Andrew Carnegie: A God Among Man

Andrew Carnegie, a tightfisted employer among many, but a good-hearted philanthropist among many more; however, does this really explain if he was or was not a hero? Andrew Carnegie was a scottish immigrant born in November 1835 who grew up in a poor and hard life, whose family made the tough decision to the Americas in 1848, started working at age 12 to appease his family’s financial trouble. He worked harder and harder, deciphering dot-dot-dash messages by ear, setting train schedules and untangling train wrecks, and saving Union soldiers, and finally, as a result, rose to become one of America’s richest and most integral heroes. However, we should ask ourselves this: Was Andrew Carnegie truly a hero? Well, to answer that question we need to look at the definition of a hero. Hero, a word defined as a person who holds amazing courage, or a person who possesses strong integrity, or a person who boasts a vast amount of intelligence or wisdom. Going by this interpretation, we could state that Andrew Carnegie was a hero in the business area because of his strategic intelligence; in the social area because of his honest integrity; and in the economic area because of his courageous work and investments.

Andrew Carnegie believes in a system based on principles and responsibility. The system is Individualism and when everyone strives towards the same goals the system is fair and prosperous. Carnegie’s essay is his attempt to show people a way to reach an accommodation between individualism and fairness. This system can only work if everyone knows and participates in his or her responsibilities. I will discuss Carnegie’s thesis, his arguments and the possible results of his goals.

Considered the “greatest capitalist of all times”, Andrew Carnegie was the most intuitive businessman of his era(History Channel 2016). Originally from Dunfermline, Scotland, he and his family emigrated to the United States due to and economic depression, and made their home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carnegie’s first job in America was working as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory. Andrew Carnegie became a messenger boy at the railroad telegraph office and quickly learned how translate and transcribe Morse Code when he was only fourteen years of age. He vastly excelled and was known as the fastest in the telegrapher in the business.

During the Gilded Age, Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy business tycoon, monopolized the steel industry, manifested a steel company that drove America’s industry further into success, and eventually he became a billionaire in the late 19th century. With such a high abundance of wealth, it would be easy to spend it on one’s selfish desires, however, Carnegie showcased his true colors by expressing his adoration for the arts by partaking in charitable acts of donating money to local libraries, education, and scientific research. Through his opportunity to have ownership of billions of dollars, Carnegie built a leadership role as one of the only dedicated philanthropists during the time of the Gilded Age where many men, including Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan, had an abundance of wealth, but lacked any participation of philanthropist acts. As a result, Carnegie further showcased how owning so much money can exhibit one not succumbed to greed through his book, “The Gospel of Wealth,” where he describes how those who own large expanses of wealth have the responsibility of giving back to the community in ways such as philanthropy. Through the ownership of an over surplus of money and the understanding of the importance of charitable acts, Andrew Carnegie was able to develop

Throughout history there have been countless individuals who have come along and helped shape America into the manner it is today. Some of these individuals may have initiated noble contributions that have caused them to receive wonderful praises even after they are long deceased. On the other hand, there are other countless individuals whose contributions were not quite as great and caused extensive permanent unscrupulous effects on society. One of the individuals whose impression might have not been the greatest at one point, but who ultimately did contribute significantly to civilization is Andrew Carnegie.

To describe, Andrew Carnegie believes in the “survival of the fittest” which means that only the best will be accomplished in the world. This

For Carnegie, there was a need to balance between the individual and fairness in order for society to function correctly. That is to say that those who enjoy the possession of large sums of money shouldn’t just look out for themselves and their own needs or wants at the time to make decisions on how to use their fortune, but instead, should try to use such resources for the benefit of all individuals of society. However, with this Andrew Carnegie didn’t mean that wealth was there to be distributed equally among all men. Instead, he believed that wealthy individuals were superior to the rest of the people and therefore, should be the ones managing surplus earnings since they had the experience and knowledge required which made them more fitted to do the job. According to Carnegie’s idea under this system based on principles and responsibilities, if everyone was to do their part of the job society will continue to experience

Andrew Carnegie defends the pursuit of wealth in The Gospel of Wealth. Carnegie writes that money is not the problem but the administration of money. Carnegie also writes that the pursuit of wealth is highly beneficial. House for some can be houses for all and without wealth there can be no Maecenas. The relapse of old times would disastrous for everyone and would sweep away civilization with it.

Although Carnegie’s model does not address businessmen directly, it does promote the distribution of wealth by people who have more power to direct change. This falls in line with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because people who may be struggling to make ends meet are not expected to bear all of the weight of social responsibility. By placing this responsibility on businessmen, it ensures that those who are investing are not suffering for their

Carnegie was a wealthy man himself, but he practiced exactly what he preached. He notices how American society has revolutionized and created the divide between the rich and the poor as it changed. Carnegie compares the American past equality to the equality experienced among the Sioux Indians. Carnegie does not disapprove of the change, but recognizes it as “highly beneficial” (Foner 29). According to Carnegie, the evidence of the changing society is present in the “contrast between the palace of the millionaire and the cottage of the laborer” (Foner 29). Although Carnegie recognizes the divided between rich and poor, he does not see it as a bad thing, nor does he believe that people should stop obtaining wealth. Carnegie believes that the wealthy should use their money to provide for good instead of “hoarding great sums all their lives” (Foner 29). Carnegie approves of the implementation

Another argument in favor of a capitalist America was that of Carnegie. He agreed with capitalists like Sumner and Spencer that laissez-faire capitalism was the right choice for American society, but he differed in their opinion about how America should react to the poor. Like Sumner and Spencer, Carnegie thought that the owners of companies should have complete control of their companies and should not be regulated by the government. Unlike Sumner and Spencer, Carnegie

Although in “The Gospel of Wealth”, Carnegie agrees the wealth is controlled in the hand of rich people, but he believes that they should be allow to control their wealth and use it to help the society in various ways. One idea he uses in the reading is about “Survival of the fitness”, he believes the wealthy has his or her way to make the most money and the idea of competition in capitalism is highly beneficial to the society. As he states in the page 4, “We accept and welcome great inequality, the concentration of business, industrial, and commercial, in the hand of few as being not only beneficial, but essential to the future progress of the race,” he believes it is the duty and responsibility of the rich to help the “less fit”. The three modes he states also provides ways how the rich should using their money to help other, but they should not limit the freedom of others by simply give away the

system. Although a few like Andrew Carnegie felt they had a responsibility to the poor,

In an excerpt from Carnegie’s The Gospel of Wealth, he explains the importance of the wealthy and what role they have in society. Since he is an industrial leader, he has had the privilege of accumulating this great amount of money. His belief is that this money should not be spent

Andrew Carnegie was born in the year 1835 in Scotland. When he grew up he worked in a company and then his family decided to move to the US. Andrew started his career as railroad clerk. He built the largest industrial enterprise. Later Andrew decided that he could sell his company to a man named JP Morgan in 1901. May 20,1903 he opened his library. Carnegie used the library for many uses such as: parties,social events, children story time, teen events, and much more.Today the Library is served as a venue. Slowly Carnegie is giving up his fortune and foundation. Giving someone else your fortune and foundation is something I find very interesting because you do not see that very often in today’s society. Some of the things that Andrew started to give away was: his library, colleges and hospitals. He was dedicated to his foundation to the goal of doing “real and permanent good in the world”. I learned that John H. Burford wrote Andrew a thank you contribution of Library of funds. I like this gallery because it gave information about the library in the guthrie back then I really to have known that and i found that very interesting.