Big Business Dbq

After the Civil war, large businesses ruled America. Prior to the industrial revolution, the government upheld a hands-off approach towards business. Under the laissez-faire principle, free, unregulated markets led to competition, yet this system suffered under the wrath of growing corporations. The impact of big business on the economy and politics was immense during 1870 to 1899. Corporations were growing significantly in number and size, which had a domineering affect on American economy and defined American life.

The questions that remain in people heads is did the federal government do its job in regulating business? Or was it overstepping its boundaries with these acts? During the Progressive Era Reforms it was thought to address issues that occurred during the Glided Age. Regulating business can be tricky, my thought is that to regulate means the US Government would make laws to oversee, adjust, fine tune and correct the unfair business tactics in industry and big business, not to run

Finally is the allowance of these monopolies to rise in the first place. Since there were no regulatory agencies back in the second industrial revolution, big businessmen with the idea of trimming fat in their companies could conquer any competitor by using hardball tactics of purposely

From the era of Reconstruction to the late of 19th century, the United States experienced a significant economic growth and a large number of immigrants, who were lured by enormous job opportunities. The big business starting growing rapidly due to a combination of new technology, more efficient management and access to enormous resources. From 1870 to 1900, the expansion of big corporations caused mass production and high demands of unskilled workers in the United States, while resulting more difficult situations for workers and intense political corruption. The Americans responded actively to such conditions. Some of them organized strike in order to threatened their employers and ask for better treatments, while others participated in many

Monopolies are quite dangerous economically, and are usually broken up by the federal government, with only two exceptions- electricity, and gas. These are modern examples. A monopoly is the economic term for when a company that makes a product has no competition, and can raise the prices as high as they want. For example, the most obvious and powerful monopoly of the industrial revolution was the railroad monopoly. They made money quite quickly as a shipping company, and destroyed any and all competition as the only transcontinental railroad at the time. It’s leader, Cornelius Vanderbilt came to be considered one of the most powerful people of all time, due to his control over who he shipped for.

Many utilities are monopolies by having the entire market share in certain areas. With deregulation of these utilities, the market becomes open to competition for market share to begin. In terms of regulation of monopoly, the government attempts to prevent operations that are against the public interest, call anti-competitive practices. Likewise, oligopoly is a market condition where there are minimal distributors that have a major influence on prices and other market factors. This causes market failure, especially if evidence of collusive behavior by dominant businesses is found.

In the post-Civil War United States, corporations grew significantly in numbers, size, and influence. This led to a drastic increase in the production of American goods, unskilled labor, and overall total amount of wealth in the United States. During this period known as the “Gilded Age”, the presence of big business resulted in in economic and social class divisions and widespread political corruption that led to the establishment of many political and economic organizations that wanted to reduce the influence of big business on America.

The antitrust laws are the basis of this national policy. These laws, enforced by both the federal and state governments, require companies to compete in the marketplace. The Sherman Act, the first federal "antitrust law," was enacted in 1890, at a time when there was enormous concern about "trusts" -- combinations of companies that were able to control entire industries. Since then, other laws have been enacted to supplement the Sherman Act, including the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act (1914). With some revisions, these laws still are in effect today. They have the same basic objective: making sure there are strong economic incentives for businesses to operate efficiently, keep prices down, and keep quality up.

Near the end of the 20th century, America was changed due to the growth of big businesses and their influence on the nation which include, a modification to the economy due to an increase in labor demand and the shift in power in politics, specifically the senate.The American people had both positive and negative points of view on this sudden shift of power to big businesses. During this time period, the Farmers Alliance helped voice complaints of these big businesses and improved innovations such as agricultural inventions and electrical lightning increased the need for workers.

The Sherman Act of 1890 created the legislation to declare the existing monopolies illegal and made violation of the Act a felony, essentially deeming the existing monopolies in violation of the law. These two regulations made common practices such as price fixing and market divisions illegal. The Sherman Act would open the doors for individuals and government agencies such as the U.S

Between the 1870'S to the 1900’S the rise of big corporations whom had a lot of control over politics and the economy, increased. In determining the full impact of corporations in America, a person must asset to the extent some went to achieve richness and have such a big influence in the government as well as the economy. Politically the corporations had control over what was said in the government, economically the corporations took advantage of the poor factory workers, and farmers , by lowering wages and raising prices to export crops. Corporations began to ignite political, and economic issues in post industrial america.

The perception that corporations are villainous and evil entities that want to rule, control and destroy the world had been in movies for quite some time, however this doesn’t necessarily carry over to real life. In the

Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, in part, states that “every contract, combination… or conspiracy, in the restraint of trade or commerce… is declared to be illegal.” (Sherman Act, 2006). This law provides “a comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade (Northern Pacific Railway Company vs. United States, 1958; Reiter vs. Sonotone Corporation, 1979). It relies on a fundamental belief in supply and demand (Baum Research & Development Company vs. Hillerich & Bradsby, 1998).

Today, the Big Business is one of the main features of the modern economic environment. Big Business refers mainly to corporations, huge economic entities operating for profit and distributing the ownership by the means of stocks. The Big Business started to grow in America after the Civil War, in the 1860s and already reached its peak of strengths by the “roaring” 1920s. Although Big Business faces much social and governmental control nowadays, its power is still enormous. Large business corporations provide most of economic output, employment places, financial investments, and production output. Politics is also very much influenced by the large corporations and is often forced into pursuing businesses’ strategic interests. Even average

Big business has a constructive influence on America. Large corporations contribute much more to a country’s economic well being than smaller ones. Bigger corporations are more productive, pay higher salaries and hourly, generate more jobs, and are more successful in international markets. However, not everyone believes that big business has a positive impact for the US. Some hold to the opinion that big business will never be as effective as small businesses. However, as J. D. Harrison, who covers startups, small business and entrepreneurship for the Washington Post, states that even though people believe that small business is the backbone of our nation, yet “companies with more than 500 workers employed about 45 percent of the workforce yet contributed 65 percent of the jobs created since 1990” (The Washington Post, 2013). This is not to discredit the influence of small business in the US. In fact, they are an essential part of our society. Small business have created and maintained thousands of jobs in the last half century. But we will focus on big business in this discussion. What is the history of big business in the US, and what were the fruitful results, as well harmful ones? What about the political side of big business, and finally, are there ethical associations when it comes to large corporations?