The Gospel of Wealth

What is the Gospel of Wealth?

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The Gospel of Wealth was during a time in the United States that was called the Guilded age. At this time in the U.S wealth started to be an issue, people weren't used to being rich and being above others. In 1890-9 75% of the Americans were wealthy and the rest of the people gained too little, sometimes too little to survive. This lead to many debates on what people should do with their wealth and what was the proper use for it this was caused due to the resentment the working class had towards the wealthy. The inequality going on was unusual and it lead people to believe that if you were wealthy the right thing to do was to share your money or spend it wisely. These issues lead to the creation of unions, people that got together to fight for their believes in violent strikes, they also used the idea of collective bargaining meaning that one group makes demand and they all fight for it.

FUN FACTS OF THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH!!!!!

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It had three main impacts:

It was a significant break with the individualist narrative that we are often given. It spoke to issues of contribution, legacy, and community as important values.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and their movement to give money back has been influenced by Carnegie.

It was a manifesto for philanthropy.

Book by Andrew Carnegie

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The Gospel of Wealth was also an article written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889, it described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class self made rich. In the article Carnegie explains what the best way of dealing with the new idea of wealth was for the wealthy people to share their wealth in a responsible and thoughtful manner. Carnegie believed that surplus wealth is put to best use when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. In "The Gospel of Wealth" he also says that he is against wealthy people wasting their riches in a self indulgence, irresponsible way. He thought that the rich should administer their riches responsibly instead of in a useless, unworthy manner.

SOURCES!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_of_Wealth

http://study.com/academy/lesson/gospel-of-wealth-definition-
summary.html

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/gospel-wealth-1889-andrew-carnegie-322784