In the chapter “Robber Barons and Rebels” from Howard Zinn’s novel A People’s History of the United States, he takes his stance on the increasingly growing american industry and those who have taken advantage of and runs the american economy. Throughout the chapter Zinn’s overall theme was that U.S. Government and society was heavily influenced by these so called “Robber Barons” and by doing this, middle and lower class citizens were exploited and taken advantage of by these big business’. Zinn uses many outside sources along with his own knowledge to support this idea. In this chapter Zinn expresses his contempt towards the wealthy during the time after the civil war to the time before the Great War. As time progressed the development
He starts the chapter off with a quote from political activist, feminist, and anarchist, Emma Goldman, who stated, “when we sobered up from our patriotic spree—it suddenly dawned on us that…the lives, blood, and money of the American people were used to protect the interests of the American capitalist.” This supports Zinn’s idea of the emerging “class anger” after the realization of the injustices they faced from a capitalistic society. Author of People of the Abyss, Jack London echoed this sentiment of the poor being used as a pawn in capitalism, when he said, “the modern man lives more wretchedly than the cave-man [although he has many more opportunities]…no other conclusion is possible than that the capitalist class has mismanaged…criminally and selfishly mismanaged.” London declared that rather than capitalism, the poor should control things themselves, using socialism. Goldman, London, and even Mark Twain and Upton Sinclair all used their work and popularity to influence others to feel the same condemnation towards capitalism. Other contributors to the class anger,
The captain of industries were businessmen who also benefitted society through their accumulation of wealth, using methods such as increased productivity, the expansion of markets, offering up new jobs to the working class, and other acts of generosity. All of the notable industrialists dubbed “robber barons” were also named “captain of industries” as well. Therefore, there have been many debates as to whether the term “robber barons” really did justice to the industrialists, when taking into account of their effects on America’s economy, and not just the negative aspects. While the robber barons did harm specific groups of people in order to meet their selfish goals, as well as execute ruthless tactics to surpass their competitors, they have also created an economic boom in which they created larger manufacturing companies, created many employment opportunities for the working class. Even though robber barons went to extreme measures and harmed others in their pursuit of wealth, they have also, and built a stable and prosperous
"The Myth of The Robber Barons" by Burton W. Folsom, JR. tells a unique story about entrepreneurs in early America. The book portrays big businessmen as being behind America's greatness.
The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890 and abolished monopolies and trusts. Jacob Riis helped to expose the horrid living conditions in the slums through his photographs. This helped move people to work toward better conditions for the masses. Because of efforts like these, significantly better conditions exist in the U.S. now for the masses. For the most part, the Populist idea, “wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken from industry without an equivalent is robbery,” (Reading 2) has been followed. American society is not completely there, but there are movements still occurring and politicians still use
People must strive to be wealthy in order to be competitive in today’s very materialistic world. When one thinks of qualities that a successful person possesses, intelligence or skill should be at the top of the list, but rather wealth is the first thing that comes to mind. Despite what actual basic skills a person has, if they have money they will conclusively succeed in life. In his novel World War Z, Max Brooks uses anecdotes to criticize this unfortunate reality. Brooks creates an entire reorder of the classes. In order for the wealthy to survive the Zombie Wars, rather than relying on their money, they must rely on ordinary people. By creating these events Brooks is subsequently highlighting how having money and power is not everything.
Zinn is always careful to avoid painting his prognostications with too broad of a brush. Zinn’s scrutiny of the issues between the rich and the ever increasing poor population continues today.
Industrial development of the late 18th century (around 1865-1900) is often characterized by it’s affluent, aggressive and monopolistic industrial leaders of the likes of men such as Andrew Carnegie, William H. Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller. Due to their ruthless strategies, utilization of trusts, and exploitation of cheap labor in order to garner nearly unbreakable monopolies and massive sums of wealth, these men are often labelled as “robber barons”. At the same time, they are also often referred to as “industrial statements” for their organization, and catalyst of, industrial development; not to forget their generous contributions to the betterment of American society. Therefore, whether or not their aforementioned advances in industry were undertaken for their own personal benefits, one cannot ignore their positive effects on America. Thus, one can conclude that not only were the captains of industry both “robber barons” and “industrial statements”, but that that these two labels, in fact, go hand-in-hand.
