with Hewitt & Tuttle, they were produce shippers and commission merchants. When John got older around the age of 20 went on to become a business partner. He was able to work as a commission merchant in the grain, hay, meats, and other miscellaneous goods. Thanks to john the company had grossed by $450,000. John saw a great opportunity for oil. John jumped on the chance and built a refinery close to Cleveland. After just 2 years John's refinery was the biggest around. This showed him that there was a chance to do something big, so John put all his time and effort into oil. Not sure if it was strategic or just lucky but the timing for Johns company Standard Oil could not have been better. Standard oil prospered out of the gate. Standard oil became so big John decided it would be good to start expanding starting by buying out his competitors. Standard oil started to make deals with the railroads to ship the oil. Standard upgraded once again because of their purchases of pipelines and terminals. This was another way of transporting their oil. John went as far as to buy land not only for its wood and land for oil but also to block his competitors from being able to build pipelines themselves. John had made almost a complete monopoly of oil in under 10 years. This would be a beacon for other businesses to follow around the world. This would lead to John and the standard oil company to go through rigorous obstacles thanks to the government. The first instance of this was when congress took to the Sherman Antitrust act as well as bringing the Ohio supreme court into deeming Standard Oil Company a Monopoly. Thanks to John’s smart tactics however he was able to break the company into sections that were run by other people. Not even another 10 years went by when the second instance occurred when the pieces of the former standard oil were brought back together and then disbanded again this time by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Later in John's life, he retired from the oil business and took to doing more charitable actions. He became one of the most respected philanthropists during his time. Thanks to John he was able to help create the University of Chicago. He gave over 80 million dollars to the university before he passed away. As well as the University John also founded and funded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, which would later be changed to Rockefeller University. Another one of his big charities was the Rockefeller foundation. Before his death, John Donated nearly 530 million dollars across multiple charities and foundation projects. Rockefeller had five children with his wife Laura Rockefeller before his death. John D. Rockefeller died on May 23, 1937. His place of death was Ormond Beach, Florida. Rockefeller’s life will never be forgotten thanks to his great business and his effects on the United States that has made the U.S. what it is today. John’s only son John who was named after him kept giving even after his father's death. John Jr gave over 5 million dollars to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, helped make the United Service Organizations, donated land for the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

On the negative side of John D. Rockefeller, the government had to go after standard oil multiple times. This showed his unwillingness to stop the monopoly of oil. John also chose to put his competitors out of business no matter what the cost. He bought his competitors and also used unfair tactics to prevent their companies from growing. On the other end, John D. Rockefeller created huge oil refineries that allowed for everyone to use oil for their day to day items instead of it being only a wealthy man’s use. John also was a big philanthropist, he enjoyed donating a lot of his money to many charities.

These three men have made such a big impact on the world. Firstly, Andrew Carnegie, I think that Andrew was a hero/leader of the industry. Andrew did have bad wages and terrible working conditions but this led the united states workers to adapt and eventually turn into making unions. This has helped the working class of the united states speak out on what they think they deserve as working people. Andrew also donated a significant amount of money and this can be looked at as either a way to repent for the sins that he thinks he may have caused or him switching to his new lifestyle as a full-fledged philanthropist. Secondly, J. P. Morgan, I think that J.P. Morgan was also a hero/leader of the industry. J.P. Morgan did put out smaller businesses, but this can be shown as a means to the end of how he truly helped the united states out. Morgan had helped the government of the united states on 2 different occasions. This can be looked at as one of the greatest heroic acts ever. He was able to stop an economic drought that could have caused another great depression. J.P. Morgan also donated heavily to charities. J.P. Morgan was such a big name that he is even still relevant today in JP Morgan Chase & Co. Lastly, John D. Rockefeller, I think that John was a hero/leader of the industry as well. I think the negative aspects of John’s business can be outweighed by the good he did. John did break the law and had a monopoly of oil, but this just shows the passion he had for his business. John was willing to do anything to get his business to the top. The oil that his company produced can be thanked for lighting the way for America to move forward. John also donated money to many charities. What are your opinions on the robber barons? Do you think they are heroes or Villans? These men’s negative, villainous, and outright terrible nature can be over shined by the overall great impact that they had on the United States. These men helped push America into the new ages and without them, I do not think we would be at the point we are at today. Not that but every robber baron that I have talked about supported the development of the future by donating to charities, building educational buildings, or creating foundations. Do you think that without these men doing what they had to do that we would be at the point we are today? I don’t think so.