Large corporations in the United States influenced the economy by instilling control over an economic sector through vertical or horizontal integration, leading to higher prices and poorer quality goods. American citizens felt that it was necessary to reverse such trends, by having the large and wealthy corporations donate back to the poor (Doc E). This idea followed very closely with Andrew Carnegie’s The Gospel of Wealth,
which detailed how it was the duty of the rich to donate money back to the poor, to promote the general well-being of society. Carnegie himself obtained a massive wealth from his own company Carnegie Steel, but later gave back much of his own financial assets in donations like the creation of the Carnegie Mellon University. The donations that corporations would give out, from the construction of schools to the formation of entertainment theaters, would result in a better economic situation for the lower class, detracting from the high-price consumer goods that consumers were being pressured into purchasing.
In the post-Civil War United States, many large corporations grew in size, number, and influence by exerting control over their economic sectors through monopolization, influencing key political decisions through their key monetary assets, which brought an era of poor economic stability and success for the American public.
Large corporations in the United States influenced the economy by instilling control over an economic sector through vertical or horizontal integration, leading to higher prices and poorer quality goods. American citizens felt that it was necessary to reverse such trends, by having the large and wealthy corporations donate back to the poor (Doc E). This idea followed very closely with Andrew Carnegie’s The Gospel of Wealth, which detailed how it was the duty of the rich to donate money back to the poor, to promote the general well-being of society. Carnegie himself obtained a massive wealth from his own company Carnegie Steel, but later gave back much of his own financial assets in donations like the creation of the Carnegie Mellon University. The donations that corporations would give out, from the construction of schools to the formation of entertainment theaters, would result in a better economic situation for the lower class, detracting from the high-price consumer goods that consumers were being pressured into purchasing.