What Was the Impact of Big Business on the Us from 1890 to 1914?

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What was the impact of Big Business on the US from 1890 to 1914? (12 marks) In the years 1890-1914 in America, big businesses had a great impact on the growth of the economy, politics and social issues. It was already a booming industrial power by 1890 and was overtaking other countries. The USA possessed almost unlimited natural resources in both the energy and raw materials. The rise of big business had a massive political impact. Industrialisation made the USA into a more urban society and created a powerful elite of wealthy industrials ‘titans’. They were able to gain direct political influence, notably within the Republican Party and over developing mass newspapers. Many of the new mass newspapers promoted the ideas of their rich proprietors and helped to ensure that efforts to bring about reforms against the interests of rich businessmen were frustrated. The massive political influence meant that the foundations were in place for the future American domination of the world economy. At the same time, the growth of big business created a strong backlash against it. The new mass labour force led to the spread of socialist ideas and the organisation of labour into trades unions. There were problems caused by the volatile ‘boom-and-bust’ nature of industrial and financial growth. The sudden downturns in the economy led to a sharp drop in gold reserves and put pressure on the government to bring in a high protective tariff. From 1896 the political influence of big business remained a key factor in politics. Big business contributed to the political dominance of the Republican Party until 1912. The impact of big business on the economy was the size and mount of American Wealth and the relatively new and unregulated financial system meant that great entrepreneurs (often referred as ‘robber barons’) could use ruthless methods to defeat their competitors. Also in
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