Andrew Carnegie: Ruthless Conqueror or Great Philanthropist?

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, 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.

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

Many people at the time were living in poverty and there weren’t enough jobs that had sufficient pay to support a family. The steel industry was one that had the highest earning wages. The average daily wage at the time for iron and steel workers were $1.87, this is far above other industries that had a smaller amount of pay. Others can argue that because of the bad working conditions workers faced in the steel industries, Carnegie shouldn’t be considered a hero. But isn’t the goal of a business to create more jobs? Carnegie believed that it was proper to have completion between the rich and the poor because if there wasn’t, there would be no individuals capable enough to provide such jobs to further expand the essential needs of laborer and those of the economy (Doc 3). When Carnegie sold the Carnegie Steel company to J.P Morgan for $400 Million, the newly named company (U.S Steel) created numerous amounts of jobs employing 168,000 people.

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 was a man who started from nothing and built his way up to find his fortunes in world of steel and factories and after retiring set himself to a life of philanthropy donating his fortunes to the people. This isn’t to say he was an entirely good person however, as his time as a business owner and as an employer. Whether he was a captain of industry or a robber baron is up to your opinions, but I believe he was a true captain of industry.

When Carnegie decided to go into business for himself, he chose the steel industry, but his success came at the expense of his workers. He decided he should own the entire supply chain from iron mines and coal fields (to supply his raw materials) to ships and railroads (to deliver his products). He expanded rapidly; not

The general argument made by Robert L. Heilbroner in The Master of Steel: Andrew Carnegie is that Andrew Carnegie was a Captain of Industry. More specifically, Heilbroner argues that Andrew Carnegie was a benevolent industrialist who capitalized on opportunities to amass a fortune in which he would later donate towards the benefit of humanity. Andrew Carnegie grew up in a radical environment in Scotland where the arrest of his uncle shaped him into a Republican that despised privilege. Due to the Industrial Revolution and the establishment of steam mills, Carnegie’s family was forced to sell their looms and move to America in order to find new opportunities. Heilbroner points out that young Andrew Carnegie had a negative view on wealth

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.

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

Andrew Carnegie Essay written by aliciareagan@neo.tamu.edu A man of Scotland, a distinguished citizen of the United States, and a philanthropist devoted to the betterment of the world around him, Andrew Carnegie became famous at the turn of the twentieth century and became a real life rags to riches story. 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

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

Andrew Carnegie was a firm believer in idea of individualism. That everyman must work and rise on his own ambition alone, that each man for themselves. In other word, he did not believe in the communist thought of working