Robber Barons In The Gilded Age

According to William H. Watkins, the Civil War was the result of competing views of the economic destiny of America. He says, “Reconciliation between the systems of slavery in the South and emerging industrialization in the North was not possible through negotiation” (13). An industrial America rose out of the horrors of war. “The victory of the North created the conditions needed for northern industrialists to expand without political opposition from Southern planters [and politicians]. The ‘robber baron’ capitalists now found a huge national market in which to expand their fledging oil, steel, textile, and railroad industries. They organized commerce within the structures of corporations, banks, holder companies interlocking directorates, and trusts….The …show more content…
The term “robber baron” came to be used to describe the men who created such wealth. It was meant to be contradictory in meaning because many thought these men gained this kind of wealth typically found amongst the aristocracy through illegal means. Men like John D. Rockefeller became philanthropists and they created foundations to help reverse this kind of bad publicity. They also got useful tax breaks. Foundations would allow robber barons to do the work governments couldn’t or wouldn’t do in areas like sanitation and transportation, healthcare, and especially education. The Influence of the Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations on American Foreign Policy, Edward H. Berman argues that corporate philanthropies are used as political and ideological agencies by the corporate elite to maintain and extend the dominant social order. Berman claims, “The subsequent support by the foundation for various educational configurations both at home and abroad cannot be separated from their attempts to evolve a stable domestic polity and a world order amenable to their interests and the strengthening of international capitalism”