Captain of Industry or Robber Baron?

 This week in class we have been learning about the business strategies of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. We watched a series of six videos explaining how they both used monopolies, trusts and corporations to become huge business successes. While watching the videos, we split the class up into 4 groups each with a different topic to take notes on. One group was main ideas, another was essential terms, another was important events and the last was key people. After we all looked over our information, we read biographies of both Carnegie and Rockefeller and again took notes in the previous categories. After we took all the notes on their biographies we joined as a whole class to make a essential question. We decided that the essential question is "Should Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller be classified as robber barons or captains of industry?"
    Both Rockefeller and Carnegie pioneered new business  tactics which revolutionized production and sales of resources. John D. Rockefeller should be classified as both a Robber Baron and a Captain of Industry. To start his own company Rockefeller quit being. a merchant and "bought out all his partners except Samuel Andrews, a move he later referred to as having "determined my career.", as he said in, "John D. Rockefeller Biography". His "ruthless and cutthroat business practices brought him tremendous wealth, however, his reputation with the public became severely damaged." The people saw him as a robber baron, however they weren't completely right. Rockefeller was also very into giving back to the community. "He quietly gave much of his money away to charities and educational institutions, often under the guidance of the Baptist church in which he had long been a lay leader. He gave money to Spelman College in Georgia to educate African-American women and founded the University of Chicago (ultimately giving it $80 million). He spent a good deal of his time establishing philanthropic institutions, most prominently the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, founded in 1901, and the Rockefeller Foundation, chartered in 1913 "to promote the well-being of mankind and the world." John D. Rockefeller had both characteristics of a robber baron and captain of industry but either way his new business techniques led the way to the businesses we have now.
          Andrew Carnegie was a captain of industry. Rather than buying out all other competitors, Carnegie used " advice and loans from Scott, and had begun to invest in telegraph, oil, iron, bridge, and railroad companies.". Carnegie also used different tactics to make his money, that weren't selfish and didn't affect others."He described the first incarnation of his famous investment policy as "putting all my eggs in one basket, and then watching the basket."' Carnegie also had relationships with other countries which furthered his strong business skills. Lastly, "He believed in rewarding talent and frequently promoted exceptional workers into the ranks of management. He made his senior executives partners, thus providing them with greater incentives to work hard and make the company profitable. Carnegie himself remained actively involved in the business and perhaps the hardest worker in the company, despite his enormous wealth and capable associates." ( Andrew Carnegie Biography)
         In the end, the Captains of Industry were held higher in the eyes of the public. However, during that time, it was all about the innovation of new ideas and business techniques. If you could create trusts like Rockefeller or Vertical Integration like Carnegie, you were all set to do well in the business world. Rockefeller was a robber baron to the public, but privately was a Captain of industry, were Carnegie was only a captain of industry. Both improved business greatly in America.