Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, And Andrew Carnegie

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

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, during the climax of the American Industrial Revolution, there was a small group of men who owned the major businesses and were leaders of their industries. They owned factories, railroads, banks, and even created company towns for the sole purpose of housing their workers. Due to the efforts of these few men, the U.S. economy became the envy of the world, and America became a leading world power. They provided the public with products that were in high demand for reasonable prices, and opened their markets to countries overseas. Although many people believe the early industrialists were Robber Barons who exploited the poor, these great men were truly Captains of Industry who created new ways of doing

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 didn’t let the Industrial Revolution that destroyed his father’s business destroy him. As a young boy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Carnegie began working in a factory. He despised this position but it made him stronger and he pushed on in his hunt for his new future. In so doing, he was able to gain a fresh outlook with a position in a telegraph office. From here, he developed a skill that all successful business men need to master; Carnegie learned the artful skill of making business connections. This new talent is what led Carnegie to his relationship with Thomas Scott. Scott helped Carnegie by getting him a job with Pennsylvania Railroad. This position was a crucial turning point in Carnegie’s career.

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

Cornelius Vanderbilt was the the leader of steamboats and railroads who built important infrastructures in the 1800s that helped the American economy to thrive. According to Charles R. Geisst in his article Vanderbilt, Cornelius, before Vanderbilt entered the steamship industry, he already owned a shipping business, but due to its unprofitable future because of the competition with the newly introduced steamboats, he decided to sell all of his current ships and decided to enter the steamship industry business.

Carnegie not only got his start as a young Irish immigrant working as a railroad telegraph operator, his first major corporation was the Keystone Telegraph Company, in which he acquired the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Company. Carnegie thought of giving up on business after having moderate success, but on a trip to England in 1872, he met with Henry Bessemer and saw his plans for steel. (Carnegie

Each industrialist showed some traits of being a Captain of Industry at one time or another. Andrew Carnegie says in Wealth and Its Uses that millionaires “are the bees that make the most honey, and contribute most to the hive even after they have gorged themselves full.” (Document B). This is meant to mean that the industrialists ruled the highest businesses in the industry, but managed to also contribute to the community in various ways. Carnegie also said in Wealth that “ the duty of the man of wealth [is]...to set an example of modest, unostentatious living [and to]...bringing to their

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

Following the war, congress pushed transformation into an agriculture and industrial powerhouse as well as commercial development and western expansion. Because of advances in transportation and communications including, continental railroads and transatlantic telegraph systems, huge corporations began to control the economy. As William Graham Sumner said, “the process of industrial revolution development, controls us all because we are all in it. It creates the conditions of our own existence, sets the limits of our social activity, and regulates the bonds of our social relations”. Many businesses grew exponentially in size and power because of business men by the name of John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. Pierpont Morgan. They controlled standard oil and Carnegie steel and monopolized all other competition. Morgan, helped Carnegie and Rockefeller monopolize competitors thru his investment bank, J. Pierpont Morgan and company. As big business’s grew, farm owners struggled, forcing them to become wage earning laborers.

The 2nd Industrial Revolution was a period in time where breakthroughs of inventions were further based off of science and engineering. Certain innovations included the use of oil, the production of steel, and the construction of railroads. The time the United States faced this transformation was roughly between 1870s through the 1914s. Three important and influential men that played major roles during this stage were John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. The time period was changed immensely by these men.