One fascinating aspect of this industrial age is the men who rose to great power and wealth, often at the expense of their workers.
These men, for better or worse, have been dubbed "Robber Barons".
For this week's blog, do a Google search on the phrase "American robber barons". Choose one person to study further.
In the comment section, write one paragraph (50 words) detailing positive contributions of that person and another paragraph (50 words) detailing their negative contributions. To conclude your response, write 100 words on whether you think the term "robber baron" is a fair label for the person you chose.
Andrew Carnegie had many positive aspects. He was a philanthropist. He wanted to help people and contribute. His adventures in the steel industry earned him millions of dollars. With that money, he donated to many causes. He is responsible for the building of about 2,509 public libraries. He produced steel which helped out with the machinery and transportation becoming available throughout the nation. (Word count: 63)
ReplyDeleteLater in Carnegie’s life, some workers came together to strike. In response, Andrew started a feud. He said they should have a stand-off between the workers and the people he hired. It turned very violent and became 12 hour shoot out. Even after the agents that were hired surrendered, the mob stayed violent and lots of fights broke out. Carnegie was labeled as a coward for not handling the strike himself. It ruined his working image. (Word count: 76)
I think Andrew Carnegie worked hard for his money. He was extremely smart and collaborated to grow his business. I think it is extremely unfair that some bad moments can cover over all the good a person did. He helped so many people and contributed to many organizations. He didn’t use his money selfishly. He donated and helped other causes. People can label someone so easily because of a couple bad things they did, but they should focus on the good things about him. People even say that he enjoyed giving his money away and watching others use it. He wasn’t prideful and greedy. So the term “Robber Baron,” wasn’t a way to describe Andrew. (Word count: 115)
John Jacob Astor was the first multimillionaire in America, and he also built the first monopoly in America. He was the owner of the American Fur Company, which dominated the fur trade for about the first 30 years of the nineteenth century. His powerful business skills are what allowed him to be the first multimillionaire in America.(Word Count: 57)
ReplyDeleteAlthough John Jacob Astor was a very successful businessman, some of the ways he became one were pretty messed up. His monopoly was accomplished because he "systematically cheated" the American Indian people of fur pelts. He also would unfortunately resort to violence when business competitors would complain about him to the government.(Word Count: 52)
Personally, I think that the term "Robber Baron" is a very fair word to label John Jacob Astor with. He was a very successful man who made a fortune doing what he did, but he did it with the mistreatment of those around him. These things show how truly selfish these men were, and it's ironic to see them not pay their workers well, because almost all of the robber barons grew up poor just like their workers. To me, It is very interesting to see how these business men had no little to no sympathy for their workers. I for sure think that after going through poverty, you would at least treat your workers decently well, but Mr. Astor did not.(Word Count: 122)-Eric Badger
I did my blog on Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was a self made money making man. He made steel possible and sold it for building and then later on owned his own mill which he would hire workers to work. He helped make plenty of jobs available for people to get a job.
ReplyDeleteThe negatives of Andrew Carnegie was that he did not like the unions and when he did buy his own property to start making his steel industry go at full speed it had a bit of a problem. Also a lot of people didn’t like how he acted about himself.
I mean I’m not really sure what I would exactly label for Andrew Carnegie as an American Robber Baron. He could have been but he also couldn’t have been it honestly just really depends. In some ways he was cause he new he had money and he flaunted it at times showing that he had money but also he once was dirt poor and didn’t have respect for others like him. But he also would use his money in some ways for good like donating a ton of library’s for people to use and get a good book. (200)
Andrew Carnegie became the richest man in the world in 1901 selling his steel company. After retiring in 1901 at the age of 66, Andrew Carnegie wanted to become a philanthropist, a person who gives money to good causes. He believed in the "Gospel of Wealth," which meant that wealthy people were to give their money back to others in society. He went on to open 2,509 libraries and many more things to help out others. (Word Count:77)
ReplyDeleteAndrew Carnegie invested millions in the Homestead steelworks, a steel company just outside of Pittsburgh. While there Carnegie and his business partner(frick) lowered wages and increased hours for the people who already worked there. This caused the Homestead strike which was a fight between workers and the people who were to protect Carnegie. The Worker who fought wasn't allowed to come back and work.
