Why did so many Americans accept, and even applaud, ruthless methods used to accumulate personal fortunes?

Question

american history in the 19th century

Answer 1

Simple the creation of wealth is what the majority of people work for on this planet, and when one person can amass allot of wealth from nothing so can someone else. Ruthless method were not applauded, law enforcement and the government often stepped in when things were not on legal, example the breakup of the railroads, standard oil, etc.

Answer 2

The only Americans who applauded it were the Robber barons and the people who were also capitalists and shared the same philosphy. These were the days when the newspapers referred to the country as "The Republic" and large scale industrialization was the road to success. Jay Gould, Rockerfeller, Andrew Carnegie, the Vanderbilts...all involved in oil, railroads, steel and mining.
As time went along the unions began to form...usually out of Socialist movements amongst the workers. Naturally being a capitalist the robber bastards (as i so fondly refer to them) used their own company police forces and the Pinkerton Agency to smash strikes and knock the workers back into line. Most people didn't see this as being terribly horrible. You have to remember that the newspapers were also run by people like Hearst, who himself shared the same philosophy as the rest of the industrialists. So...workers strikes or protests against the long hours, child labor, low wages and safety in the work place wasn't looked upon as "Hooray for workers rights". It was looked upon as "The workers are forming unions against management. Unions are the spawn of socialisim and socialisim is the Red Scare...Bolsheviks!". Hence it was okay to beat and kill workers with your company police force. After all...you're protecting us from Marxists and anarchists.
The philosophy behind your question runs much deeper than this answer but for something to just skim the surface and give you an idea this should suffice.

Answer 3

Your professors only want you to look at the bad of America, they are socialists. Why did so many Americans accept good moral methods to accumulate good fortunes and helped build the greatest nation in the world in such a short time.

Answer 4

You'll have to give specific names. The majority of people who made their fortunes in the US did it by identifying a need that was not being filled and filling it. They either didn't have competition when they started or the competition didn't do the job as well. The same is true today.

Answer 5

The United States of America is a republic Still and always will be.Capitalism works because it realistically harnesses greed to the state and lends itself to a true meritocracy.When Americans are children they play a game called king of the hill.One kids stands on top of a hill and all the others work to dislodge him...when he is supplanted the process begins again.

Answer 6

This is America. Every man for himself.