America During The Gilded Age

Great Essays
Many people view the United States as the land of opportunity. People from all around the world immigrate to this country to reinvent and improve their lives. Unlike other countries, America gives them options. With education, perseverance, and good morals, the opportunities here are endless. During the Gilded Age, the theory of Social Darwinism was developed. According to Charles Darwin, evolution also applied to human society. The theory of evolution stated those who were best adapted to their environment would survive and prosper. Horatio Alger, who was a supporter of Social Darwinism, believed that America was a place where hard work ethic, honesty, and education would allow individuals to create their own success and overcome any obstacles. …show more content…
By the 1890s, he had taken over the steel industry and made fortunes. While he was growing up, his parents put great emphasis on education; his parents believed that education was the key to success. In 1848, at the age of thirteen, Carnegie immigrated to the United States from Scotland with his family. When him and his family settled in Pennsylvania, Carnegie began to look for jobs. He found a job working in a factory that paid him $1.20 a week. Throughout the years, he changed his job numerous times. By 1853, he was working for Thomas Scott, who was one of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s top officials. During this time, Carnegie started making investments in oil. The money he made from his investments and what he learned about business through his work experience helped him create his own steel industry, known as the Carnegie Steel Company. Carnegie transformed the steel industry with the help of the innovations made during the Gilded Age. By 1889, his steel corporation was the largest and most dominant in the world. In 1901, Carnegie decided to sell his company to J.P. Morgan, which earned him millions of dollars. At that point, he believed it was time to give back to the community. He became a philanthropist and donated his money to different philanthropies so they can build public libraries …show more content…
Rockefeller. When he was young, he took on different small businesses, such as selling candy. When he moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1853, he went to high school and college to study bookkeeping. At the age of sixteen, he found a job as an office clerk. This job inspired him to become a businessman and create his own commission firm. In 1859, when oil was first discovered in America, him and his partners decided to invest in the oil industry. By 1870, he had established a “horizontally integrated” company known as the Standard Oil Company. For Rockefeller, giving up was not an option. He was motivated and determined to dominate the oil industry. He went to school, found a job, and made his life the way he wanted it to be. Like Andrew Carnegie, Rockefeller is a perfect example of Social Darwinism. They both took advantage of the opportunities given to them and did not let any obstacle get in the way of their

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    • Name of Industrialist: Andrew Carnegie. • How did he acquire his wealth? - Andrew Carnegie was born into a family who believed in the importance of books and learning in Dunfermline, Scotland. After he immigrated to the United States in 1858, he started with his first job as a telegrapher and then invested in railroads. With constant efforts, he established the Carnegie Steel Company in 1889 that was the largest steel company in the world.…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    His dad was a traveling business man and his mom was a stay at home mom. He got his first job as an office clerk. At age 20 he and Maurice Clerk founded the standard oil company. They made 450,000 their first year. A few years went buy…

    • 247 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    During the period of being employed in the railroads, Andrew Carnegie started to make speculations. He settled on numerous savvy decisions and found that the ventures, particularly those within the oil industry, got significant returns. He cleared out the railway to concentrate on his different business segments. By the following decade, the majority of Carnegie's opportunity was committed to the steel business. His company, which got to be distinctly known as the Carnegie Steel Company, altered steel creation within the U.S. Carnegie assembled sites throughout the nation, utilizing innovation and strategies which made assembling steel simpler, speedier and more beneficial.…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Carnegie: Robber Baron and Captain of Industry On November 25, 1835, Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland to a poor family. When he was 13, his family moved to the U.S. As a young child, he went to go work at a railroad as a assistant and a messenger for Tom Scott, one of the owners on the railroad. On a quest to build a bridge across the mississippi, he came upon a new steel refining process. After taking many loans, and using most of his money, he build a new factory using this new process, called the Carnegie Steel Company.…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    when he was still little he moved to cleveland. When he was nineteen he started his first company with a young englishman Clark and Rockefeller. They grossed 450,000 in the first year.while they was in business together Clark did the field work and Rockefeller was in charge of the management and the office work.…