(Word Count:66)
Andrew Carnegie was a good man who did many great things for the world but also did some bad things for the world. I believe Andrew Carnegie being called a “robber baron” is too harsh. The great things he did do not fit under the definition of robber baron because he used a lot of the money he made in a great way to help himself and also others around him. On the other hand, there were many bad things he did like letting his business partner frick be harsh to the people who worked for his. Many may disagree, but I believe the term robber baron is too harsh because he got rich off his own invention. (Word Count: 118)
I did the blog on Henry Clay Frick. Frick was an American industrialist who worked alongside Andrew Carnegie in the steel industry and was the chairman of it. One of the positive things about him was that he was a great financier. Another positive thing is that he founded a Coke manufacturing company. (53 words)
ReplyDeleteA negative thing about Henry Frick was that he encouraged the fight against workers that led to bad doom and the ruining of the Union Workers. This probably lead him to getting shot and stabbed by a man named Alexander Berkman and almost killed him and made him have to go to the hospital to get bullets removed from his heart which eventually caused his death many years later. (69 words)
Yes I do think that Henry Clay Frick earned to be called the term Robber Baron. I think yes because he did many bad things during his life like basically encouraging the battle between the workers because the term robber baron means, a person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices. He did deserve this term because I think this term actually describes Henry Clay Frick and describes how he made money by doing horrible things to workers as a businessman and business boss so Henry Clay frick basically lived up to the name of robber baron. (100 words)
JP Morgan never had it rough. He was a pure genius who didn’t even finish all his years at college but jumped in straight to business. He made an investment in coffee beans to sell to the Civil War. He made a profit of $50,000 within two years. Morgan was a very smart man and was very fair when it came down to business.(64)
ReplyDeleteJ.P. Morgan was a great business man but was a terrible husband to his second wife ,after the passing of his first wife he couldn’t stand to be with another woman. However second wife bore him many children which he also didn’t take very good care of. I also saw that him being born wealthy wasn’t a positive attribute. As a robber baron many of them were born in poverty and having an insight on what it was like to be poor. He didn’t and I believe he couldn’t have made more profit from people than from government if he had only seen what they needed.(86)
Morgan was a good man who did very many great things for his country. He bought the US out of debt twice and helped many men through the Civil War with supplies. The only reason a Morgan should be called a robber baron was because he was rich. Now he wasn’t the greatest father but that has nothing to do with wealth.Morgan was a wealthy man from the start but turned himself into one of the richest men in America of his time. He didn’t have much in common with the other robber barons except for wealth and business. (104)
Andrew Carnegie was brilliant business man. He did so much for people trying to help them with charity funds and educational funds. He cared for his family by helping them get jobs and taking care of his mother’s sickness. He provided charity and educational funds to the people including libraries. When he sold his Steel Company, the money when to building these funds for children and adults. (67)
ReplyDeleteAndrew Carnegie had a good reputation and wanted to keep it, but some workers didn’t like that he reduced their wages and started up the Homestead strike, these people are Union workers. With him knowing what might happen, he went to Scotland for a getaway trip. He should have stayed to explain the reasoning for it but he left. Also, as he himself was an immigrant; he was reducing wages when the immigrants had to take care of their families as well. (83)
No I do not think it is fair to label Andrew Carnegie as a “robber baron”. He did not get rich off of ruthlessness but off of his success. He came over to Allegheny, Pennsylvania from Dunfermline, Scotland to live a better life with his family. His first job was a bobbin boy for Pittsburgh cotton mill earning $1.20 per week. Then moved on to John Jay’s cotton mill for $2.00 per week. He then became a telegraph messenger boy for $ 2.50 per week. Thomas A. Scott hired Andrew to be a secretary/telegraph operator earning $4.00 per week. He then became in charge of the Westside part of the company hiring his family making $1,500 per year. Then made making steel easier, which made him richer. He sold his company for millions of dollars and took that money, and made charity and educational funds and libraries. He does not deserve to be called a “robber baron”. (158)
Andrew Carnegie had a lot of positive contributions of him. He wanted to become a Philanthropist and also he had made some charitable donations before retiring. He was a big supporter of education, and in result, he built more than 2,000 public libraries and gave 125 million dollars to a foundation called “The Carnegie Corporation” which aided colleges/schools. (60 words)
ReplyDeleteAndrew Carnegie also had some negative aspects. He invested millions to turn the Homestead Steel Work around but Carnegie allowed Henry Clay Frick to increase working hours and cut/reduce wages. After this, people had to work 12 hours, 6 days out of the week. He had a bad attitude and he did not like the unions. He wanted to get rid of them. (64 words)
I do not think Andrew Carnegie should be labeled as a “robber baron.” A robber baron is someone who became rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices. I believe Andrew Carnegie worked very hard to earn all of the money he made. He was a very smart man and he wanted his business to keep growing. He built over 2,000 libraries and donated a lot of money towards a foundation for colleges. Growing up he was described was “poor dirt”, and coming up from being poor dirt to a very rich man is a very big accomplishment. I do believe he should not have let Henry Clay Frick take over and make people work longer and reduce their wages. I think he should have stayed and made the choices himself. (131 words)
ReplyDeletePositives
Andrew Carnegie was a very successful business man and was an entrepreneur in the steel business. Before he got into the steel business he took a trip to England where he realized the steal business could use a big expansion and he knew just how to. Carnegie was the first man to ever mass produce steel. He lowered the steel prices because he could mass produce steel.
