Andrew Carnegie And The Transformation Of The Steel Industry

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,

Without Carnegie, the steel industry, and the second industrial revolution in general, would never have progressed as much as it did. Carnegie did what was necessary to make the steel industry more productive and more efficient, for less money. He was a shrewd, ruthless, businessman who’s aggressiveness made the steel, railroad, and oil industries so economically successful. These characteristics, though not always looked upon as nice or sympathetic, were sometimes necessary. He had paid his time as a poor factory boy, and now it was his turn to live comfortably and aid others less fortunate to work towards the same success.

The Carnegie Steel Company was a successful factory, which employed many hundred of workers. Andrew Carnegie, who was the owner of the company, wanted a large successful business, which he had achieved already, but he was always looking for ways to save and make more money. By 1892, unions had been formed

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

Andrew Carnegie built his fortune out of nothing, clawing his way to the top and making his fortune by seeing the expanding usage of steel and quickly jumping on the opportunity, becoming one of the first and biggest steel producers in America, and later the world[2]. With this massive corporation

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

In the movie, The Richest Man in the World, Andrew Carnegie played a major role in influencing the Industrial Revolution, which changed the economy of the US and the world forever. This era brought upon significant changes through economic developments that would not only change the ways of the economy but also the social aspect of society, especially within the cities where this growth was located. The shift from hand-made to machine-made products increased productivity and decreased costs. Through the innovations of the new forms of energy, such as iron, and then steel, establishments of factories began, competition between businessmen arose, and innovations of transportation in the city through railroads and bridges developed. The

It illustrated the poor conditions of labour, which contributed to industrialization and a labour union, which took care of fighting for benefits and the working conditions of these child labourers. Andrew Carnegie’s article (as seen in document D) proposes the idea of the rich using their wealth to improve society, as he believed that the fact that a person was rich, showed that he was more fit than others. Carnegie acknowledged that the living conditions were poor and wanted to help change that. This introduced industrialization into the Gilded Age. In the late 19th Century, Carnegie led the enormous expansion of the American steel

The “rags to riches” story is a term of reverence respecting the few in society who sacrificed the little they had and emerged successful. These doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and other professionals inspire people of all socioeconomic levels by transforming nothing into something. Jay-Z, George Soros, Steve Jobs – these are names culture holds with great respect. One “rags to riches” story not many Americans have heard of pushes the limits of mental capacity. This man followed the poor-to-rich path and succeeded to such high degree that he, in turn, defined the very essence of this characteristic. Once a poor boy, Andrew Carnegie transformed the limited resources available to him into tools that aided his journey in becoming one of the richest, most successful men in all of history. Carnegie began his journey as an immigrant to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Scotland. His family sought work, as their former weaving business had been destroyed by the Industrial Revolution (“Andrew Carnegie” American Experience). This experience as a poor worker created the drive that led him to become one of the wealthiest men of all time through his massive steel company, the Carnegie Steel Company. In conjunction with his economic success, the tycoon used the fruits of his leadership in the steel industry to become the “father of American philanthropy” (“Meet Andrew Carnegie”). As accomplished the man became, the

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

He established many other steel plants, and in 1892, he merged all of his interests into the Carnegie Steel Company. This act from Carnegie is fitting with one of his most famous quotations, "Put all of your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket." This firm became one of the greatest industrial enterprises in America. Carnegie later sold it to J.P. Morgan's United States Steel Corporation in 1901 for $400 million, which would be a little over $4 billion today! 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." Colonel James Anderson, who Carnegie

In the 19th century, we were already big with steel. But, here came Henry Bessemer and changed the whole concept of it so we can put that steel to use. He created the Bessemer converter, which converts iron into steel. With this converter, we started to get massive bridges, railroads, the first skyscrapers. The Washington Monument was made with this steel. America started to expand and got bigger and better because of this invention. “As a home industry, iron and steel making ranks fifth in the Unites States being exceeded in order, by agriculture, slaughtering and packing foundry and machine shop products and lumber and timber products. It furnishes work over a quarter of a million employee supports directly 1,000,000 people, and indirectly many other in tributary operations with their

Carnegie did not come from a wealthy family, he like other had to work his way up the class latter, Carnegie worked in a Pittsburgh cotton factory as a boy before rising to the position of division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859.” Carnegie initiated the first of the uses for steel in railroads. As a young man Andrew Carnegie had worked on railroads, so he knew that he could take advantage of his skills. The name of his company was called Carnegie Steel. His innovative ideas to make the use of steel helped create what we see now in the United States, “In a desire to make steel more cheaply and more efficiently, he successfully adopted the Bessemer process at his Homestead Steel Works plant.” Carnegie took a simple process and converted it into a renowned national industry. A system that helped Carnegie’s business success was due to Vertical Integration.Vertical Integration is the taking over of all the different businesses’ suppliers so that a company would only rely on this for its main function, he took in many other companies so that his wealth could grow. However, even Carnegie knew that he had to give back money. Now as a philanthropist, Carnegie donated over the course of his lifetime about three

He used vertical integration to dominate the steel industry. During the late 1800s, the Carnegie Steel Company was most profitable industrial enterprise in the world. Even though Carnegie did not invent steel and the processes that he used were brought over from other places of the world, including Europe, it is an exceptional popular opinion that Carnegie invented the American Steel Industry. Carnegie was able to create steel at a fair price which was beneficial to America at the time. Countless bridges and buildings were capable of being constructed. This behooved the people in that it led to an economic boom which allowed more jobs