Link Dierks
Professor Daniel Byrne
History 142
14 September 2014
Industrial Revolution and Free Market After the civil war in the 1860’s, America’s population grew tremendously and almost tripled. In the latter years of the nineteenth century, the United States went through an industrial revolution that is known as the Second Industrial Revolution, the first being in Britain in the eighteenth century. During the revolution in America, huge industries began to control the economy. A few industrial titans took advantage of this free market economy. Wealth became very concentrated during this time. During the American industrial revolution, there was a social discussion about the negative effects of free market capitalism and the concentration …show more content…
Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan were some of the leading entrepreneurs that reaped the benefits of the free market capitalism. Andrew Carnegie made his fortune through the steel industry. John D Rockefeller controlled nearly the entire oil industry with his Standard Oil Company, making him one of the wealthiest men of all time. J.P. Morgan accumulated his wealth through investment banking and eventually buying Carnegie’s steel company. The idea of a free market was to have little to no government influence. In this structure the price is to be set based on mutual agreement from buyers and sellers. With no government regulations, these huge businesses became monopolies, allowing them to set their own prices with no competition from competing companies. This led to an enormous concentration in wealth, where “in 1900 the richest 2 percent of American families owned more than a third of the nation’s wealth, while the top 10 …show more content…
Society should not have to rely on these wealthy individuals to distribute their earnings and provide guidance to them. Having all of this dependence on a limited number of people can have a negative effect on the people living in the country. With this much wealth in the hands of few, many things can become corrupted by greed. These huge industries that formed could now buy out all other competitors actually creating no other competition in the market. The monopolies now formed can, in return, set the prices of their goods to whatever they please because of the lack of competition. They also had little to no safety and regulations for their workers. Most worked an unbearable amount of hours, “a great many worked a seven-day, eight-four-hour week” (Tindall 804). This concentrated wealth and power was not a beneficial thing for
Professor Daniel Byrne
History 142
14 September 2014
Industrial Revolution and Free Market After the civil war in the 1860’s, America’s population grew tremendously and almost tripled. In the latter years of the nineteenth century, the United States went through an industrial revolution that is known as the Second Industrial Revolution, the first being in Britain in the eighteenth century. During the revolution in America, huge industries began to control the economy. A few industrial titans took advantage of this free market economy. Wealth became very concentrated during this time. During the American industrial revolution, there was a social discussion about the negative effects of free market capitalism and the concentration …show more content…
Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan were some of the leading entrepreneurs that reaped the benefits of the free market capitalism. Andrew Carnegie made his fortune through the steel industry. John D Rockefeller controlled nearly the entire oil industry with his Standard Oil Company, making him one of the wealthiest men of all time. J.P. Morgan accumulated his wealth through investment banking and eventually buying Carnegie’s steel company. The idea of a free market was to have little to no government influence. In this structure the price is to be set based on mutual agreement from buyers and sellers. With no government regulations, these huge businesses became monopolies, allowing them to set their own prices with no competition from competing companies. This led to an enormous concentration in wealth, where “in 1900 the richest 2 percent of American families owned more than a third of the nation’s wealth, while the top 10 …show more content…
Society should not have to rely on these wealthy individuals to distribute their earnings and provide guidance to them. Having all of this dependence on a limited number of people can have a negative effect on the people living in the country. With this much wealth in the hands of few, many things can become corrupted by greed. These huge industries that formed could now buy out all other competitors actually creating no other competition in the market. The monopolies now formed can, in return, set the prices of their goods to whatever they please because of the lack of competition. They also had little to no safety and regulations for their workers. Most worked an unbearable amount of hours, “a great many worked a seven-day, eight-four-hour week” (Tindall 804). This concentrated wealth and power was not a beneficial thing for