Primary Source Review Assignment: The Gospel Of Wealth

Primary Source Review
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Primary source review
America is termed as the land of great opportunities because if you work hard, you will automatically become wealthy. It's not surprising that America has more millionaires than any other country. ‘The Gospel of wealth,' an article written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889, address the great inequality, urging the upper class to be more philanthropic to mitigate the surplus wealth (Mukherjee, 2015).
Andrew Carnegie was the son of a poor Scottish immigrant, who worked as a linen weaver after settling in Pittsburgh (Carnegie, 2014). He later accumulated his wealth through hard work to become one of the richest people in America. Owning a steel company, Carnegie was ranked among other millionaires, and he is a classic example of an immigrant success story (Carnegie, 2014). Although he was sharply criticized for his wealth ideologies, he was convinced that rich people like him have the responsibility to donate their benefits to other people in the society (Carnegie, 2014).
In his article, Andrew cites the huge difference between the rich and the poor in modern America, accusing the enlightened capitalists as the source of existing wealth disparity. He observes that the poor people in the modern world are better off than in the past because they can afford certain luxuries that were preserved for royalty (Mukherjee, 2015). He believes that the wealth equality is still a problem. According to Andrew, the vast inequality comes naturally because of the principle of survival of the fittest (Mukherjee, 2015).
Even though luck plays a role in advancing inequality, however, in a free society, ambitious people will naturally prosper as other lag behind. This explains why all wealth comes from the capitalist. He notes while other...