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Assignment #4
Did America grow because of Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?
Today we call them "billionaires." Our capitalist economy--any capitalist economy-throws up such enormous concentrations of wealth: those lucky enough to be in
the right place at the right time, driven and smart enough to see particular
economic opportunities and seize them, foresighted enough to have gathered a
large share of the equity of a highly-profitable enterprise into their hands, and
well-connected enough to fend off political attempts to curb their wealth (or wellconnected enough to make political favors the foundation of their wealth).
Captain of industry was a term originally used in the U.S. during the Industrial
Revolution describing a business leader whose means of amassing a personal
fortune contributes positively to the country in some way. This may have been
through increased productivity, expansion of markets, providing more jobs, or acts
of philanthropy.
In your words, define Captain of Industry:_________________________________
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This contrasts with robber baron, a term used to describe a business leader
applying unscrupulous practices and bribery of public officials for "sympathetic"
interpretation of the law. The term was used in relation to any businessman or
banker who is perceived to have used questionable business practices in order to
become powerful or wealthy.
In your words, define Robber Barron:____________________________________
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Some nineteenth-century industrialists who were called "captains of industry" ironically
overlap with those called "robber barons." These include people like J.P. Morgan, Andrew
Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller.
1. After reading and understanding the definitions above, which do you think most monopolists
during the late 1800’s were?
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2. Give examples of how/why companies and industrial leaders fall into the above categories.
Robber Barron
Captain of Industry
3. Was it possible to be both, a robber baron and a captain of industry? Explain your answer.
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The man of wealth must become a trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to
their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer. Those who would
administer wisely must indeed be wise. For one of the serious obstacles to the
improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity. It were better for mankind that the
millions of the rich were thrown into the sea than so spent as to encourage the slothful, the
drunken, the unworthy.
-Andrew Carnegie
“The Gospel of Wealth,” 1908 (age 73)
4. What do you think about the quote above?
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5. If the cartoon to the right shows the oil business as an
Octopus monopoly , and the Octopuses’ tentacles are
holding the people, the white house, the senate, and the
Supreme Court… This political cartoonist is saying that in
1890 John D Rockefeller’s Oil monopoly is stronger
than… ________________________