By
Sherrie Sabo
September 7, 2013
American hero Andrew Carnegie owned the biggest steel industry during the gilded age. Andrew Carnegie was a millionaire by the time he is thirteen years old, as he rose from poverty and built his steel industry with great demand for low wages, poor working conditions, and harsh treatment of his workers. Andrew Carnegie was one of the wealthiest men in his lifetime, but gave away all his money several years before his death.
In 1889, Andrew Carnegie wrote one of the greatest documents in history. The Gospel of Wealth describes the new upper class and the phenomenon of wealth inequality. Andrew Carnegie believed capitalism benefited people better than any other economic system and argued that the accumulation of wealth should benefit society not the government. Andrew Carnegie argues that the capitalism system produces fortunes that a single person cannot spend in his or her lifetime and believed that people have the intelligence to know what to do with their money. The Gospel of Wealth claims a difference between deserving and non-deserving poor. People deserve help if they try and failed, but do not deserve help if their situation is from their own bad decisions. The government takes money from the rich in the form of taxes and Carnegie believed the government encouraged the undeserving and discourages the deserving from continuing their efforts. People will not put forth an effort if you just give them money and this is why he suggested help in the way of museums, concert halls, libraries, and universities.
Andrew Carnegie believed the wealthy person should not leave their money to their children and grandchildren, but to local organizations that do well for the community. Andrew Carnegie left his money to the Carnegie Foundation to continue his program of giving.