Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: 20 Th Century Robber Barons - 2,278 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

... have to pay money (to a politician) to have the right thing done, it is only just and fair to do it... If a (politician) has the power to do great evil and won't do right unless he is bribed to do it, I think... it is a man's duty to go up and bribe (DeLong).

Thus, we can refer to the period between 1870 and 1930, as the time when the concept of democracy in Western countries started to transform its essence into plutocracy. Plutocrats are the people, who often design countrys domestic and foreign policies, simply because their enormous wealth allows them to exercise a great political influence. Such influence, fused with robber barons religious self-righteousness, allowed individuals as Vanderbilt to think that it was their moral obligation to affect socio-political trends in the country to such a degree that would leave very few political rights to ordinary people. This was exactly the reason why many American politicians in years, prior to introduction of New Deal concept, had rightfully concluded that something needed to be done about robber barons, otherwise it was only going to be the matter of time, before they would be in position of selling America, if it was associated with new prospects of making a profit. The decline of Christianity, as religious concept in 20 th century, resulted in the fact that profit-making instincts, on the part of American milliards, became self-sustained. It was no longer necessary for the robber barons to justify their actions by moral considerations, because money became the foundation for capitalist morality.

In his article What Trustbusters and Marxists Have in Common: Equating Economic and Political Power, Richard Salsman is making a very good point when he says: When the difference between political and economic power is obscured, its easily claimed that big business consists of an army of ruthless Robber Barons, bent on destruction unless they " re stopped, so as to reduce their power (their ability to produce) (Salsman). As practice shows, person who was able to accomplish his dream of becoming filthy rich, slowly realizes the relative value of money. He begins to understand that money is just a tool of acquiring the political power, because only this allows him to leave a mark in history and to guarantee its own immortality, in historical sense of this word. The problem is that wealthy person do not necessarily possesses the psychological qualities that would allow him to become an effective political leader.

It is the time that we associate with the reign of robber barons that the original ideas of Marxism were being developed. The fact that there was a huge social gap between few extra-rich and the rest of citizens allowed Marxist theorists to conclude that the class antagonism in capitalist countries is irreconcilable. The history had proven them wrong, because Marxism idealizes the corrupting power of money. However, even ancient Romans were aware of the fact that gold makes strong individuals stronger and weak individuals weaker. While accumulating their wealth, robber barons were also growing increasingly ignorant. Their overconfidence became their weakness.

This was exactly the reason why the policy of New Deal, which was adopted in 1933, prevented financial oligarchs from legitimatizing their political aspirations. Within a matter of few years, after Roosevelt became a President, the number of billions in America has shrunk from 32 to 13. It is very interesting that Hitler came to power in Germany in exactly the same year and that he also strived to spread nations wealth more evenly among its citizens. The problem with Germany was the fact that fortunes, which were made during the time of Weimar Republic, when overwhelming majority of Germans had a hard time meeting the ends, had speculative nature.

This is why ill-gotten riches of Jewish speculators were being simply nationalized by National-Socialists, while Roosevelt could not do the same, because the wealth of American robber barons was perfectly legitimate, from the point view of the law. Nevertheless, it was beginning to dawn on plutocrats that the fact of their affiliation with corrupted politicians and millions of dollars in their possession could not alone guarantee their status of untouchable. They realized that they would also have to win the support of ordinary citizens, in order to continue to defy the law. This could only be done with the mean of acquiring the Medias. In the second part of 20 th century, the spiritual and often biological descendants of original robber barons, were able to accomplish it. (4) When it comes to discussing the social impact, associated with robber barons, historians and economists often apply notion of ethics, in order to evaluate such impact. This is perfectly understandable, because barons ability to make lot of money, within a very short period, without having to apply much of an effort, does not seem to make a logical sense.

It appears that the era of robber barons cannot be discussed out of socio-political context. We often hear that it was rapid technological progress that allowed quick-thinking individuals to become rich. However, just as it always happens, the emergence of a new political phenomenon corresponds to the emergence of counter-balancing phenomenon. The biologically healthy society does not tolerate the concentration of enormous wealth in the hands of few rich oligarchs. Therefore, the fact that robber barons were able to affect politics, thus undermining the idea of democracy, resulted in materialization of two diametrically opposite political philosophies that were meant to provide people with understanding of what needs to be done, in order to build a fair and just society, where the emergence of robber barons would become impossible in principle Communism and National-Socialism. There is only one thing in common about them they proclaim citizens equality as foundation, upon which socio-political policies must be based.

However, Communist vision of equality has political basis, whereas National-Socialism suggests that the establishment of social quality can only be possible among biologically equal people. We do not mention Liberal theories in this paper, because they were being developed to justify the existence of robber barons as something absolutely natural. National-Socialism suggests that the uneven accumulation of wealth has always been the factor that followed scientific progress, throughout the history. However, the way in which huge capitals were being accumulated, during the time of Industrial Revolution, suggests that this process has been defined by largely incidental factors. In other words, robber barons often turned out to be unworthy of their wealth, because their racial composition implied that they were being deprived of spiritual idealism, which would allow them not only to use their riches to benefit themselves, but also to benefit their fellow citizens.

