...Response #1: “Gospel Of Wealth” Andrew Carnegie was a man who believed that any person with the right set of skills and education could become wealthy. Carnegie himself was a Scottish immigrant who dragged himself from rags, to one of the richest men in the United States. He thought that if a person was “rich,” then they were more admirable than others and, therefore, knew how to prosper in society. Carnegie states “Those worthy of assistance, except in rare cases, seldom require assistance.” Carnegie believed in a form of Darwinism, Social Darwinism. He consistently speaks in a paternalistic manner throughout his essay, portraying himself as a man of unspeakable wealth and playing to the fact that he is better than most because of it. Carnegie was not a man with little to say. He had strong feeling towards wealth and how it should be handled and this in evident in his writing of the, Gospel of Wealth. Carnegie proposes that there are three modes in which wealth can be distributed: Inheritance, Bequeathed for public uses, and managed by its possessor within his/her lifetime. He then goes into great detail on each mode, for example; inheritance is said to be the most injudicious method in the world. Carnegie’s idea that it is up to each generation to find their way in society plays into his feelings towards this mode. He further explains that inheritance is selfish and injustice not only to the inheritor but also to the mother and children. Carnegie suggest It is not the...
Words: 882 - Pages: 4
...Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth (1889) Andrew Carnegie’s “The Gospel of Wealth,” written in 1889, reflects Carnegie’s beliefs in the responsibilities of the wealthy to give back to society so that the rich and poor “…may still bind together…in harmonious relationship.” (28) He also expresses how such a distinction between the wealth of social groups is an indication that America is a more civilized nation. Carnegie then continues to convey the value of assisting the lower and middle classes in rising to greater prosperity, rather than the rich just giving their money to their families. He stresses investing money into public projects and institutions, like free libraries, parks, and means of recreation in order to “…improve the general condition of the people…” (30) Overall, “The Gospel of Wealth” is about the importance of reimbursing money to the public in order to help society improve and enable others climb the economic ladder. This document is connected to the Gilded Age that occurred in the United States. Economic revolution was spurred, especially through technological advances. Carnegie was a part of this economic and technological advance through his contributions in the steel industry and through his establishment of “vertical integration.” The document is significant because it projects one belief of someone who rose in wealth and fortune during the Gilded Age. A lot of people who had money weren’t as willing to spend it or spent it on extremely lavish homes...
Words: 320 - Pages: 2
...Captains of Industry? Or Robber Barons? [pic] Overview: The thirty years plus, following the end of the Civil War, is often referred to as the “Gilded Age”. This was a term coined by Mark Twain, the most renowned American writer of the period. It refers to a superficial period of intense economic growth. During this time, businessmen created large business organizations known as trusts. The ingenuity of these entrepreneurs earned the titles of “Captains of Industry”. Yet, their ruthlessness in building wealth at the expense of their competitors, workers and consumers often earned them the title “Robber Baron”. This DBQ (Document Based Questions) asks you to decide whether these businessmen were “Captains of Industry” or “Robber Barons”. Background Essay During the post-Civil War period, an era commonly referred to as the Gilded Age, the economy of the United States grew at a fantastic rate. With the exception of a recession during the mid-1870s, and another during the mid-1890s, the economic growth was in unprecedented in United States history. Manufacturing output increased by 180 percent. Railroads, an important catalyst of growth, increased in miles by 113 percent. Steel production grew to over 10,000,000 tons per year by 1900. Every aspect of the American economy expanded from traditional activities to new enterprises brought about by the huge influx of cutting-edge technological inventions. The gross national product almost doubled during the period and the per...
Words: 2205 - Pages: 9
...impoverished Scottish family during the 19th century, Andrew Carnegie worked tirelessly to amass an insurmountable fortune, becoming the paradigm of the American Dream. A truly devoted worker, Carnegie rose within the workforce from child labor at a button factory to developing railroads throughout the country. Having immigrated from Scotland at the age of thirteen, young Andrew began working in a button factory as he taught himself morse code in order to become a telegraph operator. He rapidly became wine of the most proficient and sought after telegraph operators in Pittsburgh, allowing him to rise in different businesses. Eventually, the strategic businessman recognized the need for developing the steel industry, at first investing in small telegraphing and bridge companies, but eventually founding the Carnegie Steel Company. During his lifetime, the steel company made him the wealthiest man ever, which enabled him to contribute to several philanthropic causes (history.com). In his writing, The Gospel of Wealth, Carnegie explains the concept of wealth disparity in America's thriving...
