nsidered robber barons.
They were in fact, because of the monopolies they created, the large amounts they “stole” from the American people, and their selfish attitudes. A few of these industrialists were Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan.
These men established large monopolies and bought out all other little businesses. This made it impossible for competition of any kind. For example, John D. Rockefeller joined with smaller companies through trust agreements and mergers. These mergers were simply Rockefeller buying out all of his competitors without looking like the bad guy. He would also sell his oil for a lower price than others so they would go out of business and he would take over their customers.
Many industrialists said that they gave to charities and set up foundations for the poor people in the society and that it was okay for them to have such large monopolies. In my opinion, they were only robbers of the common people. With all of the money these men were making, they should have been helping the American people, but they weren’t; they were robbing them. With cheap labor and poor conditions, these giants were stealing tons of money from the United States. After lowering their prices to beat out competitors, they would raise them up higher than they originally were, in order to make large profits for themselves.
By paying their workers very low wages; these robbers also made more money for themselves. These industrialists stole a lot of money from the American people during the Gilded Age through their many different tactics. Many of these men had very selfish attitudes about their wealth. They believed that if they worked hard all of their life, then they deserved everything they got. They often felt good about what they were doing because they thought that they were stronger and smarter and fit to be in charge of large companies.
They used the term “Social Darwinism” to justify their wealth. Many of them set up foundations and gave tons of money to charities and said that they were good for society. When in fact, they were bad for society and they were very selfish and had bad attitudes for their businesses. As you see, many of the industrialists of the Gilded Age should be called robber barons. They created huge monopolies, robbed the American people, and had selfish attitudes.
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