PRESENTATION OUTLINE
What is a Robber Baron?
A Robber Baron is an American Capitalist who became rich during the 1900's by bad means. John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P Morgan were Robber Barons because they used Ruthless business tactics to against their competitors.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
He lived from 1794-1877. He is known as one of the wealthiest Americans in the history of the country. He built his wealth from railroads and shipping. He was also known as an American business magnate. The positive effect that he had on society is that he made it easier for people to travel and also ship goods from country to country so we could trade to get the things that we needed but faster. The negative impact that he had was he ran a lot of businesses out of work. The other positive impact that he had was there was a university named after him.
John D. Rockefeller
Lived from 1839-1937. He was the richest man in the U.S. He found the Standard Oil company which was the worlds biggest oil company. He became powerful because people needed oil for so many things like steam engines, oil lamps and later for airplanes and cars. The positive impact that he had on society was he made prices cheaper for people, and Americans were ranked at the highest standard of living. The negative effect he had on society was he hurt small businesses and large trusts and businesses had too much power.
J.P. Morgan
He lived from 1837-1913. He was one of the wealthiest man in the beginning of 1900s. During his time he dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation. The negative impact that he had on society he caused a $13 billion drop in the bank's stock market value. The positive impact that he had on the society is that he made it easier for people to get transportation and created utilities for people.
Andrew Carnegie
Lived from 1835-1919. He got rich from Carnegie Steel Company that he found. He had United States Steel -company with J.P. Morgan. Later he gave most part of his money to charity. The positive impact that he made was that he made an expansion of railroads which made it easier for goods to get to get transported. The negative impact that he had was, He opposed direct handouts to the poor because he felt this favored the people that didn't deserve it and the person that did equally.
Which Robber Baron has had the biggest impact on us today and why? We think that Cornelius Vanderbilt had the greatest impact on us today because, he built the railroads that made it easier for people to get around and transport things to other countries so we could stay afloat financially afloat.