    • 115 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. His father Will Carnegie, his mother Margaret, and his younger brother Tom immigrated to united State as a penniless immigrant seeking for a better future after his father faced an economic burden due to the advance of mechanization. They settled in Allegheny city, a suburb of Pittsburg where Carnegie’s mother had relatives. At the age of thirteen, Carnegie started his first job as a bobbin boy to help his family survive.…

    • 1024 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was a big statement to people in the oil industry. Rockefeller and his partners changed the way an oil company was managed. The 4 common aspects of this industry is Drilling, Transportation, Refining, and Distribution (Outman, May, Outman 143). Rockefeller entered the industry through the refining sector. HE rose to fame by refining his oil into diesel fuel and kerosene.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    John Davidson Rockefeller Sr. was born July 8, 1839 in Richford, NY and died May 23, 1937 in Ormond Beach, FL. When Rockefeller was fourteen him and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. When he was sixteen he became an assistant bookkeeper at Hewitt and Tuttle. Rockefeller worked as a commission merchant in hay, meats, and grains when he was twenty years old. In 1863 he built his first oil refinery in Cleveland, Ohio.…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The “Gilded Age” brought significant changes to this country from the period believed to be the end of the Civil War to the beginning of World War I. Rapid financial development created inconceivable riches amid this period. New items and advances enhanced middle-class personal satisfaction. Industrial specialists and ranchers did not partake in the new success, working extended periods in perilous conditions for low pay. Gilded Age government officials were to a great extent degenerate and insufficient. Most Americans amid the Gilded Age needed political and social changes, however they differ unequivocally on what sort of change.…

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Rockefeller was born on July 8th 1839 from his Mother Eliza Davison and father William Rockefeller Sr. He is well known for his oil company (Standard Oil). In 1864 John married Laura Spelman they had four children three as of which were girls one boy. In 1863 he built his first oil refinery in Cleveland. The government was changing oil prices and raising them up from $0.35 to around $13.75 a barrel in 1962 as oil was used for lots of different things like Kerosene lamps and fuel.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Changes In The Gilded Era

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The gilded era was full of changes. All aspects of the American society were developing as technology improved. Innovations like the light bulb and telephone drastically improved ordinary things like communication and extended the time in the day. In addition, the newly built railroad system and invention of cars made transportation much easier throughout the country. Transportations biggest impact was on agriculture.…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Carnegie paid his workers only about $1.81 when they worked for about 10.67 hours, which was one of the highest paying job in manufacturing. Whereas, Carnegie statistically made $9,200 ($92,000 as of today) every hour (Doc I). Also, during the Homestead Strike, Carnegie knew something bad was going to happen but ran off and left his Vice President Henry Clay Frick who used methods that were horrible to get what he wanted (Film).The relationship with his workers is a good reason why Andrew Carnegie wasn’t a hero because even though the pay for the workers were alright, they were working in horrible conditions; it was all hot, loud and gas was given off. He earned a lot of money and didn’t raise their wages for all their hard work but decided to slowly lower it for his own profits. When the laborers went on a strike to get a union, they blocked the company, not allowing anyone to go back in to continue working.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    As he continued his wealth greatly increased as he ended up controlling more than 90% of all the oil in the U.S. The supreme court eventually ruled that Rockefellers company (Standard Oil) must be dismantled…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1892, he gave away more than eighty million dollars to the construction of the University of Chicago, and he helped found the Rockefeller University in his hometown, New York. He was a man who disliked the tobacco and alcohol, he believed his fortune was awarded by God. In that he saw it as his responsibility to divide up the fortune to improve the country and society.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Have you ever stopped and wondered how our the industry came to be? The oil industry today, would not be where it is today without the influence of John D. Rockefeller. John Rockefeller was an American business man from the nineteenth century. Rockefeller quickly became one of the richest men in America. John Rockefeller’s legacy as the richest man in the oil industry is still with us today.…

    • 1944 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays