The Gilded-Age marked a period of intense change in manufacturing processes, among many other things, as a result of America’s rapid industrialization. During the 19th century, the industrialization caused a lot of people to take advantage of the changes. One man, Andrew Carnegie, came up with the idea of the “The Gospel of Wealth”, which was very significant at the time.
During the Gilded Age, the industrialization caused a lot of economic growth in America. The new jobs and industries created by the industrialization caused a variety of changes. The industrialization caused a lot of growth/changes in industries such as the Steel and Transportation industries. As a result of that, men such as John D. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Andrew Carnegie all took advantage of this and created large businesses within these industries. These men amassed large fortunes and came to be known as “captains of industry”. Carnegie, for example, came to the US as an immigrant from Scotland and worked in a variety of industries before taking advantage of the industrialization. As a result of the changes, Carnegie was able to form the Carnegie Steel Company which was later sold for around a half billion dollars. Clearly, these men were able to build great fortunes for themselves.
After Carnegie had gotten rich, he wrote a book called the Gospel of Wealth in which he outlined some very interesting ideas. In the book, he wrote about how the elite should use their money to benefit the common people, and in fact, wrote that they had a responsibility to. He believed that the only way to close the economic gap was to perform charitable acts with the wealth that the elite earned. Rather than passing the money on to their children, Carnegie argued that it was the duty of the elite to give it to the poor people in various forms. He held this view because he believed that the reason that the elite was rich was that they were more “skilled”, alluding to Social Darwinism ideas. In order to avoid the gap from increasing, he believed that charitable acts were necessary. Carnegie, for example, donated 90% of his fortune away and put it in projects such as public libraries, Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute, and Washington’s Carnegie Institution as well.
The “Gospel of Wealth” idea has not faded too much as time has gone on. Even now, rich people such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have set up foundations to held groups in poverty. The idea of philanthropy among the rich has withstood the test of time.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/business/yourmoney/02view.html
https://www.albert.io/blog/gospel-of-wealth-ap-us-history-crash-course/
Give Me Liberty
https://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/AIH19th/Carnegie.html
During the Gilded Age, the industrialization caused a lot of economic growth in America. The new jobs and industries created by the industrialization caused a variety of changes. The industrialization caused a lot of growth/changes in industries such as the Steel and Transportation industries. As a result of that, men such as John D. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Andrew Carnegie all took advantage of this and created large businesses within these industries. These men amassed large fortunes and came to be known as “captains of industry”. Carnegie, for example, came to the US as an immigrant from Scotland and worked in a variety of industries before taking advantage of the industrialization. As a result of the changes, Carnegie was able to form the Carnegie Steel Company which was later sold for around a half billion dollars. Clearly, these men were able to build great fortunes for themselves.
After Carnegie had gotten rich, he wrote a book called the Gospel of Wealth in which he outlined some very interesting ideas. In the book, he wrote about how the elite should use their money to benefit the common people, and in fact, wrote that they had a responsibility to. He believed that the only way to close the economic gap was to perform charitable acts with the wealth that the elite earned. Rather than passing the money on to their children, Carnegie argued that it was the duty of the elite to give it to the poor people in various forms. He held this view because he believed that the reason that the elite was rich was that they were more “skilled”, alluding to Social Darwinism ideas. In order to avoid the gap from increasing, he believed that charitable acts were necessary. Carnegie, for example, donated 90% of his fortune away and put it in projects such as public libraries, Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute, and Washington’s Carnegie Institution as well.
The “Gospel of Wealth” idea has not faded too much as time has gone on. Even now, rich people such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have set up foundations to held groups in poverty. The idea of philanthropy among the rich has withstood the test of time.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/business/yourmoney/02view.html
https://www.albert.io/blog/gospel-of-wealth-ap-us-history-crash-course/
Give Me Liberty
https://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/AIH19th/Carnegie.html
This was an interesting and informative article about Andrew Carnegie and some of his work during the Gilded Age. His contributions to the economy at the time set up the path for the economy to take for the following decades. He was kind with the money he made, donating the majority of his wealth for public projects and causes. To this day there are remnants of his legacy spread over the USA. Carnegie-Mellon is an exceptional school that is praised today. Another man who was extremely influential during this era was J.P. Morgan, who unlike Carnegie and Rockefeller, focused on stocks and banking rather than monopolizing industries. His legacy goes on in America's number one bank, JP Morgan & Chase, most commonly known as Chase Bank.
ReplyDeleteNice blog post Rushil! To start off I like how your introduction paragraph sets a clear idea of what your body paragraphs are going to be about. You talking about how the guilded age expanded industrialization and technology shows exactly how men like Rockafeller got wealthy. The "Gospel of wealth" was something new to me and expanded what I learned about in class.
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