Robber Barons used the ideas of Social Darwinism,
the notion that corporate consolidations provided
social mobility and opportunity, and the great
economic prosperity available to justify the
existence of monopolies.
By Robber Barons: Junlan Lu, Sushil Bhandaru, Bhargav Vemulapalli
Of course they are justified!
Who are the Robber Barons?
WE MAKE
● Wealthy
IT RAIN
industrialists
● Extremely powerful
● Believed in creation
of large,
consolidated,
organization
● Some came from
rags to riches
What does a monopoly look like?
● When a single
company is in control
of an entire industry
● No competition
● Company can increase
or decrease prices if
desired
● Example: Andrew
Carnegie’s company:
Carnegie Steel
Real Life Applications of Monopoly
● Every man for himself
● Try to buy other
people’s property
● Attempt to make
everyone else bankrupt
● Tend to use very
forceful and vulgar
techniques
● The strongest survives
Robber Barons
Use Economic
Philosophies to
Rationalize the
Existence of
Monopolies
Economic Philosophies: Social
Darwinism
● Only the fittest survive
and flourish
● Attracted many
industrialists like
Carnegie
● Legitimized the success
of leading businessmen
● Believed Governmentcontrolled economy
would fail
Economic Philosophies: Law of
Supply and Demand
● Coincided with Social
Darwinism
● Determined all
economic values
● Based on principle
that humans pursue
own interests in a
free market
● Beneficial for
monopolies
Consolidations
Gives Robber
Barons the
Opportunity to
Advance Social
Progress
Advance Social Progress: The
Gospel of Wealth
● Great power = great
opportunity
● Excess revenues used
on the community
● Wealthy men should
be philanthropists
● Used to temper the
harsh policy of Social
Darwinism
Advance Social Progress: Great
Wealth Available to All
● Acres of Diamond: people
can find wealth in their
own backyards
● Claimed most millionaires
started off impoverished
● Horatio Alger: poor
country people can find
great wealth in cities
● Justified the positions of
the Robber Barons
Corporate
Monopolies Spur
Massive Industrial
and
Macroeconomic
Growth
Industrial and Macroeconomic
growth: Integration of companies
● Barons bought smaller
companies, allowing
expansion of their
own
● Eliminated harmful
competition
● Barons were convinced
too many competitors
led to an unstable
economy
Industrial and Macroeconomic
growth:Benefits of Amalgamated
Corporations
● Cut down prices and
costs
● Created high-quality
infrastructure
● Stimulated new markets
● Spurred creation of new
jobs for the unemployed
● Paved way to large-scale
production
Conclusion
During the late 19th century into the early 20th century, America was
transformed into an industrial empire by a group of industrialists, known
as the Robber Barons, through wide scale monopolies that were
tremendously lucrative. The Barons used various economic ideologies to
vindicate the grandiose monopolies, which the populous strongly
resented. In addition to justifying monopolies with harsh philosophies,
the Barons argued that their great wealth could be used to benefit
impoverished society through philanthropy and expansion of opportunity.
Finally, the Robber Barons urged that the corporate monopolies’
macroeconomic growth and industrial success warranted the forming of
monopolies. Therefore, Robber Barons drew from ideas of Social
Darwinism, the notion that corporate consolidations provided social
mobility and opportunity, and the great economic prosperity available to
justify the nature of monopolies.