Self-made man

A self-made man is a person whose success is of <a href="/facts/Nouveau_riche/Cx69Sstw">their own making</a>.
<a href="/facts/Benjamin_Franklin/Dmfv5URr">Benjamin Franklin</a>, one of the <a href="/facts/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States/2QxuFllb">Founding Fathers of the United States</a>, has been described as the greatest exemplar of the self-made man. Inspired by Franklin's autobiography, <a href="/facts/Frederick_Douglass/mxnR4v2t">Frederick Douglass</a> developed the concept of the self-made man in a <a href="/facts/Self-Made_Men/k5N4S7I3">series of lectures</a> that spanned decades starting in 1879.
Originally, the term referred to an individual who arises from a poor or otherwise <a href="/facts/Disadvantaged/QcjBYBG4">disadvantaged</a> background to eminence in financial, political or other areas by nurturing qualities, such as perseverance and <a href="/facts/Diligence/3KS28V6m">diligence</a>, as opposed to achieving these goals through <a href="/facts/Inheritance/6NR9DBBP">inherited</a> <a href="/facts/Old_money/cYMgz7v0">fortune</a>, <a href="/facts/Nepotism/qAb01mob">family connections</a>, or other privileges. By the mid-1950s, success in the United States generally implied "business success".

Self-made man open-in-new

Self-made man