Andrew Carnegie Defends The Pursuit Of Wealth Questions And Answers

As young as 33, Carnegie was pulling in an annual income of $50,000 a year, a huge amount at that time, and this was enough for him. Carnegie was a firm believer that anyone could make it to the top, and that it was the wealthys’ duty to help the poor work towards a more comfortable life. Carnegie said that “the man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” This is a greedy, unselfish philosophy that a robber baron could not conceive.

In the “Gospel of wealth”, Andrew Carnegie argues that it is the duty of the wealthy entrepreneur who has amassed a great fortune during their lifetime, to give back to those less fortunate. Greed and selfishness may force some readers to see these arguments as preposterous; however, greed is a key ingredient in successful competition. It forces competitors to perform at a higher level than their peers in hopes of obtaining more money and individual wealth. A capitalist society that allows this wealth to accumulate in the hands of the few might be beneficial to the human race because it could promote competition between companies; it might ensure health care for everyone no matter their social standing, and parks and recreation could

In the gilded ages dating back to the nineteenth century both Andrew Carnegie and Henry George were known as very influential men of their time both striving towards the common goal of deflating poverty in hopes to diminish it as a whole. Though both Andrew and Henry shared a similar feat they had very different approaches and ideas of methodizing the overall goal. Carnegie was a shrewes businessman who viewed it to be acceptable for very rich and very poor people to co-exist as long as the rich provided that their surpluses aspired the community with parks or libraries for example to better themselves known as the "lasting good," and

After having enough of the steel industry in which Carnegie built from the ground up, with little training and knowledge in the field, other than his past experiences from working on the railroads and investing in oil and iron companies, The Gospel of Wealth (1889) was written. At the time of booming industry, few men had the opportunity to amass such vast fortunes such as Carnegie, and in writing The Gospel of Wealth (1889), Carnegie wanted to inspire to those with money to donate and give back to the less fortunate, and life with be better for everyone. He penned that greedy men who let their money die with them are a disgrace, and that the wealthy have a sort of obligation to promote the common welfare for the average American. Although Andrew Carnegie did not write any other essay, he donated millions of dollars, funded libraries, and supported a

Perhaps the most controversial of Andrew Carnegie’s qualities is his belief in Social Darwinism. The English philosopher Herbert Spencer convinced Carnegie that it wasn’t bad to be successful. It was “survival of the fittest” in the business world and there was no reason for Andrew Carnegie to feel guilty for obtaining more wealth. Throughout Carnegie’s life, he displayed his firm belief in the certainty of competition. In fact, he was afraid of competition and did all he could to obstruct or completely remove it when it came to his

The Gospel of Wealth is primarily about the dispersion of wealth and the responsibilities of those who have it. Carnegie thinks that inheritance is detrimental to society because it does not do any good for the

According to Carnegie, the responsibility of those who receive charity from the wealthy is to give the money only to those who deserve it. In 1889 Carnegie wrote an essay, “The Gospel of Wealth,” in which he argued against what he called “indiscriminate almsgiving.” He began with the statement that there is a valid and significant difference among worthy and non-worthy poor. Some people, Carnegie argued, are poor through no accountability of their own: sometimes situations puts one in an undesirable position, making it hard to advance despite one’s best determinations.

According to Mother Jones, child labor is like slavery. It is incredibly tough and dangerous, especially for young children. Mother Jones begins by telling us how she heard “gruesome stories of little children working” in the factories. She wanted to see for herself if these terrible stories were true, unfortunately, she saw for herself how they were indeed true. Mother Jones first applied to a mill in Cottondale, that was the first encounter she had with the living conditions provided to the small children. She describes the house as a “sort of two-story plank shanty”, with broken windows and a sagging door. The place was small, and it offered no real protection. There were “cracks in the roof”, so when it rained it rotted the floors. She also talks about the downstairs’ “big open fireplace”, that had “holes big enough to drop a brick through”. This meant that if small children ran or played around the fireplace, they could fall and get injured. The living conditions alone were terrible and not adequate for children. The children also experienced harsh summers and winters. They were more prone to getting a disease and dying.

