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Andrew Carnegie: A Hero Or Hero?

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In this essay, I’ll be telling you my opinion on whether Andrew Carnegie was a hero or not. Andrew Carnegie, known as the king of steel, grew up poor, but became one of the richest and most successful business owner during the 1800s and 1900s. Much of the world regarded Carnegie as the most famous living American during his time. Andrew Carnegie was not a hero because he showed off his money, treated his workers poorly, and was selfish. First of all, Andrew Carnegie flashes his wealth. In Document A, it shows that Andrew Carnegie used to live in a poor house and when he gets rich, he bought a castle to show off his wealth rather than just buying a better house. Also, in Document N, Andrew Carnegie showed off his money by donating. …show more content…

In Document H, when Hamlin Garland, a journalist, visited the Homestead steel mill, the journalist said that everywhere in the mill felt like the mouth of hell. Hamlin saw grimy men with sallow and lean faces everywhere and when Hamlin asked one of the workers how their job is, they replied that they work twelve hours a day and mostly receive between $1.40 and $2.25 a day and rarely $5/$10 a day. There was also a machine known as deathtrap that kills workers occasionally. With Carnegie being so rich, he could’ve paid his workers more. Additionally, in Document O, Andrew Carnegie reduces the worker's pay wage by 20% in order to donate more money for his own selfish needs. With workers already receiving low wages per day, Carnegie decides to decrease the wage even more to between $1.12 and $1.80 per day and rarely $4/$8 per day. Finally, Andrew Carnegie was selfish. In Document I, it shows that while iron & steel workers work longer than machine shop workers, machine shop workers received more than iron & steel workers. Andrew Carnegie’s daily wage was about $92,000, meaning he could’ve paid his workers more but refuse to. Furthermore, in Document D, during 1875 & 1876, Andrew Carnegie was profiting $10 for one ton of steel rails and ripping people’s money off when he could’ve just profited by $3 per ton of steel rails like he did in

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