Word count 69
Negative
Andrew Carnegie purchased a another local steel mill called homestead and he had labor issues because the people of that mill went on strike. Carnegie told his business partner, Howard Frick, to do what ever he felt necessary to break up the strike. Frick hired the Pinkertons to take over the jobs of the strikers and the strikers caught wind of it broke into homestead and had a 12 hour shootout with the Pinkertons. Many were killed but later the strike ended and everyone that participated in the strikes was to never be hired by any steel mill Andrew owned.
Word count 107
Robber Baron- A person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices (originally with reference to prominent US businessmen in the late 19th century.) I could see this term being used on Carnegie because he only offered his workers minimum wage in a very dangerous situation. But I don’t think this is completely true because if he paid his workers more money he would still be filthy rich he just would not be the richest man in the world. He had $5 billion dollars during that time which is equal to Bill Gate’s status in today’s money. After he retired he donated library’s all over America, and not because it made him look good because we were desperate for them.
Word count 127
www.learningtogive.org/resources/Carnegie-Andrew
Tillman Smith
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Andrew Carnegie had positive aspects he was a key person in the creation of the steel industry. He worked his way up from bobbin boy to becoming a steel magnate. He was a hard worker. He increase his fortune by owning all manufacturing process. He wanted to help others. Carnegie decided to retire at age 65 to help others by opening libraries and investing in education.
ReplyDeleteWord count: 66
Andrew Carnegie was not the best to his workers; he contradicted his own words, by saying that they should have the right to unionize, but he did not really give them that right as the boss/owner. He wanted to lower wages of plant workers in 1892. This led to the Homestead Strike. Violence erupted after Henry Clay Frick hired guards to break up the strikers which resulted in a number of deaths.
Word count: 73
Robber Baron, is a person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices. I think that in a way this word can be a label for Andrew Carnegie. He became rich by working hard. He started out penniless and then became one of the riches men. I believe that this word fit into his life, when he did not have sympathy for his workers. Carnegie gave a little pay to his workers for how hard their job was. Plus he gave them a poor living condition. He was also selfish enough to want to lower his employees pay, so more money could go in his pocket. It is sad how money can influence people. Carnegie was so influenced by his riches that he totally forgot his roots. Once he had enough money all he cared about was to get more money and to satisfy his own needs and desires. He wanted to grow as a company but he didn’t really think about his employees which is the main reason why his company was growing. He was very unfair to them. At least after he was retired he gave a lot of his money away he built 2,509 public libraries. All in all, it seems that at the end Carnegie had a change of heart.
Word count: 217
Positive:
ReplyDeleteIn the late/early 19th/20th century, John D. Spreckels founded an estate and transportation empire in San Diego, California. Not only did Spreckels run several companies, but he also was involved with the shipping industry, the railroads. This man also, worked his father’s sugar business, wow. He ran a sugar business with his bros: Rudolph and C.A Spreckels. And the list of things he’s done just keep going on and on and on. He made a lot of money. (74)
Negative:
John D. Spreckels was doing great until the days of “Crazy Train”, one disaster after another. The train’s destination was from San Diego to El Centro, California. Long story short, the train was going in all kinds of different directions that weren’t El Centro. This mistake was costing money after money after money, and eventually 18 million dollars was gone. But wait there’s more, the Great Depression came and said, “hello”, and John D. Spreckels ended up having to sell his stake for 2.8 million dollars. This was just the beginning, fire struck, floods came rushing in, and damage after damage later 600,000 million dollars came out of his pocket. Money after money lose later, John D. Spreckels found investors!! Yay!! (124)
Robber Barons:
This title was given to those known for being billionaires, and John D. Spreckels is one of those people. Him running his father's sugar business gave him a boost to make a whole lot of money, millions. This man owned and managed company, after company, after company. Now, did he lose a lot of money, well yes he did but it paid off. He was also, a powerful business man. He ran a lot of places in Hawaii. He treated his workers as he wanted to. He payed them as much as he wanted to but I tricked you, because he paid his workers in fair wages. (109)
Andrew Carnegie was an extremely smart and successful man. He came from working at 12 years old to being the richest man in the time period. he made steel making faster and way more profitable. Andrew Carnegie wanted to be the “good guy”. He believed in workers rights strongly.
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For a while Andrew Carnegie was doing pretty well. However, at one point he did put himself almost in debt. Even though he did indeed support workers rights, he did not support or agree with unions. They cut down the way he wanted to run his business. He hired Frick and made him do all the “dirty work”. He started preparing for strike. Carnegie later came back and donated millions of his dollars away. (74)
Andrew Carnegie definitely had his mistakes, but he also knew how he wanted to get things done. He obviously knew what he was doing because he successfully made a great invention. He was determined and didn’t give up. I wouldn’t call him a robber baron because he believed in workers rights and did a lot of great things for America at the time. He definitely has his weak spots when it came to not being understanding of people who needed employment with better pay. He had a way of running things and he had a way of completing the job. (100)
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