How is jp morgan a robber baron

Much of this growth was courtesy of railroads — which now spanned from coast to coast — as well as factories, steel, and the coal mining industry. Big business boomed, with technology such as typewriters, cash registers, and adding machines helping to transform how people worked. And the economic explosion included not only industrial growth, but also a growth in agricultural technology such as mechanical reapers.

In a time of such great expansion and fewer regulations surrounding wealth and business practices, circumstances were perfect for the rise of a class of extremely wealthy individuals who made up a very small percentage of society.

With technology booming and immigrants flocking to the United States seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families, they left their mark on the United States — and on history. The wealthy elite of the late 19th century consisted of industrialists who amassed their fortunes as so-called robber barons and captains of industry.

Both can be defined as business tycoons, but there was a significant difference in the way they made their fortunes. Robber barons typically employed ethically questionable methods to eliminate their competition and develop a monopoly in their industry.

Often, they had little empathy for workers. Captains of industry, however, were often philanthropists. They made their wealth — and used it — in a way that would benefit society, such as providing more jobs or increasing productivity. Born in , John D. Rockefeller became one of the richest men in the world as the founder of the Standard Oil Company. Andrew Carnegie served as a great example of an American rags-to-riches story.

Born to a poor Scottish family, he and his parents immigrated to the U. He built his fortune by investing in the steel industry and became the owner of Carnegie Steel Company, which by was the largest steel company in the world.

Despite some criticism of how some workers at Carnegie Steel were treated, Carnegie himself was extremely active in terms of philanthropy. At face value, Morgan contributed greatly to American industry. Profitable Patriotism? There is no suggestion from sources that JP Morgan was trying to save the U. Morgan was coming to the end of his career as he was aged 70 at the time, he was rather saving the economy perhaps out protection of his industrial legacy that he had worked so hard in the previous decades building up.

However, his actions did save the economy in a way that the U. House of Representatives, Testimony of J. Washington D. He headed an interlocking series of trusts that controlled many of the major industries in the United States. And he created General Electric and helped form U. Newspapers frequently attacked him as a robber baron. But he was way more sensitive about his ugly nose than about his business practices.

Morgan was born on April 17, in Hartford, Conn. His father, Junius Morgan , founded J. As a young man, people considered him attractive, though he was shy and socially awkward.

Morgan then made a practical choice of a wife, marrying Frances Tracy in They had four children, but he became a serial philanderer as he accumulated wealth and power.

From childhood, J. Morgan suffered from acne rosacea, which caused redness in his face and ruptured blood vessels on his nose. In middle age, the rosacea caused rhinophyma, which resulted in growths, lesions and pockmarks on his nose. It was an awful handicap for a self-conscious man who wanted to impress women.