Impact of Big Business on Politics and the Economy Essay

Document 4 represents how citizens felt against the monopolies, small and unable to fight back. The Populist felt that railroad tycoons were in total control of the government, and used their grasp to reduce competition and treat their workers poorly. The Populist responded to the monopolies by passing the Sherman Antitrust Act. However, the Sherman Antitrust Act failed and instead was used to break up labor unions and labor strikes such as the one in Document 6. Progressives had a similar problem with trust and in response, they passed the Clayton Antitrust Act, which strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Populist also directed their attention to bribed legislators, they believed that the cure for the problems of a democracy was more democracy, thus they campaigned for the directed elections of Senators; however, they did not achieve this. The Progressives got the direct election of Senators passed under the 17th Amendment, 1913, nevertheless. They Progressive also increased democracy by passing the right of the initiative, referendum, and the

In the post-Civil War United States, corporations grew significantly in number, size and influence. During this time period, big business impacted the economy politically, economically and the way Americans responded changed over time. As business started to grow, some companies monopolized other companies while some companies also started to lose their business. Furthermore, people started to have more leisure time and business played a role in providing entertainment for its people. These changes over the past thirty years were molded by the actions and development of big business.

Evaluate the economic and political impact of big business on the United States in the period from 1870 to 1900.

After the Grant Administration Scandal and the intimidation of Political Machines like Tammany Hall, Americans in the 1890s were fed up with the traditional Republican and Democratic parties. The people were ready for change, and from this dissatisfaction, the Populist Party was born. The Populist Party, also call the “People’s Party,” sought to transform the federal government in favor of public interest. The Populist Party helped to bring about change that Americans wanted, and the efforts of this party are still noticeable in today’s government.

However, the USA prosperity was still uneven and more fragile than it seemed. There were still a lot of poor people, the food prices that decreased affected the farmers negatively. Many workers went into debt to buy general needs and companies started borrowing huge amounts.

On average, people’s wages stayed the same even as prices for these goods soared. The factories and farms still continued to produce at the same rate, but demand for their products was decreasing. As a result, more and more workers became unemployed, until 25% of the population was out of work. The American Federation of Labor fell from 5.1 million in 1920 to 3.4 million in 1929 (Temin, 68). All of these groups, being poorer than the rest of the country, could not afford to participate in the boom of the 1920’s. There was a major unequal distribution of income that led to the richest 1% of Americans owning approximately 40% of the country’s wealth (Matthews, 2). The country entered the 1920’s with Warren G. Harding as president. Harding was a Republican as well as a laissez-faire capitalist who advocated policies which reduced taxes and regulation, allowed monopolies to form, and allowed the inequality of wealth and income to reach record levels (Tanner, 3). Harding died in 1923 and Calvin Coolidge continued Harding’s policies of minimal government intervention in the economy and in business. Under Coolidge, the stock market began its “artificial” five year rise, the top tax rate was lowered to 25%, and the Supreme Court made an important ruling which further limited government control over monopolies (Tanner, 8).

During the 1930s, America had entered a time of economic need. By the 1950s, the nation had completely evolved and was now one of the most wealthy societies in the world. This drastic changed was influenced by multiple actions carried out by the state, leaders in industry, the labor movement, and the Cold War. Unfortunately, not all Americans benefitted from the shift from economic Depression into the prosperous society that America would become.

