Hero or Villain A lot of people may wonder who Andrew Carnegie was as a person. They may have also wondered if he was a hero or not. In some people’s opinion Andrew Carnegie was not a hero because he did not have the characteristics of a hero. He was an American industrialist who amassed a fortune in the steel industry. Then became a major philanthropist, he worked in a Pittsburgh cotton factory as a boy before rising to the position of division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. Was Andrew Carnegie really a hero ? The definition of hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Andrew Carnegie may have been a hero for the achievements he made, but in other words …show more content…
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. The final area in which Andrew Carnegie was not a hero was Work Conditions because there was terrible work conditions for the workers
I believe that Carnegie’s views are certainly ethical and that the wealthy must assist the poor if not tons of people can die like the many miners who lived tedious low-level existing lives. The miners had a very poor and unhealthy lifestyle they were covered in ash and dust all the time. The dangers of working in the mines were plenty they may be crushed to death at any giving time by the roof burned by exploding gas or simply blown to pieces by the premature blast. There were so many men and boys that ended up being crippled or dead.
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.
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 was the example of the rags to riches tale to reality during The Gilded Age. Consequently, Carnegie´s view on wealth impacted workers by motivating them towards overcoming the cycle of the laborer, as well as influencing them on how to see success.
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
Andrew Carnegie was known to be the most hypocritical of all robber barons. He supported worker’s rights but couldn’t uphold his own moral code. Under his watch, his company cut worker’s wages and extended hours. Carnegie caused an uprise of his own workers and created the Homestead Strike of 1892. He approved that his company should hire men to intimidate the workers into submission, which sparked violence and ultimately resulted in many people getting killed. Andrew Carnegie used his wealth and influence to his benefit, paying a replacement to fight for him to avoid getting drafted in the Civil War. Andrew Carnegie was a powerful robber baron that used vertical integration to control the steel industry.
Imagine having all the money you want and still having a ton left over. Andrew Carnegie was a poor boy who ended up becoming the richest man in america during 1901. He worked himself up in the Pennsylvania Railroad company and would have been successful there but he was unclear on what he wanted to do. So he decided to move to New York City where he met Henry Bessemer. Bessemer taught him how to make steel, so then Carnegie moved back to Pittsburg and set up a steel mill. There he became a steel king and it caused him to become extremely wealthy. A hero is someone who has courage, integrity, and a concern for others. There were three reasons Andrew Carnegie was not a hero and they are he was a hypocrite, did not care about others, and caused others to lose self respect.
Andrew Carnegie can be looked at as a double edged sword. One edge of the blade would show Carnegie as an ideal example of a poor immigrant fighting his way up to become an incredibly successful business man who would one day give nearly all his fortune away to help society improve itself. The reverse edge of the blade would show Carnegie as a ruthless business man who would slash his workers pay, drive other businesses under and used corruption to become leader of the capitalist world. These viewpoints of Carnegie have changed as years pass. Early accounts of Carnegie depict him as the ruthless conqueror of the steel industry while other later works tend to show both sides of Carnegie with great emphasis on the fact that he was a great
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.
Andrew Carnegie was born into poverty in Scotland and immigrated to the United States with his family for the prospect of a better life. Although, in the United States, his family still struggled to make ends meet until Carnegie was offered a job at a cotton mill as a bobbin boy, changing spools of thread for 12 hours a day, six days a week for $1.20 per week. He became the primary breadwinner of his family at the age of 12. After years of working
Andrew Carnegie did amazing things with his money while and even after he was alive. He also had flaws and did some not so very good things. He used his fortune to do things like buying organs for churches, donating to colleges, and building public libraries. His Homestead steel mill, on the other hand experienced a strike and its workers were not very content, which Carnegie turned a blind eye to. So was Andrew Carnegie a hero?
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. 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 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.
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