USA HISTORY

WESTWARD EXPANSION INDUSTRIALIZATION URBANIZATION 1870 1900

AMERICAN INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT IN THE GILDED AGE

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
A person who uses ruthless business tactics to get money from customers is called a(n)
A
entrepreneur
B
robber baron
C
philanthropist
D
boss
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -"Robber baron” is a term used frequently in the 19th century during America’s Gilded Age to describe successful industrialists whose business practices were often considered ruthless or unethical. Included in the list of so-called robber barons are Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller .

Detailed explanation-2: -Four men in particular created monopolies and gained vast wealth during the Gilded Age: JP Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. JP Morgan was born John Pierpont Morgan on April 17, 1837.

Detailed explanation-3: -The term robber baron derives from the Raubritter (robber knights), the medieval German lords who charged nominally illegal tolls (unauthorized by the Holy Roman Emperor) on the primitive roads crossing their lands or larger tolls along the Rhine river.

Detailed explanation-4: -Jay Gould was a railroad developer and speculator. He was arguably the most ruthless robber baron of the Gilded Age and one of the richest men of his era.

Detailed explanation-5: -robber baron, pejorative term for one of the powerful 19th-century American industrialists and financiers who made fortunes by monopolizing huge industries through the formation of trusts, engaging in unethical business practices, exploiting workers, and paying little heed to their customers or competition.

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