Andrew Carnegie: A Good Man

Decent Essays
Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was a good man. He was born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835. His father was a weaver, and part of the Chartist group which wanted better for the working class. After his father's weaving business was shut down, the family moved to the United States. They moved there because there would be more opportunity to succeed. Carnegie's first job was a bobbin boy and he only earned $1.20 each week. He thought he was meant for better things, so at age 14, he got a better job at the telegraph office. Carnegie was very personable and did well at his job. Because of this, he was promoted to a telegraph operator. After showing he could responsibility as a telegraph operator, he was promoted again. This time

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the 1920s, the idea of the “self made man” was epitomized through Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Through the innovation of Carnegie and Rockefeller, American society was given a living example of the American dream, American society was also improved through their philanthropic work and Americas place at the top of the global economy was firmly established. These two driven men were not held back by their modest beginnings and the legacy they left behind them changed American society for the better. Andrew Carnegie emigrated to America from Scotland in 1848 at the age of 13 and worked at a textile factory in Pennsylvania. Unsatisfied being a mid-level employee, Carnegie set his sights on opening his own steel company that was…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Three men, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P Morgan played major roles in changing America. However, these men were great rivals. One was always trying to outsmart the other or buy another one out. Individually, each wanted to be named the wealthiest in the world. Each of them were amongst some of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest during that time.…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25th, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. Sixty six years later, he would own the most enormous steel corporation in the world and become the richest man of his time. He started as a poor Scottish boy earning $1.20 a week working in a factory but was able to build one of the most successful industries in history. He is a captain of industry for three reasons. First off, his business, the Carnegie Steel Company, dominated the American scene by revolutionizing steel production in the United States.…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Andrew Carnegie before dying in, his contributions to society and to the world still live on today through his hard work and many sacrifices, but throughout Andrew`s life he loved to read so it made even more sense to establish more than 2,000 public libraries. Another contribution he gave in philanthropy was the establishment of he Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and funded the building of The Hague Palace of Peace, which houses the World Court, in the Netherlands. But not only did he revolutionize modern steel making and earn himself quite an achievement but gave away almost 90% of his fortune, but did it with the piece of mind that the next generation after him shall have something to live with and learn from. Andrew Carnegie…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Andrew Carnegie was one of the most famous businessman during the 1800’s. He worked in the steel industry and contributed a lot to the American society and economy. But he wasn’t as good as he looked, and he for sure wasn’t a hero. A hero is someone who cares about others and who is admired for having basic human qualities. But Carnegie never cared about them, and he lacked empathy and humanity.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Throughout history many people have been discriminated because of where they come from. In “Two Views on the Philippines Question: Excerpts from Andrew Carnegie, Distant Possessions,” we see how Andrew Carnegie feels about the people from Philippines, he considers that they are arrogant and that Americans cannot be grown there. Carnegie feels that people from the Philippines do not know what being an American is like because in order to be a true American he thinks people have to be born and grow up in America, he thinks that Americans cannot be people who do not come from the United States of America. What Carnegie does not realize is that what makes someone a true American is a person who respects the country and has the values that make…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although far outclassing many other colorful characters in American history, in the present age, Carnegie’s philosophy is also greatly admired and Carnegie’s philanthropy…

    • 2369 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Andrew Carnegie was a poor man before he became one of the richest men of the world. On November 25, 1835, Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, United Kingdom which was the center of the linen industry. Carnegie’s mother was…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland in 1835 and 13 years later he moved to Pennsylvania, and worked at a factory earning only $1.20 a week (Andrew…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although much has changed since the nineteenth century, the idea of what makes an American truly great has not. When speaking about the nature of Americans at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in 2011, our president explained that “[Americans] don 't expect others to do for us what we can do for ourselves”. This ideal has remained true since well before the nineteenth-century, when determination was the only catalyst for change. The greatest example of this determination was the rags to riches story of the Scottish-American immigrant that completely transformed America’s society and economy. Andrew Carnegie, the Titan of the Steel Industry, had considerable impacts on American society in the late nineteenth century.…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved 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
  • Improved Essays

    Industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s article “Wealth,” later known as “The Gospel of Wealth,” was published in the North American Review in June of 1889. In his writing, he rejected the traditional goals of charity. He depended less on carefully discriminating between the “worthy” and “unworthy” recipients than on attacking the root causes of unequal distributions of wealth itself. Carnegie believed that wealth should be invested in such worthwhile ventures for the wellbeing of the public being rather than using money senselessly and ineffectively. With regard to Carnegie’s belief, he indicates that the estates of the dead millionaire, or so to say, should be taxed increasingly so that the tax can go towards helping the public.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Andrew Carnegie shouldn’t be considered a hero because his selfish, ambitious, and extreme competitive attitudes had made a negative impact on others. A hero is someone who helps people who is in need of help and someone who gives to the poor and doesn’t spend money on unnecessary things that aren’t important. A hero is also somebody who has good leadership. Carnegie had a steelmaking company, In Carnegie’s time in the northeast of about the 1900s. Carnegie’s selfish attitude shows that he had a negative impact on some people.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The central theme of Carnegie's argument about the Gospel of Wealth is that rich people are superior to all others and should be allowed to use their money to help the less "fit" people. Carnegie believed in Social Darwinism. He believed that the fact that a person was rich showed that he was more fit than others. This meant that the rich man was the one who knew the most about how to prosper in society.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Andrew Carnegie made his fortune that dealt with steel, turning the industrial world into something completely new and different (PBS). With findings of steel came skyscrapers, railroads and even bridges which made the American Industry sky rocket to another level, all thanks to Andrew Carnegie (PBS). He was the creater and master behind it all, and behind things that we even use today. Without him, there would not be any jobs for the workers of this time. They should have accepted the inequality and great wealth in his hands because he is what started creating that time period for them, making their lives easier and more advanced.…

    • 1765 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays