Andrew Carnegie: A Brief Biography

Andrew Carnegie was one of the wealthiest men in America but his wealth didn’t come without hard work and dedication. Carnegie was born in “Dunfermline, Scotland on November 25, 1835” (Tyle). According to Laura B. Tyle, the invention of the weaving machine unfortunately pushed Carnegie’s family in to poverty “In 1848, Carnegie’s family left Scotland and moved to Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, where his father and eventually him worked in a cotton factory” (Tyle). After leaving the cotton factory “Carnegie became a messenger boy for the Pittsburgh telegraph office and eventually made his way up to telegraph operator” (Tyle). According to Laura B. Tyle “Thomas A. Scott, the superintendent of the western division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, made Carnegie his secretary at the age of eighteen.” Later, Carnegie took over Scott’s position of the railroad. Furthermore Carnegie “began to see that steel was going to replace iron and by 1873 he organized a steel rail company” (Tyle). According to Laura B. Tyle he continued to build his company when he “cut prices, drove out competitors,

Andrew Carnegie, the “King of Steel”, the benevolent employer, the giant of industry, was among the greatest influences of the second industrial revolution. It is sometimes questioned whether Carnegie was the ruthless, sneaky steel tyrant some made him out to be, or the generous, benevolent education benefactor he appeared to be. I believe him to be a combination of both, but more so the great giant of industry.

Andrew Carnegie like many of entrepreneurs during this time period grew up poor and was forced to work at an early age to help his family survive difficult times. At the age of 12, he began working for the railroad industry where he met his mentor Tom Scott. Scott thought so highly of Carnegie at the age of 15 Scott hired him as his personal assistant. The partnership/friendship continued to blossom at the age of 24 Carnegie is the manager of Pennsylvania Railroad.

Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on November 25, 1835, Andrew Carnegie entered the world in poverty. The son of a hand weaver, Carnegie received his only formal education during the short time between his birth and his move to the United States. When steam machinery for weaving came into use, Carnegie’s father sold his looms and household goods, sailing to America with his wife and two sons. At this time, Andrew was twelve, and his brother, Thomas, was five. Arriving into New York on August

As young immigrant child living in the rural ruins Andrew Carnegie was forced to not receive education and held accountable for his family´s well being. One of his early jobs was a telegrapher this job gave him the experience that led him to becoming Thomas Scott´s protégé in the railroad business. By this, Carnegie obtained many knowledge from the desiscions Scott made, which eventually help Carnegie create the sensational Steel Industry. Although, Carnegie´s story is one of the most admired through-out this era, however in his early life things weren’t effortless. The responsibility taken by him during his childhood was colossal having to work everyday to sustain a single mother raised family is not a piece of cake. Similiarly,the average life a coal miner entails how poor children had to appear at the coal mine everyday risking their life each second spent in the fuming mines, and all for a couple of cents a day. This caused a an enormous impact on Carnegie´s perspective over wealth, he believed if people wanted to overcome

It has been thoroughly debated whether Andrew Carnegie was a captain of his industry or a robber baron. He was a successful entrepreneur that created the Carnegie Steel Company in the late 1800s, a company that monopolized the production of steel. It has been ardently deliberated whether Andrew Carnegie was a robber baron who mistreated his workers and destroyed unions or that he was a captain of industry who paved the way for future steel companies. There are also many accomplished entrepreneurs in the world today that were much like Andrew Carnegie.

     Let us first look at Mr. Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was a mogul in the steel industry. Carnegie

Carnegie earned a lot of money from his investments and quit his job with the railroad to focus on his business affairs, which included frequent traveling to Europe to sell railroad bonds. On one trip, Andrew Carnegie met the English inventor, Sir Henry Bessemer, who had invented a new process for making high quality steel efficiently and cheaply. After meeting Bessemer, Carnegie decided to concentrate his investments in the steel industry. He opened a steel company in Pittsburgh and adapted his steel mills to use the Bessemer process. The process allowed Andrew Carnegie to manufacture steel efficiently and cheaply. To increase manufacturing efficiency even further, Carnegie began the vertical and horizontal integration of the steel industry, which allowed Carnegie Steel Company to save money as it expanded. He quickly became one of the richest people in history due to his hard work before the creation of Carnegie Steel and during its operation. Andrew Carnegie sold Carnegie Steel Company to J.P. Morgan. Carnegie became a philanthropist in his retirement and gave away $350 million, which was about 90% of his fortune. He built

Andrew Carnegie. Who was he? Was he just a robber baron or a captain of industry. Andrew was a self made Entrepreneur in the late 1800s. He was the owner of the Carnegie Steel Company which monopolized the steel industry. In 1889 he wrote the famous “Gospel of Wealth” which made the use of libraries to give to the worthy poor that were smart to use them. He also gave away 350 million dollars. On the other side Carnegie’s steel workers were treated poorly by long working hours and reduced wages. He also gave support to the plant manager Henry Frick who hired Pinkerton thugs to intimidate workers on strike and many were killed in the conflict. Andrew Carnegie was sometimes saw as a robber baron taking others money to give away not spending his own money On the other hand people saw him as a captain of industry giving to the worthy poor with libraries and millions of dollars.

Carnegie was very poor during his childhood, and this will cause him to try a variety of jobs that inevitably led to his steel empire. “Andrew Carnegie was born November 25, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. His father, William Carnegie, a prosperous handloom weaver at the time of Andrew’s birth, was unable to compete with the new technology of steam loomers and fell into poverty as Andrew grew older,” (UXL biographies). In 1848, Andrew and his family immigrated to Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and Andrew got a job at a

Andrew Carnegie was an industrialist who led the expansion of the steel industry in America. He made his fortune in the steel industry, controlling the most iron and steel

Well Carnegie steel business was a great success but all he was trying to accomplish was to be richer than John D. Rockefeller and make him pay for the mistake of cutting of his apprentices railroad business. While working for the railroad company Carnegie began making investments. He made

Carnegie also traveled to Europe multiple times to sell railroad securities. While in Europe, he met many steelmakers which inspired him to look into the steel making business. He then became the manager of the Keystone Bridge Company which he had previously invested in so that he could work on producing more iron and steel. He then founded J. Edgar Thompson Steel Works which would later become the Carnegie Steel Company. He used the Bessemer production method from Britain to make steel and iron.

Andrew Carnegie was a famous steel company owner who lived from 1835 to 1919. He was born in Scotland but came to the United States with his family when he was 12. He had very similar achievements to Richard Arkwright, who owned cotton mills and cotton processing patents in England in the 1700s. Both Andrew Carnegie and Richard Arkwright are remembered as powerful industrialists who built great capitalist fortunes by starting and growing large dominant companies. Richard Arkwright and Andrew Carnegie both had similar career paths and significant impacts on the Industrial Revolutions of their time because of their innovative use of new technologies and their ability to lead others.

After that, steel was used more than iron, bronze, and copper, because it was cheaper to make and it worked a lot more efficiently than any of the past metals ever did (“History”). Andrew Carnegie, who was an American immigrant from Scotland, brought about the explosion of steel (“Andrew Carnegie”). He was one of the key players that led way for the industrialization for America as we know it. One could tell that steel was so important, because he became one of the richest men to ever step foot in America back in his time, solely because of this product. Carnegie started out as a telegraph operator for the Pennsylvania Railroad and eventually worked his way up in that corporation and became a superintendent.