As the Gilded age began, a period spanning approximately of the 1870s to the turn of the twentieth century, (a name given by Mark Twain, meaning wealth and “layer of gold”), big businesses started to grow and had affects on America. Big businesses had a huge impact on the economy, politics, and on Americans. The effect of big businesses on the economy was that the economy was said to have grown 400% during this time period, this seems like a huge rise but then again this would not have been that hard seeing as there was little to no government regulations.
For example in document B the railroad businesses are portrayed to be kings and even controlled the government and the people as well. However, exploding the economy wasn’t the only thing big business did for America, they transformed how the economy was run, America became a huge manufacturing country. Document C shows that this manufacturing was so huge because of mass production, however, mass production wasn’t all good, even though document A showed that mass production lowered the cost of living.
Mass production led to a specialization of labor, which led to a rather unskilled workforce and an unskilled workforce is easy to replace so job security was not very high. This was unfair to the workers who were treated as property rather than employees, an argument in Document G, workers who were injured or even executed on the job went un-noticed by these big businesses because they were considered “Wage Workers”. These mass production techniques were demoralizing and in a way inhumane on the worker and because of this Labor Unions formed, notably one of the bigger ones was the Knights of Labor.
The Homework on Big Business and Sweatshops
In order to keep companies check book balance, big businesses like Nike’s, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney Company, and the Gap made unethical business decisions with manufacturing facilities located throughout the world to produce its products. Nearly 800,000 people work in these factories, called sweatshops, located primarily in Asia. However, these big companies dictate the term to the contractors about ...
Uriah Stephens originally started the Knights, but Terence Powderly soon took over, and their biggest victory was at the Union Pacific Railroad strike in 1884, this made workers treated better. Big businesses also often became monopolies and there was no one person better at this than John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller, like other big businesses, sought to monopolize his industry by “Horizontal Integration”, simply allied with or bought out competitors to monopolize a given market, He used this method to form Standard Oil and control the oil industry by forcing weaker competitors to go bankrupt as seen in Document H.
Mr. Rice talked of Rockefeller’s monopolization and talked of how he wasn’t the only one affected showing that Big businesses hurt smaller companies. So, these big businesses weren’t all good for the economy while they did improve the economy, they also hurt workers and hurt small companies. 1. Next, the effect of the big businesses on politics was pure corruption. Railroad companies were notorious for ripping of the United States government, Credit Mobilier were the worst for this as they pocketed 23 million in profits just by over charging the Government.
Document D suggests that the trusts and senate are hand in hand and that the people are not allowed into this senate, and even says “People’s entrance: Closed”. The government didn’t help out “the people” either, when the Railroads were colluded with the trusts the supreme court took the side of the Railroads. This was shown when the Grange was formed by farmers to combat such corruption, and many state efforts to stop the railroad monopoly occurred, but they were stopped when the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the Wabash case, in which it ruled that states could not regulate interstate commerce, such as trains.
The Essay on Business and People Notes.
Business & People Asad De-industrialisations: The reduction of importance of the secondary sector of business activity in a country. Dividend: A payment made to shareholders from the profits made by a private or public limited company. Sole proprietor: One person who owns the business. Horizontal integration: Merger or takeover of another business at the same stage of production in the same ...
This proved to “the people” that the government was not for them but for the corrupt big business companies, showing the government was corrupt too. This prompted people to do stuff about some of the corruption, Thomas Nast drew pictures of “Boss” Tweed, a corrupt politician, to show his corruption and this later got Tweed Jail time because of Tweed being recognized because of Nast’s drawings. Document F shows that not every type of government was corrupt and that populist party was dedicated to political reform, and restore the government to plain everyday people.
When the government tried to help the people it didn’t work, In 1890, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was signed into law; it forbade combinations (trusts, pools, interlocking directorates, holding companies) in restraint of trade, without any distinction between “good” and “bad” trusts. It proved ineffective, however, because it couldn’t be enforced. So, the effect big business had on politics was that it often made them corrupt and thus the big businesses got away with murder and this hurt the people.
Finally, the effect of big businesses on Americans as a people was deemed good and bad. Big businesses transformed people’s lives, by the end of the Gilded age the population had moved from a more rural population to a more urban population. Document I shows that these department stores, that were glamorous, drew people away from rural areas and into the cities. Document J shows a full women workforce working with inventions such as the typewriter and they were all dressed similarly.
This shows how boring mass production can be on the workers and that jobs that sprung because of big businesses and industrialization were discriminatory. Americans generally viewed big businesses as a bad, corrupt, harmful thing, however not all businesses were like this. Document E shows that not all big businesses were bad and that some of the wealthy did believe in charity. Carnegie, the man who is in document E, sold his company to J. P. Morgan for 400 million and then donated 350 million to charity, this showed Americans that not all of the wealthy were corrupt and essentially evil.
The Business plan on Starting A Business People Plan Money
Introduction More and more people are beginning to open their minds to new business ventures. It seems like it is becoming the popular move. By opening a business there could be huge profit to be made, depending on the market. On the other hand, there are risks and losses that may occur as well. It is said that there are two reasons why people start a business. The first reason is because they ...
Another thing about Carnegie that gave the poorer Americans hope was that Carnegie didn’t start off wealthy and worked his way up, this gave Americans hope that they could perhaps do the same. So, big businesses affected were people essentially lived, they became to be more urban, they affected how they worked, mass production and discriminatory working, and essentially gave them hope because the heads of these big businesses didn’t all start off rich, they worked their way up the ranks and made it big. In conclusion, big businesses affected the economy, politics, and the lives of Americans for good and for bad.
Big businesses weren’t all good for the economy while they did improve the economy, they also hurt workers and hurt small companies. The effect big business had on politics was that it often made them corrupt and hurt the people that the government was meant to protect. big businesses affected were people essentially lived, they affected how they worked, ,and essentially gave them hope because the heads of these big businesses didn’t all start off rich, they worked their way up the ranks and made it big. Big businesses were good and bad during the Gilded age.
