Andrew Carnegie: A Hero

His crafty yet cunning skills in how to make more, using less helped skyrocket Carnegie's steel business (Doc. 4). After all the long, tedious years of building an empire, Carnegie generously donated a large amount of money to the public (doc. 9). He helped fund schools, colleges, libraries, and other public organizations (doc. 9). This selfless act proves that Carnegie had good intentions in helping his community.

Carnegie was a Hero because he had not only given money to charities before he died. He

As young as 33, Carnegie was pulling in an annual income of $50,000 a year, a huge amount at that time, and this was enough for him. Carnegie was a firm believer that anyone could make it to the top, and that it was the wealthys’ duty to help the poor work towards a more comfortable life. Carnegie said that “the man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” This is a greedy, unselfish philosophy that a robber baron could not conceive.

After retiring, Carnegie’s fortune was estimated to be as large as half a billion dollars. From that time on, with the philosophy that the rich have a moral obligation to give away their money, he devoted himself to philanthropy. Although ironic, this man of great fortune strongly believed in the merits of poverty for the development of character and work ethic, and determined that wealthy men should not leave their fortunes to their children, but should give it away, claiming "The man who dies thus rich, dies disgraced." The picture of community service, Carnegie is quoted as saying, "Pittsburgh entered the core of my heart when I was a boy, and cannot be torn out. I can never be one hair’s breadth less loyal to her, or less anxious to help her in any way, than I have been since I could help anything. My treasure is still with you, and how best to serve Pittsburgh is the question which occurs to me almost every day of my life."

Being a man coming into America with nothing and climbing up to become one of the richest men in the world, he would eventually become the poster boy for every “Rag to Riches” story. Before he became the multi-million dollar tyrant we all know him as, his first job was a in a factory working as a bobbin boy. He received a measly dollar and twenty cents a week (Carnegie 34). It can be implied that this is why Carnegie was a firm believer in social darwinism and the concept of free enterprise, Carnegie believed that opportunity was there for anyone willing to seize it. He expressed these beliefs and demonstrated that they worked using his cutthroat business tactics and other unethical acts he committed to ensure dominance in the steel industry. Even in times of unrest and an almost stagnant

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.

Finally, Carnegie should be considered a hero because of his philanthropy contributions and donations to society. Andrew Carnegie believed that the best way to spend your fortune was to devote it for the most beneficial results for the community by providing them what they could not do for themselves (Doc 8). Carnegie spent most of his life gaining immense amounts of money and becoming one of the richest men of the 19th century. Once he retired, he felt he needed to use his

In document D it shows that Carnegie was lowering wages by 20% while he was just building libraries with the money that could be going to the hardworking people. Andrew Carnegie did not care about the people working for him at all or else he would have recognized that they are poor and need all the money he can give them, instead of taking their money and using it on libraries. Also in document D it talks about how people working in his steel mill were killed, and was directly related to the violence within the steel mill. If Carnegie truly cared about these people he would try to calm the violence in his mill, and he could stop being violent towards them setting a better example. From not giving his workers their well earned money and setting an example of violence Andrew Carnegie shows that he does not care about others. This shows that he was not a hero because not caring about these people that worked for him showed through the death of innocent

The second area in which Andrew Carnegie was not a hero was Money because he wanted to keep all his money to himself and not share with his workers. Furthermore, he was a person who was two faced because on one side he didn’t share his money and in the other he paid people to build libraries. Document 7 affirmed that he didn’t pay his workers the minimum wage they deserved for their work. It affirmed that the steel company was the lowest at just paying his workers a $1.40 per, which is about 40 cents below the highest paid amount. Straightway this document exposed how Carnegie was not a hero just because he refused to pay his workers what they deserved. Likewise, Document 10 viewed him as a non hero because the picture displayed him as a person who was two faced and one side he was reducing pay for his workers and the other side is giving away money and building libraries for other people. Right this evidence helps explain why Andrew Carnegie was not a hero because a hero would not be two faced and would sacrifice the earnings they made and give it away to a good cause. Rather than keeping the money to themselves, for themselves.

Andrew Carnegie was an extremely wealthy man since his invention of steel was extremely revolutionary. But his earnings weren't always spent for the greater good. Carnegie used his fortune to get out of the conflict. The background essay states that “Carnegie received a draft notice from the Union army. Carnegie followed the practice of many wealthy Northern draftees and hired a Pittsburgh draft agent to find a replacement. For only $850 he paid his way out of doing service.” If Andrew Carnegie was a true hero he would be honored to fight for our

Andrew Carnegie was not always a rich billionaire. In fact his early years were quite simple. According to document A, Carnegie lived in an attic of a modest home that was shared by another family, (Document A). Andrew Carnegie struggled, his families knew the struggles of not having enough income,and by the age of twelve Carnegie was required to employ in a job. According to an essay about Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie was “working six 12-hour days for $1.20 a week. A year later Andrew found a more challenging job delivering telegrams”, (Was Andrew a Hero ?). Andrew Carnegie had worked 12 hours just to earn his money ,as well as help his family which shows the character traits of perseverance and the sympathy that Carnegie acquired. The great steel master was really determined to make an effort on the world, and so Carnegie did. According to the same document about Carnegie’s early life, the document has stated that “He would adopt the Bessemer system and build a steel mill in America. So much for retirement!”, (Was Andrew a Hero ?). His risks and effort had helped him accomplish so much, He persevered and made himself successful,because he was willing to take the chance. This indeed proves how much of hero carnegie is, because heroes are willing to take costly risks.

Carnegie believed that a man who dies rich is a disgrace. He does not believe that person should leave their wealth to their children. (Document M) Andrew Carnegie gave a vigorous amounts of donations to different charities. Giving back to charities does not make a hero a hero. He only pretended to be a philanthropist because he did not want to die with vigorous amounts of money.

Andrew Carnegie A Hero or Not? Andrew Carnegie was a man who led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He was born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835. Carnegie was also known as one of the richest men in the world.

First, Andrew Carnegie was a hero because he had a concern for others. In Document D, the

with his steel to transform cities and he donated most of his wealth to others, donating up to 90% of his fortune. According to robber barons and captains of industry document in checkpoint 2, Carnegie is a philanthropist who is part of the steel industry. He lowered the cost of his steel mills which made them popular very quickly. His steel made the industry grow very quickly.