Poverty In 16th Century England

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.

Beginning as a poor immigrant, Carnegie wanted to support the lower and uneducated class: he knew how it felt to have an ambiguous and undetermined future. In "The Gospel of Wealth" Carnegie said,

In North America during the seventeenth century there were a lot of changes, a lot conflicts and a lot of resolutions. The English colonies that were established during this time period underwent huge amounts of change. Some of these changes were good and some of these changes were bad. They would go from being almost left to themselves to being one of the biggest things for the monarchy, for a number of reasons.

He saw a fine line between the rich and the poor class. It's clear to him that the rich are superior and should use their wealth to help the least fortunate. He believed that the wealthy should only use their money for survival and the rest to helping society. He believed that wealth should go towards advancing society instead of being passed down to

In the 16th century, landlords turned the farmland into grazing and pasture land for sheep, and closed off the common land to the people of England. This was known as the Enclosure Movement. Prior to the Enclosure Movement, the townsmen depended on the common land as a place they could take hay, wood, and many necessities from, so once this area was converted into pasture land, they struggled to find a way to support their livelihood. Raising sheep did not require as many men as farming did, so the majority of townsmen lost their jobs and therefore, their source of money. The Enclosure Movement resulted in lower class having to live out on the streets of England begging for food and money.

Carnegie thinks it is better to build public institutions than give charity to the poor because the poor need to have the “desire to improve” and find help in these public institutions. (Carnegie 30). He believes that rather wealthy “Men who continue hoarding great sums all their lives” can find the proper use for their money, which is to help the community. (Carnegie 29). By just giving money to the poor the wealthy are doing all their work and instead the poor should find the assistance they need to improve their lives.

In the 1500’s England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and formed its own church called the Church of England. However, the Pilgrims didn’t want to follow the new church. As a result, they were persecuted and harassed by followers of the new Church of England. For this reason, the Pilgrims and Puritans came specifically to America to practice their religious beliefs and to spread the gospel. The Pilgrims were a group of Puritans (English Protestants) who wanted to escape religious persecution in England.

In short, he did not believe that money should be handed to the poor as it would encourage “the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy.” Instead, Carnegie believed that the wealthy men should place certain ladders where those hoping to better themselves can rise – “parks, and means of recreation, by which men are helped in body and mind; works of art”

Prior to the Protestant Reformation, Catholic doctrine was to help the poor through gifts of alms and charity. Around the time of the Protestant Reformation, this idea of alms and charity was lost. The Catholic Church was becoming corrupt, instituting indulgences, which took the very little money poor citizens had, promising them a one-way ticket to Heaven, and focusing their money on ornate cathedrals. In search of its original values regarding the poor, Catholics were finding their own way to treat the impoverished, often times distinguishing the “deserving poor” from the “undeserving poor” based on how hard they worked, hoping to save money. The Catholic Reformation helped Catholics rediscover the idea that alms and charity to all poor were

Port of london and trade (market and business) The Port of london impacted the commoners in a negative way and also created different opportunities for them. Trading became taxing for english merchants during the 15th and 16th century. The Romans abandoned Britain in 408 and there are but scanty records of London during the Saxon period. It is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that in 457 the Britons,defeated by Hengist and Ese at Crayford, fled to London; and then for 150 years there is a complete blank in the pages of history; but subsequent records justify the assumption of the continuity of London’s existence and the inhabitants’ persistent pursuit of trade throughout troubled times.

In medieval England, social status and rank are very important in everyday life. There are some things a person is obligated to do because of his/her social rank, and some things a person is forbidden to do because of his/her social class. In the movie, the Knight’s Tale there is a very good example of how social classes can not do certain things beyond their class. William Thatcher, for example cannot technically be a knight by birth because he is born into the lower social class.

The common people of colonial America created the majority of the Continental Army and other aggressor branches. The poor were inspired by the hope to rise in rank and acquire substantial income which led them to flock the enlist. It was colonial laymen who suffered through unbearable cold, sickness, and malnutrition in addition to attending in a vicious battle and witnessing amass of slaughtered dead bodies. Occurring simultaneously were conflicts between the poor who were not at war and those who continued to prosper and had a lot of wealth. One would expect that because the poor were drilled to the impact of the Revolution social changes would tend toward the democratic virtues.

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”.

I came to the parish craving for bread, for a starving wife, bread for a woman who loved me through fifty years of life and what do you think they told me mocking me awful grief. That the house was open to us but they wouldn’t give out relief”. This statement exemplifies that the rich have no regard for the poor at all and all they care about is work and money. George sims helped the rich people realize that the people who worked in the workhouse would not be provided with whatever they

70 years ago after the war Britain was looking to change people lives by introducing the welfare state: the National Health Service was introduced, new houses were built and municipal swimming pools and leisure centres were opened. We thought this would have been an end to poverty. Who would have thought that70 years later, in this day and age there are people who are starving and struggle so much that they have to go to food banks to receive food. Food banks are very popular in Britain. These differ from food banks where hungry families or people will go to receive a parcel of food.