Andrew Carnegie And Jane Addams: A Comparative Analysis

Throughout history, wealth was kept within the family, totally opposite of what we see and expect from most successful business people of today. To bolster the notion that these industrial pioneers were not solely in it for themselves, men like Rockefeller gave millions in charitable donations. Carnegie even wrote a book about how to effectively spread money to the commonwealth as well as teaching the lower classes how to provide for themselves. In fact, Carnegie’s book was given to Bill Gates, a man known for his charitable contributions. As if these Statesmen’s giving nature were not enough, their impact on the world war was extraordinary; without them, America would have been left in the dust.

Andrew Carnegie was one of the wealthiest men at the time, and had nothing in common with Jane Addams. Carnegie believed in survival of the fittest. He thought that only the well equipped and worthy should be successful, as seen in his famous quote, “And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department ”. Jane Addams on the other hand believed that unless everyone prospered together, no one could prosper. Her famous quote, “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life”, shows her belief that success must be achieved by everyone working together.

In 1889, Addams established the Hull House in Chicago in efforts to help immigrants and the poor during the Gilded Age. The Hull House consisted of a community kitchen, gymnasium, a day nursery and residence options. The settlement house offered schooling for all ages, clubs, and even a theatre group called the “Hull House Players”. The Hull House was originally a run-down mansion, but with funds from supporters (mainly women), it was transformed into a settlement house. Jane’s orations recruited wealthy donors to support her cause.

Addams having quickly found out that needs of the neighborhood couldn 't be met unless the city and state rules were reformed . addams challenge both boss rule in the immigrant neighborhood of hull house and indifferences to needs of the poor in the state legislature. While she was in london she visited the toynbee hull. Sh was inspired by this. She then created the Hull House.

In this paper, I discuss how Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Andrew Carnegie agreed and disagreed about the concepts of capitalism with different standpoints. For example, Karl Marx mainly focused on the function of communism; Adam Smith emphasized the free trade in market, and Andrew Carnegie adopted the form of capitalism. I further explain the different perspectives of capitalism that impacted on society, and social and economic situation. The word, capitalism, is defined as an economic and political system in which a country’s trading business and industrial activities are made by private ownerships or corporations through the means of production, distribution, and social wealth. In 19th century, as the development of Industrial Revolution

Jane Addams life as a child was not easy, she had a congenital spinal defect which led to her never being physically strong and her father who served for sixteen years as a state senator and fought as an officer in the Civil War always showed that his thoughts of women were that they were weak, and especially her with her condition. But besides that she lived a very privileged life since her father had many famous friends like the president Abraham Lincoln. Jane was determined to get a good education which she ended up getting. She went to Rockford sanitary for women which is now called Rockford University and she also studied to be a doctor but had to quit because she was hospitalised too many times. Being sick affected her life very much so when she got older she remedied her spinal defect with surgery.

Jane Addams The Progressive Era, 1890-1920, accomplished great change in the Unites States of America. Many reformers and activits demanded for change in education, food and drug policies, and most importantly the govermenet. The goal for the movement was the purify the nation. One of the main activits during this time was Jane Addams. Jane Addams is often refered to as a social and political pioneer.

Researchers from the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum described Addams's internal plans to develop a family within the Hull House. “The residents of Hull-House, at the request of the surrounding community, began to offer practical classes that might help the new immigrants become more integrated into American society, such as English language, cooking, sewing and technical skills, and American government” (“About Jane Addams and Hull House”). Her educated background helped to form a sense of community before exposing the residents to the rapidly increasing modern world. These aspects relieved the uncertainties in the Progressive Era and Addams defended her ideas to eventually uncover the flaws of the labor industry. Even with this affirmation, critics still believe that Addams did not have the immigrants' best interests in mind.

The Progressive Era had mainly focused on improving social and economic issues such as poverty, violence, greed, class structure, monopolies and trusts, corruption and etc. I, Jane Addams, am a middle class woman and a progressive worker who has been one of the many who have faced constant unethical social conditions that occurs along the urban streets following rapid industrialization in America. I have witnessed that the influx of immigrants who’ve migrated to America have struggled in engaging in the numerous opportunities America has to offer; due to them lacking an education and knowledge in various areas. I propose that a solution to this problem would be establishing settlement houses to where I suggest it would assist and provide social and educational services to predominantly immigrant residents to who subside in crowded streets of America. One of my closest friends, Ellen Gates Starr, and I have pondered on the idea of naming one of the many settlement houses to be named the “Hull House” where it would be located in Chicago and also provide such services to those in nearby communities and neighborhoods as well.

The captains of industry believed that the poor people were inferior to the rich people. The rich were superior because they had “wisdom, experience, and the ability to administer”. The duty of a rich person was to help out a poor person which was what was said in the Gospel of Wealth. The Gospel of Wealth is about how the rich person's responsibility is philanthropy. Carnegie believes in charity work so he would donate to libraries, and universities and schools and etc.

The United States began to enter a prosperous and increasing period after the civil war known as industrialization. Despite the fact that industrialization led the United States to wealth, it also led it to many social and economic problems during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this time, Upton Sinclair and Andrew Carnegie were the people who responded to the economic and social problems generated by industrialization. Andrew Carnegie was one of the wealthy men in America and was very charitable, he impacted the United States with his steel to transform cities. During these economic and social problems generated by industrialization, he responded by providing money to fund charities.

The late nineteenth century was a pivotal moment in American history. During this time, the Industrial Revolution transformed the nation, railroads had dissipated all throughout the country, and economic classes began to form, separating the wealthy from the poor. One of the wealthiest men of this generation was Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who fled to America to make millions off the railroad, oil and even steel businesses. Carnegie is considered one of the richest men in history, and even with all that wealth he decided to give back to the community. As a matter of fact, Carnegie donated most of his funds to charities, universities and libraries in his last few years.

Underpinnings and Effectiveness of Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” In Andrew Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth”, Carnegie proposed a system of which he thought was best to dispose of “surplus wealth” through progress of the nation. Carnegie wanted to create opportunities for people “lift themselves up” rather than directly give money to these people. This was because he considered that giving money to these people would be “improper spending”.

Andrew Carnegie and Samuel Gomper have different takes when it comes to the role that wealthy people should have in society. The two authors have opposed feelings toward the poor people being in the state of condition that they are in. Although their views are different what they are proposing in both documents can help the poor people. Carnegie’s The Gospel of Wealth focus more on what the wealthy people should do with their wealth to benefit the society.

Wealth, race, gender, and mental illness has torn society apart and lead to inequality. These major reasons for inequality has affected everyone in its path leading to major consequences as well as issues and problems. In China, a new found wealth has left the social classes more divided and issues are beginning to rise. Meanwhile in the U.S., wealth is destroying students and unequal views toward specific types of people are weakening the patriotic bond. To begin, there are many types and factors that play a part in inequality and the consequences of societies from it, but one of the main reasons and apparent factors is wealth.