This is why Nazis vision of truly democratic society implied that accumulation of wealth, on the part of industrialists, could only be allowed, if it benefits the nation. Communists, on the other hand, were suggesting that social inequality should not be tolerated in principle, which is why the best way of dealing with robber barons was shooting them, in order to divide their riches among poor. This process, course, needed to be kept under control, which is why Communists suggested that poor folks should delegate the political authority to the idealistic promoters of workers cause, who accidentally happened to be the representatives of chosen people. We all know what happened, as a result. This provides us with the insight on what would be the proper way to address the issue disproportionate accumulation of wealth, from historical perspective. On one hand, such accumulation has often been the driving factor of technological progress, because the absence of artificially imposed social equality prevents society from being plunged into the state of energetic entropy, when citizens are being slowly turned into the crowd of hedonists.

On the other hand, such accumulation becomes a counter-productive factor, within a context of socio-political progress, because robber barons tend to become totally preoccupied with enriching themselves, if left unattended. When this happens, it is only going to be the matter of time, before democracy turns into financial plutocracy. In its turn, it makes country, associated with such political system, to become very vulnerable to the threats of foreign invasions. The reason why Carthage was completely destroyed by Romans, is because its citizens were being preoccupied with accumulating wealth, while being seriously convinced that the power of gold cannot be challenged.

Carthage was nothing but the ancient equivalent of contemporary America, where the promotion of multiculturalism came hand in hand with promotion of hedonism. (5) The history of Western civilization, up until recent times, when social policies in Western societies are being increasingly affected by metaphysical insanity, is a history of continuous cultural and technological progress. Therefore, it is only logical to wonder why countless technological breakthroughs, over the course of thousands of years, have not been associated with disproportionate accumulation of wealth, the way it happened in U. S. , before the turn of 20 th century. The answer can be found in the article Evolution of Robber Baron, which we had mentioned earlier: The same process (expropriation) was carried out by both English and German rulers, who were then considered legitimate prey, whenever the impoverished exchequer had to be replenished. My Jews, as these rulers used to call them, whenever they had accumulated enough wealth to yield a rich harvest, were made to disgorge in short order (Braun). Apparently, up until recently, money bags were never able to acquire a political power, simply because they were enormously rich.

This is because, back then, it was being commonly assumed that, while it is perfectly normal for the people to try to enrich themselves, making the accumulation of money a solemn purpose of ones existence, is nothing but indication of mental illness. No money on Earth can buy intelligence, health or nobleness. The beginning of Industrial Revolution marked the time when cultural progress in Western countries could no longer keep up with the pace of technological progress, because, since Christianity had lost all of its religious credibility in 18 th century, there were no more barriers that would prevent the development of science in its most natural form. There was also no political correctness, which now prevents people from questioning objective reality. This is why, the period between 1870 and 1930, has yielded more scientific discoveries than Middle Ages and Post-Industrial era combined. However, the political ideals of the time remained virtually the same, since they were being refined by ancient Greeks.

This was the reason why economical realities that we associate with the time of Industrial Revolution, often did not correspond to the democratic forms of government, which were predominant in Western countries. We can say that the principle of representational democracy, which worked for ancient Greeks and Romans, could not possibly remain effective in countries affected by Industrial Revolution for too long, because the rapid development of science had demographic implications. It is only in ancient Athens that citizens could truly be considered as being socially equal, because of their racial homogeneity. In 19 th century America, on the other hand, the nations demographic composition has been a subject of constant change, because more and more people were coming to this country from all over the world. This created a situation when, if we paraphrase George Orwell all Americans were equal, but some of them were more equal then others. (6) In order to conclude this paper, let us emphasize on its main points once again: 1) The initial enrichment of American robber barons was being motivated by objective factors and had beneficial effects, in regards to the nation. 2) Since there was no system of checks and balances in place, the disproportional accumulation of wealth, on the part of robber barons, began to gain a pathological form. 3) The existence of robber barons, along with comparatively poor citizens, provided legitimacy to the Communism, as political theory, because it was being rightly viewed as the proof of social injustice, associated with Western democracy. 4) While the initial accumulation of wealth came as result of industrial activities, on the part of self-made men, more and more fortunes were made, as result of financial speculations, as time went by. 5) This fact provided ideological legitimacy to the doctrine of National-Socialism, as worldview which was able to adapt the democratic ideals of ancient Greeks to the realities of Industrial era. Bibliography: Braun, L.

Evolution of the Robber Baron. 1902. The New York Times. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web DeLong, B. Robber Barrons. January 1, 1998. Brad De Longs Web Site.

Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web Grindlay, S. Bankrupt Myth of the Robber Barons. August 11, 2004. Campus Report Online. Net. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web Hendrick, B.

The Age of Big Business. 1919. 2002. Gutenberg Project. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web The First Billion-Dollar Success Story: How Carnegie Did It. 2007. Evan Carmichael. Com. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web Pierce, W.

Russia's Robber Barons: the Twelve Men Who Own Russia's Economy. September 5, 1998. Historical Review Press. Retrieved December from web London, Jack.

The Iron Heel. 1915. 2000. Gutenberg Project. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web Salsman, R. What Trustbusters and Marxists Have in Common: Equating Economic and Political Power. November 1, 1998. Capitalism Magazine.

Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web Roberts, P. Return of the Robber Barons. August 1, 2007. VDARE. Com. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from web Weber, M.

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, London: Routledge, 1992. Abstract: This paper discuses socio-cultural impact of the Robber Barons on American society and analyses its political implications. Outline: Introduction Industrial revolution Socio-Cultural context Philosophical debate Argument Conclusion


Free research essays on topics related to: technological progress, 20 th century, industrial revolution, robber barons, ancient greeks

Research essay sample on 20 Th Century Robber Barons

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com