In Chapter 11, Robber Barons and Rebels, Zinn uses primary sources and evidence to explain how behind the great achievements in America in the early 1900s, there was usually a man of great wealth with a vision as well as millions of others doing the back-breaking work in order to fulfill the capitalists’ dreams.
When the topic of American economics arises, the infamous Robber Barons of the 19th Century often springs to mind. They are often glorified as "Captains of Industry" for their money making strategies and enterprising methods. Those who hold this view probably do not know the evils of the laissez-faire capitalism in which the Robber Barons believed and participated. They wanted an unrestricted system of economics so that they could amass as much money as they could to out do each other and control the power in society. They were not as glorious and generous as some people make them out to have been.
The notorious and capable Al Capone once commented, “This American system of ours, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.” “This American system,” as referred to by Capone, is not simply one idea alone but a conglomerate of all ideals held to represent the American culture: capitalism, freedom, and opportunity. These ideals go hand in hand with each other; freedom allows for capitalism to flourish and, in turn, allows equal opportunity for every citizen. However, the key to success in the American system is not simply available by going through the motions of life, but rather requires determination, will, and an urge to succeed and capitalize on every opportunity provided to us. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Gatsby, the poverty-stricken army officer turned eccentric millionaire, proves that the American system is one that does not discriminate between the rich and the poor, or by creed, or even by race, but allows for equal opportunity for all, supporting those with ambition and drive, while punishing those who lack purpose and initiative, one where everyone has a chance for greatness if they have the drive and initiative to seize that opportunity and “make the most of it” and that the resulting success derived from that motivation erases the significance of one’s background.
The three philosophers that will be examined are Adam Ferguson, David Hume, and Adam Smith. By assessing their thoughts on the subject of wealth, conclusions can be developed for the questions presented. Each thinker has an answer to these questions, yet there may be some overlap within the thoughts of these men since they were peers writing during the same period. The first philosopher to be discussed is Adam Ferguson along with his work An Essay on the History of Civil Liberty. Ferguson provides his understanding of wealth and its effects in the section of his work titled “Of Population and Wealth.” He does not explicitly define wealth such as in the form of a dictionary entry, rather must be deduced. Ferguson’s central claim in this section is that there is a connection between a growing population and the growing wealth and prosperity of a nation.
It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors’, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous ‘cash payment’. It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom-Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation. The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage-laborers.
In an ideal thriving model of capitalism, it is implied that the larger corporations and wealthier classes increase in size to provide employment for the rest of the population as well as invest in other opportunities for others. This “trickle down” economic system that was prevalent in the early 20th century United States was also a cause for the gripping poverty of the Okies. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family comes across a father and his son soon after arriving in California. The father explains that, “there’s three hundred thousan’ of our people there-an’ livin’ like hogs, ‘cause ever’thing in California is owned. They ain’t nothin’left. An’ them people that owns it is gonna hang on to it if they got ta kill ever’body in the worl’ to do it,” (Steinbeck, 265) This shows the fear of the landowners that is caused by the depression. Because of the fear of poverty, the landowners and people of wealth wouldn’t invest or sell their land, causing a lack of opportunity for the recently migrated tenant farmers. This is shown in Jennifer Banach’s “Faith and Justice in ‘Our Own Revolutionary Tradition’” and it is explained that “With less income, businesses and families spent less, thus accelerating the economy’s downward spiral,” (Banach, 30). This conservation of assets within the landowners was a large reason for the lack of opportunity in an economy that runs on
characterizes the capitalists who shaped post-Civil War industrial America and it is valid that they would be properly distinguished as corrupt “robber barons”.
Since the unemployment rate was high for a long period of time it began to make America’s wealth distribution even more unequal. In 2007, slightly before the recession, the top 1% wealthiest’s share of America’s total wealth was 24% (Gitlin 7). After the peak of the recession in 2011, the top 1%’s share had ballooned to 40% and the bottom 80% of Americans owned less than 10% (Jordan 2). The 1%’s wealth had jumped 16% in four years because of the loss of jobs by middle and lower class Americans (Gitlin 7). This created a situation in which the wealthiest were getting wealthier and the middle and lower class were getting poorer. It is obvious that a system that continues to work in this fashion is very unfair and is not going to work properly. This sense of immorality with the current direction in which the economy is moving and the built up frustration of this system are just some of the many factors that sparked the original protestors to create Occupy.