Were the 19th Century Entrepreneurs Robber Barons

Were the 19th Century entrepreneurs Robber Barons?

No_ John S. Golden suggests there never was such a cartel. John S. Golden shares that the ilk’s of Andrew Carnegie (railroads, steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil, the Standard Oil Company) were simply practical business men set on improving the lives of ordinary Americans with their respective products and talents.

Yes_ Howard Zinn says the industrialist of this period used governmental powers to control and influence through their business practices. The masses were considered pawns to be subjugated or their rebellion would cause a dire threat and or worse an all out revolt.

These collective businessmen were called the robber barons

• John Jacob Astor (real estate, fur)

• Andrew Carnegie (railroads, steel)

• Jay Cooke (finance)

• Daniel Drew (finance)

• James Buchanan Duke (tobacco)

• James Fisk (finance)

• Henry Flagler (railroads, oil, the Standard Oil Company)

• Henry Ford (automobile)

• Henry Clay Frick (steel)

• John Warne Gates (steel, oil)

• Jay Gould (finance, railroads)

• Edward Henry Harriman (railroads)

• Collis P. Huntington (railroads)

• Mark Hopkins (railroads)

• Charles Crocker (railroads)

• James J. Hill (railroads)

• J. P. Morgan (banking)

• John D. Rockefeller (oil, the Standard Oil Company)

• Leland Stanford (railroads)

• Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads, shipping)

Yes_ I concur with Howard Zinn. It is true that these entrepreneurs were ruthless and focused on a singular goal. There industries were built with the blood, sweat and tears of their impoverished workers and were substantially supported through politics. Shares were sold cheaply to those in influential power so they could turn the other way and the American people would be bled dry. The men in power took control of natural resources, gained huge influence in the government, destroyed competing companies, sold inflated stocks, and paid extremely low wages to their workers, the...