sparing.” Andrew Carnegie, a businessman that overcame a life of poverty, devoted most of his life’s earnings to others. He did this without asking for anything in return. Though he impacted American industry significantly, Andrew Carnegie 's greatest contributions came through his philanthropy, which benefitted millions of people. Carnegie began learning about giving from his early life. Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25, 1835 in a rough part of Dunfermline, Scotland (“Andrew Carnegie…
today. In my opinion, that is exactly what they are. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan were innovators, but above all they were businessmen. Although most people see them as “robber barons”, the things they did was to some point for their personal wealth as well as for the good of this country. What most people don’t see is that what they did played an enormous role in developing America. Andrew Carnegie is the perfect example of a “rags to riches” type of person. He was born…
Andrew Carnegie started working for a railroad in Pittsburgh. He was 12 years old at the time. He met Tom Scott, the company’s President. Scott hired Carnegie as his personal assistant. Carnegie wanted to grow up and go to school. However, his family could not make it without him working because he was the man of the household. When Carnegie took on some of the tasks that he did Scott realized how important this young boy was and quickly moved him up in the ranks of the company. Carnegie became…
There are many ways to describe Andrew Carnegie such as self-made millionaire (billionaire in today’s terms) or philanthropist. However, one way in which most would not expect to describe Carnegie is as a firm believer in the estate tax. This may be due to the fact that many people do not know the definition of an estate tax or have no experience with it. An estate tax is defined as “a tax levied on the net value of the estate of a deceased person before distribution to the heirs.” However, an…
Social Conditions in “Meet You In Hell” Les Standiford’s 2005 “Meet You In Hell” biography of two men, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, recalls the events after and before the bloody incident that occurred on July of 1892. The incident involving the steelworkers and Pinkerton, so called detectives, from the steel manufacturing plant in Homestead Pennsylvania came to be known as “the deadliest clash between workers and owners in American labor history” (Standiford, 28). After the dust had…
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie’s life embodies the true American rags to riches story. Andrew Carnegie was the son of a man with many struggles to find jobs. Due to his father’s struggles, Andrew Carnegie began to work at many different jobs; he worked in two factories before he found a stable job at a railroad company. Andrew Carnegie rose through the ranks at the company until becoming the secretary for the superintendent. His many trips to England brought his eye to steel which would later…
In “The Gospel of Wealth” by Andrew Carnegies, he highlights how it is the duty of the capitalist who has amassed great fortune during their lifetime, to give back to those who are less fortunes. Carnegie proposes on three main ideas of how wealth should be properly administrated. Although Carnegie’s arguments can be looked at as a double edged sword. One edge showing Carnegie as an ideal example, while the other would show Carnegie as an egotistical and ruthless businessman who will slash their…
There were three powerful men that had control over the economy. These were, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. Pierpont Morgan. Rockefeller is considered to be America’s first billionaire. He owned the Standard Oil Company and became the largest business. He employed different tactics to eliminate the competition by buying other companies, this was called horizontal integration. Carnegie focused on the production of steel. His…
without the careful consideration of the past when making decisions for the future and Andrew Carnegie strongly believed that. “Because Andrew’s lifetime spanned two worlds, before and after mechanization, his actions continuously manifested an ambivalence rooted in his double exposure to the old world among the cottages, glens, and firths of Scotland and the new world among of smoky factories in America.” (Andrew Carnegie 13) Most of his actions as a businessman demonstrated mastery of the…
through time, such as war and battles. One conflict still carries through to today: should the Industrial leaders of the late 19th century be characterized more as “captains of industry” or “robber barons?” Two prominent figures to be noted are Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Neither was born into wealth, but rather, they earned it themselves through their success in the oil and steel businesses. But the question here is did they earn it? Or did they cheat their way to the top through…