Social Darwinism: the Best Approach
Feige Gornish 12B
History Research Paper
Mrs. Mittelman
February 7, 2012
Social Darwinism: The Best Approach? During and after the Gilded Age, because of the great changes of Industrialization, the American government’s involvement in regulating the business world was a hotbed of controversial debate. Some felt that the way to achieve greater economic and social growth and to fix society’s problems was through Social Darwinism and Individualism. Social Darwinism was a theory, that what a man worked for was all he deserved to receive, and that no one should give aid to anyone, because they must’ve not worked as hard as they should have. Individualism was essentially the same idea that any man could rise from whatever origins they were born to, to as high as he wanted if he worked and utilized his capabilities and strength of will to the utmost. In contrast others felt that the government and the wealthy should be more involved in regulating the economy and helping the poor and needy out. They felt that while America had become an industrial giant with the turn of the century, her morals and human values had been left in the old century. Big business owners and government officials had abandoned all values, real or imagined for self-profit. Walt Whitman, a poet who constantly had sung the praises of America’s democracy, culture, and strength, now wondered whether her materialistic pursuits had made her have a “hollowness of heart (R. D. Heffner, A. Heffner, 220-221).” By going through the origins of these two perspectives, and the evidence of who profited from the ideas, Social Darwinism will be shown not to have been the best road for the United States government to take in respect to the economy in specific and the citizens of the country. The Gilded Age was an era that extended from the late 1870’s to the late 1890‘s. The term Gilded Age came from a book by Mark Twain and Charles Warner, entitled The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The authors were subtly
History Research Paper
Mrs. Mittelman
February 7, 2012
Social Darwinism: The Best Approach? During and after the Gilded Age, because of the great changes of Industrialization, the American government’s involvement in regulating the business world was a hotbed of controversial debate. Some felt that the way to achieve greater economic and social growth and to fix society’s problems was through Social Darwinism and Individualism. Social Darwinism was a theory, that what a man worked for was all he deserved to receive, and that no one should give aid to anyone, because they must’ve not worked as hard as they should have. Individualism was essentially the same idea that any man could rise from whatever origins they were born to, to as high as he wanted if he worked and utilized his capabilities and strength of will to the utmost. In contrast others felt that the government and the wealthy should be more involved in regulating the economy and helping the poor and needy out. They felt that while America had become an industrial giant with the turn of the century, her morals and human values had been left in the old century. Big business owners and government officials had abandoned all values, real or imagined for self-profit. Walt Whitman, a poet who constantly had sung the praises of America’s democracy, culture, and strength, now wondered whether her materialistic pursuits had made her have a “hollowness of heart (R. D. Heffner, A. Heffner, 220-221).” By going through the origins of these two perspectives, and the evidence of who profited from the ideas, Social Darwinism will be shown not to have been the best road for the United States government to take in respect to the economy in specific and the citizens of the country. The Gilded Age was an era that extended from the late 1870’s to the late 1890‘s. The term Gilded Age came from a book by Mark Twain and Charles Warner, entitled The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The authors were subtly
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