Words: 850 - Pages: 4
...My Ma English 1A Prof. James Click 2-19-2014 The Problem of Rich and Poor For centuries, many philosophers have discussed the issue of class struggle. Karl Marx and Andrew Carnegie both developed theories of the unequal distribution of wealth a long time ago; however the only Carnegie’s ideology could apply to American society today. In “The Communist Manifesto”, Marx first introduces the two main social classes: bourgeois (the upper class) and proletarians (the lower class or working class). He points out the revolution of industrialism has made changes of Capitalism to Communism. He suggests that the rich should redistribute property evenly because the proletarians have put a lot effort contributing in the revolution. In contrast, Carnegie analyzes in “The Gospel of Wealth”, the unequal distribution of wealth is a natural consequence of civilization. Both Marx and Carnegie present the problem within society because they want to contribute their own experiences from various views to resolve the tension between the rich and poor efficiently. By eliminating the gap between rich and poor, Marx believes Communism should replace the economic system of Capitalism. In his perspective, he claims, “They have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite” (Marx 476). Because he sees the Capitalist system exploits workers who are unfairly treated, he asserts that the proletarians should become the ruling class. The principle...
Words: 1124 - Pages: 5
...Andrew Carnegie: born in a one-room cottage in Scotland to a master weaver named William Carnegie who’d been put out of a job by the advent of the factory system, and his wife Margaret, who tended to the family and helped her brother in his cobbler business. He would grow to become the richest man America had ever known, and much of this he would credit to his early determined statement that “the wolf of poverty should be driven from our door someday” (viii). He extols the values of the necessity of work in the pursuit of wealth in his writing, yet is considered a great capital investor, who made much of his money from investments. He expresses that the value of wealth is in its application as a philanthropic device, but is known to have...
Words: 846 - Pages: 4
...Andrew Carnegie, a steel magnate, wrote one of the best defenses of the time of the New Economic Order. This defense came in the form of an essay called “The Gospel of Wealth”, published in 1889. In this essay, he argues that the benefits of industrialization outweigh the negatives, saying, “To-day the world obtains commodities of excellent quality at prices which even the generation preceding this would have deemed incredible. In the commercial world similar causes have produced similar results, and the race is benefited thereby. The poor enjoy what the rich could not before afford. What were the luxuries have become the necessaries of life. The laborer has now more comforts than the landlord had a few generations ago. The farmer has more luxuries than the landlord had, and is more richly clad and better housed. The landlord has books and pictures rarer, and appointments more artistic, than the King could then obtain.” For the given time period, I am forced to disagree with this quote for the same reason that the poor likely would have. As discussed in “American Horizons- US History in a Global Content”, although this was a time of much technological advancement, there was also a widening gap between the upper and lower class. In The Gospel of Wealth, Carnegie says, “The poor enjoy what the rich could not before afford”. Although this may have been true, it is important to understand the circumstances of the time period. Yes, the poor could indulge in things that were...
Words: 449 - Pages: 2
...Andrew Carnegie: A Tribute "My heart is in the work." -- Andrew Carnegie Neither a rags-to-riches biographical sketch nor a perfectly scanned-in image of Mr. Carnegie could serve as as great a personal tribute to the great Founder of Libraries, the earnest Champion of Peace and the resolute Captain of Industry as presenting his own words online--available electronically and immediately to the whole world through the World Wide Web. He would be tickled pink. Mr. Carnegie loved to promote his ideas and opinions in print. As one of America's most successful businessmen and, perhaps, the world's richest man, it can be assumed that he felt his opinions and advice were not without proven merit. In fact, his journalistic career had begun early when the young man found himself barred from free membership in Col. James Anderson's "Mechanics' and Apprentices' Library." In 1853 Carnegie took the matter to the pages of the Pittsburgh Dispatch; and, as Joseph Wall notes in his definitive biography of Andrew Carnegie, the victory the young man won through his letters to the editor left a lasting impression: It was also his first literary success, and for Andrew nothing else that he had known in the way of recognition by others had been quite as exhilarating as this experience of seeing his own words in print. It fed his vanity and at the same time increased his appetite for more such food. At that moment a journalistic ambition was born which he would spend the remainder of his life...
Words: 1076 - Pages: 5
...Industrial Supremacy Primary Source #1 ← Refer back to the section of the chapter under the heading "Capitalism and its Critics." The great industrialist Andrew Carnegie built his fortune on steel, but he also built a lasting reputation as a philanthropist because he spent millions of dollars on the establishment of libraries. Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth was a call for other rich people to share their wealth with the worthy poor. Consider the following questions: How does Carnegie's view exemplify Social Darwinism? What is the essence of Carnegie's argument against socialism? On what social values and assumptions about human nature was the gospel of wealth based? The price which society pays for the law of competition, like the price it pays for cheap comforts and luxuries, is also great; but the advantages of this law are also greater still, for it is to this law that we owe our wonderful material development, which brings improved conditions in its train. But, whether the law be benign or not, we must say of it, as we say of the change in the conditions of men to which we have referred: It is here; we cannot evade it; no substitutes for it have been found; and while the law may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome, therefore, as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial...
Words: 575 - Pages: 3
...socioeconomic upheaval, and jazz. It astounded me that the vast amount of wealth presented to me could be concentrated to such an extent in any one place. It was upon my entrance to the Gatsby residence that the detestable inequality of American society reared its ugly gold-plated head and made itself known to me. The stark difference between the desolate plains of the dismal Valley of Ashes and the scene of opulence before me was as irrefutable as the difference between moon and sun, and yet no one in attendance...
