The idea expressed in the passage is the Gospel of Wealth. This concept, articulated by Andrew Carnegie, argues that the wealthy have a responsibility to manage their fortunes for the benefit of society, suggesting that surplus wealth should be used for the common good rather than being distributed in small amounts directly to individuals.
There remains, then, only one mode of using great
fortunes...Under its sway we shall have an ideal state, in
which the surplus wealth of the few will become. in the
best sense, the property of the many, because
administered for the common good, and this wealth,
passing through the hands of the few, can be made a
much more potent force for the elevation of our race than
If it had been distributed in small sums to the people
themselves. Even the poorest can be made to see this,
and to agree that great sums gathered by some of their
fellow citizens and spent for public purposes, from which
the masses reap the principal benefit, are more valuable to
them than if scattered among them through the course of
many years in trifling amounts.
-Andrew Carnegie, 1889
Use the quote to answer the question.
Which idea does this passage express?
(1 point)
O Manifest Destiny
O Gospel of Wealth
O Wealth of Nations
O Social Darwinism
1 answer