Expository - Robber Barons

The robber barons were a group of people who lived during the time of the American industrial revolution. They were also sometimes called captains of industry. The robber barons were business owners, and the businesses they ran ranged from oil companies to steel companies, and even banking. They often owned large businesses which were made up of many smaller businesses. These are called trusts, and many of these trusts had total control over their field of industry. These trusts are called monopolies. Robber barons often made large amounts of money because they are given part of the income of all of these companies in their monopoly.
Many of the people that worked for robber barons felt that they were being treated unfairly. They thought that money that should have been going towards their wages was ending up in the pockets of the robber barons. Many small companies that could not compete with the trusts were run into bankruptcy, and lost all their money. This eventually led to a government process called “trust busting”. Through this process the government was able to make sure that one business was not in control of a whole industry, and it limited the amount of companies that trusts could have. Today, trust busting laws are still in order, and they ensure that small companies are not taken advantage of or run out of business.
Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie are all examples of robber barons from the industrial revolution. The robber barons certainly played a significant role in the American industrial revolution. Many of them even started their own businesses. While some may have hated them, they lead the industrial revolution with many great strategies.