CAPITALISM CAPITALISM-AN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SYSTEM IN WHICH A COUNTRY'S TRADE AND INDUSTRY ARE CONTROLLED BY PRIVATE OWNERS FOR PROFIT, RATHER THAN BY THE STATE. LAISSEZ-FAIRE ECONOMICS- “LEAVE ALONE” IN FRENCH. AN ECONOMIC THEORY THAT BECAME POPULAR IN THE 18TH CENTURY. THE DRIVING IDEA BEHIND LAISSEZ-FAIRE AS A THEORY WAS THAT THE LESS THE GOVERNMENT IS INVOLVED IN FREE MARKET CAPITALISM, THE BETTER OFF BUSINESS WILL BE, AND THEN BY EXTENSION SOCIETY AS A WHOLE.

CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY OR ROBBER BARONS  The wave of industrialism was often driven by a few great men known as industrialists. There can be no mistaking their motives: wealth. There is some debate, however, on the how history should portray these industrialists.  Some feel that the powerful industrialists of the gilded age should be referred to as "robber barons." This view accentuates the negative. It portrays men like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Ford and cruel and ruthless businessmen who would stop at nothing to achieve great wealth. These "robber barons" were accused of exploiting workers and forcing horrible working conditions and unfair labor practices upon the laborer.  Another view of the industrialist is that of "captain of industry." The term captain views these men as viewed ingenious and industrious leaders who transformed the American economy with their business skills. They were praised for their skills as well as for their philanthropy (charity).  In reality the debate over robber barons and captains of industry mirrors views of industrialism itself. Just as their were both positives and negatives to industrialism there were positives and negatives to the leaders of industrialism.

 Capitalism  Laissez faire economics  Captains of industry  Robber barons  Philantropy  Social Darwinism  monopoly

ROBBER BARONS  The robber barons’ credo is- Get money. Get it quickly. Get it in abundance. Get it dishonestly, if you can, honestly, if you must…  Mark Twain

 Jim Fisk and Jay Gould were as different as two men could be. Fisk -- the "king of flash" -- was fat and loud. He drove around New York in a coach with three white horses, three black horses, two black coachmen in white uniforms and two white coachmen in black uniforms. Gould, on the other hand, was a family man. Small and thin, he tried not to be noticed. Still, the two businessmen had things in common. They were partners, and were among the greediest men in a greedy age. In 1869, they tried to "corner," or buy, all the gold in America. When that failed, they turned to railroads. While some tycoons like Cornelius Vanderbilt built railroads, Fisk and Gould specialized in destroying them. The financiers would sell "watered," or over-valued, railroad stock to the public. When people found out their stocks were worth less than they thought, they sold them at a loss, and the railroad went bankrupt. But Fisk and Gould already had their money.

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