Why Andrew Carnegie Is Not A Hero Essay

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Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland on November 1835. Growing up poor, Carnegie started working 12 hour shifts at the age of 12 for a $1.20. As he started getting older he taught himself new things which would eventually lead him to making $1,500 a year at the age of 17. In the early 1870s Carnegie was so successful in the steel industry that he sold his Carnegie Steel Company to J.P. Morgan for $480 million making him the richest man in the world. Before dying Andrew Carnegie dedicated himself to helping charities and donating approximately $350 million to education. All of this makes Andrew Carnegie look like a hero, but he was not. Carnegie was no hero because he didn’t treat his workers fair enough, he was selfish, and he …show more content…

Allegheny Bessemer Steel had came up with new technology that would actually help the railroads, but Carnegie didn’t like the idea of another company being bigger than his so he sent out a fake letter to the railroad companies (Doc H). Later, the Allegheny Steel Company went out of business giving Carnegie power again. In Doc. G an article published by Harold C. Livesay states that Carnegie was indeed competing with other companies. He asked his friend, Frank Doubleday how much money he was making and then suggested he get out of it because it wasn’t a lot. Knowing there was competition Andrew Carnegie could be trying to get rid of his “friend” because it would be less competition he would have to worry about. In brief summary Carnegie was not a hero because of how badly he treated his employees who worked nonstop for him. He was selfish for wanting to be recognized for his work only because he did not want to be disgraced when he died. To stay successful and be on top he did what he could do to kick his competition out of business. If Andrew Carnegie was really a hero he would not hurt people, instead he would try to help them. If someone is doing horrible things that affect other people, but are also donating large amounts of money to charity are they really a

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