Andrew Carnegie was a self-made millionaire (and in today’s money a billionaire) who rose from the bottom up. In 1835, Andrew Carnegie was born in the attic of a weaver’s cottage, located in Scotland. His schooling took place in a one-room building. Carnegie, along with his family, left Scotland for the United States in 1848 because of the poverty situation. The jobs he had in his early days in the United States include; a bobbin boy, a telegram deliverer, and a railroad job. He worked himself up at the railroad job, but decided to move to New York City. He wanted to get out of business at this point, but when introduced to the Bessemer technique, he decided to get back into business. He developed the Bessemer process and made his fortune. …show more content…
In document B, we can see an article that Carnegie himself wrote, in June of 1889, where he states “(why should a man) wait until he is dead before he becomes of much good in the world?” He shows here not only his desire to help the world before he dies, but his aspiration that others do the same. He also expresses in the same article “The man who dies rich dies disgraced.” He again here exemplifies his want for the wealthy to do good for communities with their finances. These pieces of evidence show Carnegie not only wanted to make sure he was giving back, but that other affluent people were …show more content…
In document C, we see a partial list of his transactions with charities, including; the Teachers’ Pension Fund, the Homestead Relief Fund, the Carnegie Institution, and public libraries. The things these donations did were very helpful to many, helping professors get old age help, funding steel workers and their families, promoting scientific research, and helping to create over 2,811 public libraries. He also created the Carnegie Corporation, which was a supertrust made to continue giving out Carnegie’s fortune after his death, primarily to education. This shows that he used his finances to give back to communities, which he could only do because of his financial
Andrew Carnegie was born November 1835, in Dunfermline, Scotland. He grew up poor and lived in a small cottage attic with his family. In 1848 the carnegie family made the hard decision to immigrate to the United States. Carnegie was locally famous for decoding messages when he was a telegraph operator. He later worked himself up to being one of the most famous men in business during the late 1800’s.
Andrew Carnegie was one of the richest men of his era. He helped to completely change the Industrial Era, and had a large impact on American history. Although Andrew Carnegie was a rich man, he was not always that way. Growing up in Scotland and later moving to America with his family, Carnegie faced many challenges in his life; however, these challenges helped to make him stronger and more successful.
Was Andrew Carnegie a Hero? Andrew Carnegie was a successful businessman. He was born in Scotland. In 1848, His family moved to the United States. When he was 24, he became a supervisor of the railroad company.
In his view, hoarding wealth and failing to use it for the greater good was shameful. Carnegie, following his philosophy, donated millions of dollars to fund libraries, cultural institutions and education all around the world. By building and funding such institutions, Carnegie left behind a semblance of his positive contributions as a Captain of industry by setting an example for others in his position. Take detailed notes from the reading about why Carnegie was a Robber Baron (bullets are fine).
Andrew Carnegie's views on wealth is almost the same as how billionaires think and use their money today . Carnegie's thought that people with money they would be able to help the poor by building libraries and other type of building that would help the middle class to get an education. He taught by helping the middle class rise from poverty and give them an education they would be able to do great things in life. Based on what I have read in both article Andrew Carnegie's views were considered ethical because he wanted what was best for the poor and he wanted to help the coal miners and give everyone an education.
I agree with Andrew Carnegie’s decision to donate and invest his accumulated wealth in the public because it is the most useful and beneficial way to spend his wealth. Moreover, I believe that distributing the money to relatives or keeping the money to oneself does not sufficiently utilize the money. By donating and investing in the public, a majority of the money can be spent on necessities for the general public, rather than spending the money on a single person. In other words, Andrew Carnegie’s decision to donate and invest in the general public benefits significantly more people than it would if he were to give it to relatives or keep it to himself. Furthermore, I believe that withholding the money to oneself is unrightful in the sense
Yet another charitable act was when he donated 5 million dollars to the New York Public Library. He also started the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1910. Carnegie once wrote that the wealthy have “a moral obligation to distribute [their money] in ways
He inside gave it to better use. He also did this because he said that rich people don't do that good in this world. This evidence helps explain why Carnegie was a hero because he didn't leave his money with his family, but inside for better
To consider surplus as trust funds to produce the most beneficial results from the community. ’’ He wanted to donate all his money for the greater good of the community. Andrew Carnegie also opened many Carnegie libraries where people can use books without a fee because he believed that if a man wanted work and gained knowledge he should be able to. In (document 9) it shows how much he donated not in total but in that list alone he donated 271,013,000 dollars and in total he gave 350,695,653.
As stated in Carnegie’s book, “Wealth”, Carnegie firmly believed that “The man who dies rich, dies disgraced”. By this, Carnegie means that if you don’t give money to a good cause, you aren’t repaying your debt to society. Carnegie also emphasizes how the rich should “throw”, or in other words, give money to the poor by being a charitable person. Another example of Carnegie;s influence is when he states “(Why should a man) wait until he is dead before he becomes of much good in the world?”. To put simply, Carnegie was a mass influencer/promoter of philanthropy, and he donated all of his money while he was alive because he thought he would make an impact while he was living to do “much good in the world”.
He gave a big majority of his money to help education. In document C, it states that still, to this day, his corporation in 2005 it was listed at 2,167,000,000 dollars. And, this corporation gives about 100,000,000 dollars a year. Mostly to education. Just this statement says that he donates nearly all of his money to education.
Andrew Carnegie sold his steel company to the United States Steel Corporation in 1901 (Biography.com Editors, 2014). Carnegie donated five million dollars to the New York Public Library, established the Carnegie Institute of Technology, created the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, formed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and bolstered the opening of over 2,800 libraries (Biography.com Editors, 2014). Andrew Carnegie made a huge impact due to his philanthropic work. The donations and support of Andrew Carnegie were the cause of many important contributions to society. Andrew Carnegie made a dramatic change in his life when he decided to sell his company.
His philanthropies went towards things like libraries and donating instruments to help with education for the public. Giving away his wealth to help others better themselves, was a high priority for him. He contributed to the development of churches, libraries, and universities to help those who were working towards something. This may have been a result of the difficult childhood he had and the struggle he faced when trying to improve his life. Both this and Social Darwinism had a part in changing Carnegie’s view of himself from the son in a poverty-stricken family, into someone who took advantage when opportunities were presented and created an exceptional life for himself.
As Carnegie was growing both richer each day from his prosperous Steel company, he had eventually become one of the captains of industry and also in some cases a robber baron. Other owners like Rockefeller were also a part of this group. going back to the Gospel of Wealth, after Carnegie had accumulated an excessive amount of money he had pulled up from his successful industry, he felt the need to use it correctly to benefit everyone or people who didn't have as much money as
Carnegie was not a hero, because a hero does a deed selflessly, but he thought a lot about himself. 184,400,000 dollars was spent on big-name corporations and associations that would honor him by naming a meaningful belonging after him (Doc C). Carnegie was a man who wanted to feed his ego but should have donated money to help the community, not make himself known. Andrew Carnegie was not a true hero. Many may say, going from rags to riches makes Carnegie a hero.