2: Corporate Power and Its Regulation

In late nineteenth-century America, business interests became concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy men. Innovations in transportation, manufacturing, and finance resulted in an explosion of growth. These business interests were organized into trusts, corporate entities that protected individuals from legal action and allowed them to acquire competitors and suppliers. Many of these trusts became monopolies, controlling entire industries with the ability to set prices and supplies of goods and services. While these corporate leaders were initially seen as titans of industry and heroes, the public grew increasingly concerned about how these corporations wielded power over government and society, and contributed to a growing inequality in wealth distribution. In this era, the concept of the “self-made man” was a national ideology; according to this belief, hard work and perseverance were the key to success for anyone. However, the disparity between the extremely wealthy business tycoons and the immigrants who toiled in their factories told a different story. Mark Twain wrote disparagingly of this time as a “Gilded Age” of opulence juxtaposed with grinding poverty, as public sentiment turned against the wealthy and government felt pressure to curb corporate power.