Captains of Industry or Robber Barons

It was the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius who said, "A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions." The truth of this statement expands far past the ruins of an Ancient Rome and into the coffers of those great businessmen of America who changed the face of commerce in the country during the latter years of the nineteenth century and on into the twentieth century. Men such as J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, and the colossal John D. Rockefeller represent the age where a young nation stretched its legs into the long fitting pants of capitalism. Many saw these giant men of commerce as robber barons, manipulators of huge monopolies that preyed on the public. Still many view them as validation for the American Dream. In such a light, they are pioneers of business in the "pursuit of happiness" or "Captains of Industry". Your task is to determine which of these interpretations is true using online resources and present your argument in a PowerPoint presentation.



In your presentation...



•Be sure to identify the sources you used for your work (the web address).



•Be sure to clearly state your position (i.e. They were captains of industry or they were robber barons).



•Be sure to provide logical and reasonable support for the position you take.

This presentation will be due Friday, December 17, 2010.