Andrew Carnegie published his essay “The Gospel of Wealth” in May 1889. In it, Carnegie asserted the benefits and responsibilities of wealth, calling on the wealthy to consider “the most beneficial result for the community.”
Andrew Carnegie opened America’s largest steel plant in 1875 near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An industrialist born in Scotland, Carnegie was a self-made man who had worked in textiles and railroads as a young man. Carnegie made a fortune in the steel industry but also made a name for himself as a philanthropist. In 1889, he published “The Gospel of Wealth,” an essay extolling the benefits of wealth as well as the responsibilities of the wealthy to the public.