Factory conditions were harsh. Workers in the Lowell Factory were under such harsh conditions that the women were not sure they could endure it. (Document A) They took women from their homes and relocated them closer to the factories. The women received almost no pay, the air was bad, and the factories were deafening loud. It was said that freedom for women was the most beneficial thing about working in these factories. In fact, Mary S Paul mentions that she has not been able to find enough time to even write a letter for about a week. If a whole week goes by, is there really freedom at all. (Document A) Catharine Beecher talks about how there was only half an hour allowed to eat before bed and right back to the mill in the morning. (Document J) Is it worse to be on a strict schedule with the lie of freedom, or is it worse to know the truth of slavery? On the greener side, slave owners could maximize cotton production and a cost-benefit

they are also known to have great wealth, excel in business, improve the economy, and help the charities. These Industrial Statesmen run efficient and very profitable businesses, and they gain through hard work along with industriousness. Advancements in the economy is through the Industrial Statesmen providing employment, good working environments, expanding the economy, and create chances for the people. Andrew Carnegie is the most eminent Industrial Statesmen, he grew from nothing to becoming so well known for expanding the economy along with innovating new business strategies and improving the economy. Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth”, North American Review (Document B), 1889, discusses how the wealthy are superior to everyone else and should use their opulence to help the unfortunate. Carnegie was a strong believer of Social Darwinism, which is the concept that persons are matter to the equal natural selection as vegetation and wildlife. Carnegie thought that the more wealth one acquires establishes how intact a man is which means only the rich men know how to uphold the oppression and advance in society. The author of this passage is neither a Robber Baron nor an Industrial Statesmen, he is neutral. Weaver explains how trust can harm those who are seen in extraordinary supremacy and are perceived as liabilities. He also discusses how to maximize profit made from producers by

Mill workers took the jobs that were available to them, but was it really worth the risk? They not only endangered themselves by working in conditions where the lint filled their lungs, their kids joined on the bandwagon too. Although there were good things to be noted in the mill village (the sense of community for example), the bad outweighed it all in the end. The mill workers’ jobs costed them their lives with nothing to show for their hard work.

Dear editor, Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth can have some valid points about things. One quote Carnegie stated is “In bestowing charity, the main consideration should be to help those who will become themselves” (61-62). He is explaining how if people were to help themselves, then that’s the biggest charity there is because you won’t end up becoming or remaining poor. This in my opinion is true since you have to work hard in life to succeed and it doesn’t come easy. A second point Carnegie made was “we accept and welcome… as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves” (5-6). He is saying how we as people accept conditions to which we have to work hard for and maintain it and work with other people with that same mindset. I agree because

For Carnegie, there was a need to balance between the individual and fairness in order for society to function correctly. That is to say that those who enjoy the possession of large sums of money shouldn’t just look out for themselves and their own needs or wants at the time to make decisions on how to use their fortune, but instead, should try to use such resources for the benefit of all individuals of society. However, with this Andrew Carnegie didn’t mean that wealth was there to be distributed equally among all men. Instead, he believed that wealthy individuals were superior to the rest of the people and therefore, should be the ones managing surplus earnings since they had the experience and knowledge required which made them more fitted to do the job. According to Carnegie’s idea under this system based on principles and responsibilities, if everyone was to do their part of the job society will continue to experience

In his article “Wealth”, Andrew Carnegie argues for the wealth to give back their wealth to the community by providing “public institutions of various kinds … [to] improve the general condition of the people” (Foner 30). Carnegie uses this article to promote his Gospel of Wealth idea and provide his interpretation of the changing America. Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth stated that “those who accumulated money had an obligation to use it to promote the advancement of society” (Foner 28). Carnegie’s articles focuses on the themes of Capitalism and Inequality, which continue to shape society.

The True Gospel of Wealth, an article written by one of the richest, most powerful men of the 19th century, is a guide to a nation virgin to mass amounts of wealth, and power. Carnegie is a self made millionaire, who immigrated to the United States with less than a dollar in his pocket. This fact would serve important in Carnegies epic rise to fortune, also in developing such philosophical understandings as, The True Gospel of Wealth.