One of the main problems that arise from Populist movement is their idea of a government controlled railroad. According to the Populists, this government control of the railroads will result in equal pricing for all people, so that farmers can transport their goods more easily. Such an idea is against the fundamental idea of the Constitution, because it not only has the government expanding their control more than it needs, but also creates a system that segregates certain jobs and take away their chances. According the constitution, the powers of the government can be expanded only if the change is necessary to maintain the stability of the country. Controlling the railroad business is neither proper nor necessary to

In the years following the brutal Civil War, the United States saw the rise of economic powers that have never been seen before. These economic powers became known as Big Business. The government’s economic approach of the time was a very hands off technique. This hands off technique was called laissez faire and the government believed giving businesses freedom would cause a lot of companies to grow and prosper. It was believed at the time that pure freedom for businesses would create a substantial amount of competition throughout the business world and prices would be made competitive, which means less expensive for the everyday American consumer. Sadly, the U.S. government was tremendously outsmarted by savvy entrepreneurs who believed in

Business, society and government are placed in different situations depending on what the conflict may be. According to the case “Dickinson’s needle sticks”, all three different sectors were placed in a different position where society was seen to have no voice or empowerment. The society in this case were the nurses, patients and any health care workers using Dickinson’s needles. These sectors solved their conflicts through interacting with each other and finalise a resolution through many negative and positive outcomes which could be ethical and unethical. But then again, each sector strive for the position of power.

In the 1920’s, the era of The Great Gatsby, the economy and social life were booming in the major cities in the United Stated. This is when credit was invented which meant that more expensive items could be easier to access. This allowed more families to own radios, cars, refrigerators, etc. This sent the economy sky high! Things were going well for the economy all up until the Great Crash. In 1929, the stock market crashed unexpectedly, and caused billions of dollars to disappear. This alone only affected the miniscule minority of wealthy Americans who owned stock at the time. This resulted in declines in industrial production, which caused an economic downward spiral all across the country (Shmoop Editorial Team).

After the Civil War, industrialization kicked off (an after-effect of the Market Revolution). But rather than attempt to control it, the government bowed out instead, claiming itself laissez-faire under Adam Smith’s capitalism ideas, and letting the industrial chips fall where they may. However, it appears the government couldn’t let the “invisible hand” decide the fate of the U.S. market, so they began to intervene in business affairs despite their original pledge not to. The government assisted a great deal in the rise of corporate capitalism (business economy run by corporations and monopolies such as the Standard Oil Company and the U.S. Steel Company) through its laissez-faire policies, railroad involvement, and corruption.

“Statistics, however, can only partially give an account of the extraordinary hardships that millions of United States citizens endured” (Hardman). It was not uncommon to see once wealthy individuals trying to sell common goods on the sides of the street in order to keep some semblance of their previous lifestyle. And those less fortunate than the so-called wealthy had to suffer through a wave of hunger and poverty like none other before it. Having society dropped to its knees, the aftermath of the stock market crash brought upon massive amounts of unemployed citizens due to people’s inability to sustain their businesses financially. This sudden growth in population of unemployed people led to industrial processes dissolving in

Post-Civil War, many changes in America start to form that were suggested to be for the greater good of America. Although economics could drive the American economy, it could not steer (693). The first change in the market was the transition toward “collective individualism” whereas firms and corporations began to expand, the concept was changed to focusing on time and the standard of rationality. As Alfred Chandler mentioned “the managers of ‘modern business enterprises preferred policies that favored the long-term stability and growth of their enterprises to those who maximized in current profits’” thus, many market mechanisms were replaced that were the center of the “dynamic of classical competition between individuals and firms in a truly free market” (693). Although this did not destroy the free market, it did open up the gap between market theory and actual practices in the economy which welcomes more critics, reforms, adapters, and revisionists.

In the 1930’s the United States and many other countries went through a time known as the Great Depression. It got its name because it was the longest and deepest, and most widespread depression in the 20th century. The Great Depression had extremely detrimental effects on United States rich and poor citizens. Their personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices decreased dramatically. Unemployment in the United States rose to an astounding 25 percent. However, near the end of the 1950’s the United States went through major change in its economic situation. The country’s economic status did a complete 180 and became the “Affluent Society”. The United States became an affluent society do to its reform on foreign policy, the growth of suburban America, and a drastic change in labor unions. Although this increase in national wealth seemed to be helping the citizens there was large group of people who were not enjoying the upward mobility that the rest of the country was. The impoverished minorities in the United States, particularly the