Spoilsman.+Age+of+Cynacism

ARS: The captains of industry stood squarely upon the American mythology of opportunity for the common man. The dominant American folk hero went from rags to riches through business. The majority of the great industrial leaders during this time had started life in the lower or lower-middle classes. Most of these industrialists started out with deprived, hard working, and frugal careers. This business philosophy was also known as rugged individualism. In America, whatever you chose to be, you became. If you fail it is your fault, there just wasn’t enough effort. A popular American author named Horatio Alger painted a picture that by leading exemplary lives, struggling valiantly against poverty and adversity, anyone could receive wealth and honor. Ultimately hard work would pay off and result in the American Dream. The best example of this rags-to-riches approach was steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. He began as the boy who sold newspapers on the corner and eventually became one of the richest men in the world. Carnegie declared that “the millionaires who are in active control started as poor boys and were trained in the sternest but most efficient of all schools-poverty.” Carnegie could back up his argument with numerous examples other than himself. Shown by C. Wright Mills in “The American Business Elite: a Collective Portrait”, forty-three percent of the generation born from 1820 to 1849 came from the lower classes.

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