Robber Barons & Captains of

Industry
 Robber Barons/Captains of Industry

Robber Barons Captains of Industry

*A person who has become rich through *Business leaders whose means of building up
ruthless and unscrupulous business practices a personal fortune also contributed to their
country's wealth

● Paid workers low wages/forced them ● Created jobs that raised the standard
to work in dangerous conditions of living

● Drains the country of natural ● Raised productivity & expanded

resources markets

● Built fortune by stealing from public ● Helped build the nation

● Drove their competition to ruin ● Gave money back to the community

 Cornelius Vanderbilt

● AKA Commodore Vanderbilt

● Worked his way from small boats to
owning his own steamship company
and becoming a dominant force
● By 1850’s he turned his attention to
railroads and created another
empire
● He can be described as fiercely
competitive
● Worth more than $100 million upon
his death = $2.2 billion
John D. Rockefeller
 Andrew Carnegie

● Scottish-born American industrialist

● Led the expansion of the American steel

industry
 The Gospel of Wealth

● Carnegie sells his company (1901) and retires

as a philanthropist
● Essay written by Carnegie that discusses the
responsibilities wealthy individuals hold to use
their wealth for the greater good of society
● He argues that the wealthy have a moral
obligation to distribute their wealth
● More than 80% of Carnegie’s wealth went
towards various forms of education

$350 million = $5 billion

 Social Darwinism

● A philosophy that extended Darwin’s

concept of Natural Selection to human
society
● The philosophy argued that society
should interfere with competition as little
as possible
● No government intervention would
result in the most “fit” succeeding and
becoming rich
● Belief that society as a whole would
benefit from the success of the most “fit”
Unions Vs.
Captains of
Industry
game
 Unionists
● Your group represents the Knights of Labor, the first national labour organization in
the United States. You are going to meet with local factory owners (or Robber Barons
as you call them) to negotiate better working conditions for industrial workers.
● Take the next 15 minutes to read the following documents, educating yourself on the
labor movement and what it is you are trying to achieve.
○ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Knights-of-Labor
○ https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.20900700/
○ https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/1912/content/pullman
○ http://gorhistory.com/Hist%20111%20Images/pyramid_of_capitalist_system.png
○ https://sunny-social-studies.weebly.com/political-cartoons.html
Captains of industry
● Your group represents the few factory owners in the area who have worked tirelessly to
build up your country, your wealth, and employ thousands of workers. Despite your
many contributions your workers are ungrateful and have formed unions to try to barter
for concessions like less hours, higher wages, injury compensation, and safer working
conditions. These of course will hurt your ability to produce goods and will cost you a
lot of money. It’s your job to resist as many of these concessions as possible while
avoiding a strike.
● Take the next 15 minutes to read the following documents and educate yourself on the
dangers of unionizing and the inspiring stories of the captains of industry.
○ https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/haymarket-riot
○ http://brainprick.com/success-story-of-john-d-rockefeller-the-richest-entrepreneur-in-hu
man-history/
○ https://sites.google.com/a/nexgenacademy.com/more-than-laissez-faire/workers-unions/
workers-unions-political-cartoons/u-s-closed
○ https://sites.google.com/a/nexgenacademy.com/more-than-laissez-faire/workers-unions/
workers-unions-political-cartoons
 List of demands
*Each worth one piece of candy

● Higher wages ● Pensions

● 40 hour work week ● Minimum wage
● Injury compensation ● Overtime pay
● Equal pay for men and women ● Ending child labor
 The Meeting
Time to Negotiate!

1. The union representative will go first

○ You will start by explaining the problem with current working conditions and why things need to
change
○ You will then state what your demands are, and why you think you deserve them
○ Remember, your job is to negotiate as much candy as possible while avoiding a strike.

2. The captain of industry representative will go second

○ You will start by explaining why unions are bad for industry
○ You will then choose which demands you want to accept (if any), and why you accepted them
○ You will state why you rejected the other demands

3. The floor is now open for debate. Both sides can counter freely until they have reached a consensus.
4. If the two sides cannot reach a consensus, the workers go on strike and everyone loses all the candy.