Andrew Carnegie's The Gospel Of Wealth

“The Gospel of Wealth” was written by Andrew Carnegie discusses the expansion era of industries post civil war, a time that produced extremely large wealth for many business at the time. Andrew Carnegie, was one of the top guys in the industry, he created an industry that made Carnegie very successful at the time. Carnegie thought that it was important for wealthy people to distribute their wealth throughout the society so communities in need will receive help. In the Gospel of Wealth he believes that the conditions of society have radically changed over the years, and it was certain that some people would become quite important and wealthy. He believes that the change that is occurring should be looked at a positive perspective and not in

Carnegie was one of the major turning points in the beginning of the Golden Age or as Mark Twain would call it the The Gilded Age.

“Jay Gould, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and other business leaders pioneered new strategies, to seize markets and consolidate power in the rising railroad, steel and oil industries”. What these men did was the main reason why there was a gilded age. After the Civil War American industries were expanding tremendously and old industries like the iron industry turned into a modern industry of U.S steel. Oil companies was aiding the electric light and power of America. The steel and oil industry was what helped the railroad industry really take off. The railroad was Americas first big business. In 1869 the first continental railroad was created, helped with the growth of the market in the west. Without Jay Gould this would of never happened then. The railroad helped give 55,000 people jobs in the 1870’s and capitalized more than 400 million dollars. Carnegie who ran one of the biggest steel companies in the world during the gilded age Carnegie

“Everything looks good on the outside, but in the inside it’s not”. “Gilded age critics argued that the concentration of wallet in the bank accounts of the rich robbed workers of just compensation and gave the few to much power. Andrew Carnegie one of the nations leading industrialists and among the richest Americans of the era defended the concentration of wealth” (Document 18-4 Gospel of Wealth). There was an inequality of wealth which the article Carnegie wrote The Gospel of Wealth explained that there is a gap between him and his workers and how Carnegie believes in Social Darwinism, survival of the fittest. Social Darwinism provided justification for the increasing society unequal of wealth being distributed to very few people and the poor weren’t as “fit” as the rich people. Many people took this the wrong way especially workers. Carnegie gave back to society but had no sympathy for his workers. Carnegie wrote The Gospel of Wealth to lightened the harshness of Social Darwinism. Work places were harsh has this time. Low wages made it almost impossible to support families. This causes there to be child labor, kids were working 14 hour days doing work that were to dangerous for them. Since wages were low and large population families would live in tenements with two to three families. There was lack of fresh water and poor sewage systems which caused diseases. There was unsanitary work conditions like the meat packing business. Even though there was diseases in the