The Gospel of Wealth was the most influential of his writings, however, in that Carnegie stressed that the wealthy had a moral obligation to give to philanthropic causes and serve as stewards of society. Four years later, in 1901, Carnegie was nearing the end of his business career and allowed J.P. Morgan to buy out his steel empire for an astonishing price of $480 million dollars (Ibid.). Morgan was able to create U.S. Steel, and Carnegie became the richest man in the world. Carnegie did not want to remain a shareholder in the steel company, however, so he put the $300 million in gold bonds that he received from the deal into a specially-built vault in New Jersey. He never wanted to see or touch any of the money (Swetnam and Smith 1993,
Immigration In America In the late 19th century and early 20th century, millions of immigrants entered into the United States of America. Many of these immigrants came to America because they face persecution in their homelands. The immigrants were promised a new land of prosperity, riches, and freedom from persecution. But when many arrived they found out that this was not true and many of them still faced persecution and struggled to make enough money to live and eat well. Many of the immigrants had their own personal reasons to move to America, but there were some major push and pull factors that brought them here.
Cloward and Ohlin argue, that the majority of criminals involved in the drugs trade were unable to succeed within capitalism and were driven to an illegitimate means of obtaining wealth. Cloward and Ohlin further argued that as people were driven into this illegitimate structure they tended to join existing deviant subcultures i.e. the drug subculture as in the case of the drugs trade. The theory does well to explain many crimes of the working class as they are unable to succeed in a society driven by middle class values, however Cloward and Ohlin’s subcultural theory fails to explain the crimes of the powerful whom already have achieved economic wealth through legitimate means. Furthermore the theory
By the early 1800s, the number of immigrants increased drastically. America was becoming a melting pot of different ethnicities including Germans, Swedish, Bohemians, English, French, and Polish. After the civil war, coming into the United States was made easier due to the innovations in steam-based engines for ships, allowing for larger ships to bring in immigrants in mass numbers. (Diner, 2008: 1) This exponential increase in immigrants was considered a threat to the nation’s security, which resulted in forcing government legislation to place regulations on immigration. In 1912, the National Origins Act was passed which restricted the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States and assigned slots according to quotas based on origins.
By placing high taxes on imported luxury goods, he inadvertently encouraged smuggling. Philip's monstrous palace and monastery at Escorial had consumed much of Spanish wealth.” (http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b2philip2-spain.htm). Clearly states that Philip II did not value his money at all. He owed 36 million ducats with an annual deficit of 1 million ducats; this was because of his recklessness with money and because of all the money he wasted on wars. Aside from reducing state revenues for overseas expeditions, the domestic policies of Philip II further burdened Spain and would in the following century, contribute to its decline.
During the early 20th century immigrants swarmed to America, chasing a dream that was often out of reach. Even individuals already living in America strived to attain the unattainable. A myriad of individuals of different sex, creed and nationality all in search of the American Dream, were all too often confronted with an American nightmare. Shattered hopes and dreams have always been the result of unrealistic goals, and the myopic views of society. Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck is a novel which exposes the fallacious nature of the American Dream and shows readers how specific individuals of society are personally impacted.
Americans build their morals, ideals, and lives around the idea of freedom. America is known as the land of opportunity. When an American has the chance to obtain something great, they they take it. Americans look for the shortcut to success. A lot of times, this leads to a lot of corruption within the U.S.
While these activities seem semi-legit, the deeper problem was that these political machines would often break their own rules and laws to suit their own needs. They allowed illegal gambling and prostitution were the profits would line the pockets of city officials along with public tax money and bribes. The most notorious political boss of the era was William “Boss” Tweed of New York’s Tammany Hall. Many different types of people were affected by industrialization, some in good ways and some in bad. Industrialization brought jobs and hope for a better life for many.
Fitzgerald condemns the American Dream of the 1920’s through his representation of the wealthy as immoral and materialistic people because their wealth has corrupted them and they only look out for themselves. Tom typifies the immoral, greedy, wasteful and the reckless lifestyle of the wealthy. ”They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made”(179). By including these lines Fitzgerald tells the reader that wealth and selfishness during the
Cossett Quiros ENC1101 8:25/9:40 Argumentative Essay Should America Restrict Immigration? America must restrict immigration to protect its environment, economy, and educational systems. The recent immigrant-fed population boom has caused overcrowding in cities, which in turn has resulted in increased pollution, power shortages, and a deteriorating quality of education. Moreover, the flood of cheap immigrant labor makes it more difficult for American workers to find jobs, and immigrants' failure to acculturate creates ethnic conflict. Immigration is increasingly seen in terms of threats.