Words: 943 - Pages: 4
...K-Sean Burrell April 24, 2013 HIS 152 Were the nineteenth century entrepreneurs Robber barons or captains of industry? Captains of Industries played a major role in the economic development of the United States during the late nineteenth century. Persevering from poverty, powerful industrialists such as John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Cornelius Vanderbilt became the utmost wealthiest businessmen in America. Driven by one motive, wealth, these men were able to control entire sectors of the economy. Interestingly, this process created new jobs, increased the availability of goods, and monetary donations towards the welfare of the people helped establish libraries, museums and colleges. Each individual is a “captain of industry” because they positively advanced establishments leading to great success for American society. Revolutionizing the petroleum industry, John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 which helped businesses such as the railroad with their tariff flow. John D. Rockefeller was a genius businessman with an ambition for success. Rockefeller was able to reduce his competition by inventing new ideas such as “quantity discount”, which would charge less if the customer bought more. Rockefeller could persuade individuals to purchase his oil instead of competitors because it appeared cheaper. Quoted by John D. Rockefeller in an interview with William Hoster “I believe the power to make money is a gift of God ... to...
Words: 1093 - Pages: 5
...arriving to America and coming in contact with the reality of the myth of his ideal society, Jurgis exposes the deeply rooted capitalism and the effects and problems that it causes. Because of this, Sinclair feels that socialism is the remedy to the capitalistic conditions he’s now a part of. Andrew Carnegies’ The Gospel of Wealth is a viewpoint of how beneficial capitalism is to American society and economy which is seen through the eyes of a high-class businessperson. Carnegie discusses the history of there being an equal society, the natural law of competition, and the capitalistic results and benefits. Sinclairs’ The Jungle and Carnegies’ The Gospel of Wealth are opposing viewpoints, therefore when it comes to the unequal distribution of wealth and ideas about capitalism and socialism both arguments are supportive and reasonable to a certain extent. In the 1920’s, the unequal distribution of wealth is evident and Americans start to see many cultural changes. America has now adopted the idea of conspicuous consumption which means Americans are competing with their neighbors and spending their income on luxury goods to show economic status. Sinclair’s views uneven distribution of wealth as unfair and cruel to the lower-class. Sinclair criticizes the capitalism by mentioning the social conditions of the people in city, the work environment of employees, and the impact capitalism had on...
Words: 1067 - Pages: 5
...Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was an American industrialist. After immigrating to the United States in 1835, he amassed a fortune in the steel industry making him one of the world’s richest men. His rags-to-riches story epitomizes the immigrant success story. While Carnegie was a firm believer in the importance of philanthropy and the potential of the laboring class, the rise of business and industry created a widening gap between the rich in the poor by the late nineteenth century. This discrepancy of wealth and unjust activity within business and political enterprises became commonly discussed in writings of the day. Over the course of seven weeks in 1904, journalist Upton Sinclair entered Chicago’s meatpacking industry and...
Words: 949 - Pages: 4
...Giving Back Andrew Carnegie believed that the rich should come forward and take responsibility of their wealth. By saying this Carnegie means the wealthy should not be selfish and not just use their wealth to their own benefit. According to Carnegie those that have acquired great wealth generally have superior experience and wisdom; therefore it is those men and women that are best suited to distribute charity. The wealthy will have the intelligence and experience to know what to do with their profits to benefit others in the community in a virtuous way. Since a majority of wealth does in fact go to a small concentrated amount of people, the question is why are these people better suited to distribute charity? These wealthy people have money not just for competence, but rather a surplus of money that they can use for a greater good. Carnegie explains there are three different modes of distribution a man can put to use. The first mode described is to hand down their fortune to their first son. The second way is to simply hand over money to the underprivileged. The third mode is the best way of donating and according to Carnegie “Under (the third mode’s) sway we shall have an ideal state.” For the third mode the rich is to supply the less fortunate with the means to grow as people, to heighten ambitions, and raise their level of class through their own motivation. Carnegie believes that the rich must supply the poor not with money directly to their pockets but rather create institutions...
Words: 1136 - Pages: 5
...According to them opportunity exists for everyone in America but only some actually take advantage of it. Gospel of Wealth supporters also believed it was a Christian duty to be wealthy and reach success. In Andrew Carnegie’s Wealth he does admit that he is well off because of the tough job of the working class, regardless of the working classes support he says his wealth is benefiting the entire society of America. Carnegie was a very successful man and had much wealth, he opened up such universities as Duke and Stanford. William Lawrence who also supported the Gospel of Wealth was an Episcopalian Church Bishop. Although Lawrence was in no way a wealthy man he supported the Gospel of Wealth way of thinking. Both advocates of Social Darwinism and advocates of the Gospel of Wealth supported a complete laissez faire system. Although the laissez faire system as well as the Darwinism and Gospel of Wealth where harsh for the poor and working class it was the most beneficial and most uplifting policy in the US at that time. Although these three different beliefs systems where not perfect and harsh for some they where the best systems during the time especially with the new industrialization that was happening for America during the time before and...
Words: 485 - Pages: 2
