Andrew carnegie

The Gospel of Wealth In the decades following the civil war, The United States followed the example set by many European countries, and used industry to catapult the nation’s wealth. The lives of the general public were greatly impacted by this shift from agriculture to industry and this time became known as the Gilded Age. Railroads, steel mills, factories, and other forms of industry dominated the economy. One of very few men to accept this change in the U.S., Andrew Carnegie overcame his humble underpinnings and became the owner of one of the largest steel companies in the nation. Many poor laborers and citizens of limited means did not reap the benefits of the industrial age as a result of poor working and living conditions in this time. Mr. Carnegie wrote the article, The Gospel of Wealth, in response to the many critics of the Gilded Age. According to Carnegie, the Industrial Age of the U.S. was witness to a great divide in humanity. American Business was able to grow by more than 400 percent between 1860 and 1900 alone. Similarly the nation’s wealth capitalized from 16 billion to 18 billion in this short time. As a product of the Laissez Faire ideology (little to no government regulation in the market), monopolies were allowed to emerge. John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie became large public figures from their mastery of Big Business and the economy. However, while the economy and business prospered, many common workers suffered from 10 hour workdays for six days a week, low wages of one dollar and fifty cents per hour, abhorred working conditions, and sometimes serious injuries causing death: on average, 35,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries per year, as reported by Claver.gprep.org in 1890. Carnegie viewed the poor conditions and long hours as a negative aspect of the Gilded Age but argues that the conditions are not purposeful, but a product of the Gilded Age that “forces employers in the strictest economies” to cut back on safety