Big Business Impact

The Impact It can be easily said that big businesses have had a large impact on the economy and politics in the United States, especially during the Gilded Age, also known as the “2nd Industrial Revolution”. Monopolies, corporations, and businesses began to grow dramatically. These three branches grew so significantly that they were known as a major force in the United States. They had a great amount of power and had the ability to control much throughout the country. However, as these businesses began to expand and grow in power, they also began to cause negative effects on the United States. Big businesses flourished, wealthy men gained their power through the work of poor men, who in return, suffered. Many individuals were taken advantage
of rather than coming to the “land of opportunities and dreams” and having a positive movement. The United States was controlled by two particular groups of power, the Robber Barons and the Captains of Industry. This includes individuals such as, J.P. Morgan, Carnegie, and Rockefeller. These men are a great an example of a “wealthy” man. During the time period that they had gained their power and wealth, they came to control one third of the United States wealth. This elite, wealthy class to into account only two percent of the nation’s population. This two percent of the population ruled with unreasonable and unfair business practices. For Example, Rockefeller established a monopoly business in which he could then eliminate and crush all alternative businesses. These men would not only buy out the businesses of their competitors and subject their workers to cruel and horrible working conditions. Not only were the working conditions unsanitary, the quality of items would diminish due to the long working hours and minimal pay the workers were subjected to. Economically, they provided some of the country’s greatest source of wealth. Instead of creating a system that was fair and rational within the business, the owners of the big businesses gave out very low wages.
Workers were often seen as “zombies” by their bosses. Despise the low wages, the demand for work was of great desire and often, individuals had no other choice but to cooperate with these conditions. Immigrants, searching for work, came to the United States hoping to fulfill a new life. This included; Chinese, Eastern, European, Hispanics, etc. With the influx of immigration, population and overcrowding increased while sanitation decreased greatly. As well as factories, businesses began to compromise quality for mass production to increase their profits. Workers were subject to these conditions as well and often worked up to twelve hour work days with little to nothing pay and little rest. With this in mind, it was hard for an average individual to make a living the easy way, such as the Robber Barons and Captain of Industries did. As a result, many families had to work, including the children, in order to make enough money to live. Workers responded to these conditions by trying to go on strike or create “labor unions” in order to get the rights that they so greatly deserved. These labor unions did not succeed due to many seeing it as the “un-American way”, many Americans looked down upon the labor unions because it was a way to stop people from making their money and that was wrong in their eyes. Socially, American government and the
wealthy class were unjust. While the workers suffered and dealt with horrible working conditions, big business owners took pride in their power and wealth. The money they made had also gained them the power they possessed, even though these individuals only made up two percent of the general population. Their determination and greed allowed them to have the American Government in the palm of their hands. With this power, when big business men wanted something, government officials would look the other way because they would receive a huge amount of bribes from the men. The wealthy class could easily manipulate the Legislative branch and the House of Representatives due to their amount of wealth and power. They could manipulate the outcome in the way that would have positive results for themselves. Politically, their powers were feared and highly questioned by many. For instance, the Monopolies extended the power of the Senate. Also, the big businesses dominated the smaller businesses in power and dominating the market. It is evident that big business owners and the wealthy class played a tremendous role in the development of the United States during the Gilded Age.
The tactics these men used in order to gain all their accomplishments were unjust and unfair. While demeaning others, they succeeded. The wealthy, big business owners had a luxury life while the immigrant workers, were poor, worked long hours, forced into unsanitary conditions, lived in constant violence and dangerous constructions, and lived amongst disease and hunger. This shows how determined immigrants and other hard workers were to make a living. They faced and struggled through these horrible living conditions to have the minimum they could afford. During this time, the “American Dream” mostly revolved around making money. The way in which the wealthy class acquired their wealth and power is horrific. While creating a legacy that will have lasted decades, they also creating a lower class world. Economics and politics were greatly impacted because of these individuals and is easily said that they were very important within the history of the United
States.

Work Cited Page http://www.historyaccess.com/johnd.rockefella.html http://www.shmoop.com/gilded-age/labor.html http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/gildedage/section3.rhtml http://www.studymode.com/essays/Summary-Of-The-Gilded-Age-1632964.html http://www.kidinfo.com/american_history/gilded_age.html