Question

Did government interactions with big business help Americans? You can use your textbook pages 268-273 in this textbook to help you (http://www.ouramazinghistory.com/textbook.html) Your answer should be written in a formal paragraph format. Be sure to include facts from the text using P.E.E.L. format. Be sure include in-text citations for you evidence. Be sure to include formal citations at the end of your document.

Answer 1

After the end of the Civil War and the reconstruction era, the United States was prospering and in cities such as New York and Chicago, businessmen and families were amassing enormous wealth.

As these families and their companies grew, it led to job creation, economic development and in many cases , huge charity and trusts to help the common folk.


However, these big businesses increasingly became more influential and started to have a larger say in the way government was run.

With good contacts, kick-backs, bribes and simple legal lobbying many big businesses were able to alter the kind of bills that would be passed and the new laws that can be enacted.

Over the course of the next century, big businesses were able to become ever bigger. Monopolies became common and the great depression there was a clear gap between the very poor in the society and the top 1 %