During the Industrial Revolution big businesses took places of small workshops, increasing to quantity but not quality. This made many people lose their jobs, and now there was only one place to work the factories. Ahead of these factories were big business owners, some born into money others worked their way up to it like Andrew Carnegie. Work at these factories became unsafe and the pay was bad, they could only blame one person and that was the owners. People of this time saw these business owners as either villain or hero, witch side of the scale do Andrew Carnegie falls on? Andrew Carnegie robber baron due to his obsession with wealth and money. Document 2 shows that he always watched the cost of how much money he put into making the product. …show more content…
In the iron and steel industry the employees worked for 10.67 hours for only a pay of $1.81. It costed $600 a year to support a 6 member family and that’s with lowest cost. That only $660.65 a year for a family of that size. In document 4 it shows that in while his employees worked long hours off their labor, Andrew daily wage was $92,000. His employees could only work in hopes they could make that much, while he made that just by having them work for him. There are many ways Andrew Carnegie was a robber baron, yes. Yet, he always did things to help the community grow and helped people. In document 5 Carnegie shows a chart shows his foundation and the amount of money it donates to different things and people. In 2005 his foundation was giving out about $100,000,000 a year to education. Trying to give others the opportunity to young people to be just as successful in life as Andrew. The way he looked at money in the 1870’s is helping others even after his death. Andrew Carnegie was a money hungry man. Having a share in government affairs and underpaying his employees. All just help him get ahead of the other competition. He worked his way to the top then had lower people do the work for him. The rag to riches story is an inspiring story, but once you make it to the riches; why let others
Andrew Carnegie was known as one of the most influential men of the late nineteenth century. He was known for moving along the industrial revolution and giving back to the people. Although he grew up with some hardships, he still was able to grow up and become one of the richest people in the world. Once he had a handle on the industry he built he reduced production and selling costs. He sold his company and donated his money to the people.
This led to people labeling him as both a Robber Baron and Captain of Industry. Can we really define who Andrew Carnegie is through his actions? It implies that he has two faces and acts as both, but there is a deeper part of Andrew Carnegie only he himself would know about. What caused him to treat the steel workers badly?
Annotated Bibliography Yu Hu 胡宇 1. Banayan, Alex. “ How Andrew Carnegie Got Really Rich.” Executive Leadership 30 no. 11 (2015): 1-3.
Rather, he thought that wealthy men had a responsibility to determine how the money they made was spent. Carnegie himself became a huge philanthropist and his essay, “The Gospel of Wealth” started a large wave of philanthropy. His essay states that the “surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of the many, because administered for the common good, and this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if it had been distributed in small sums to the people themselves.”
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish native that emigrated to Allegheny, Pennsylvania when he was a young boy. Through rigorous work, reading, and dedication Andrew Carnegie became one of the wealthiest men in history. In this autobiography Andrew Carnegie explains the story of being an immigrant who goes through numerous obstacles and struggles, however, rises to the top. Carnegie’s autobiography was moving and extremely powerful for being one of the first of its kind in the 1900s. He starts as a telegrapher and with hard work and complete devotion to being the best, becomes the captain of industry and steel magnate.
In today’s society the term “rags to riches” is heavily overused, someone can strike it rich in the stock market or the lottery and earn the term. However, a few key figures in history have actually lived a “rags to riches” life. Andrew Carnegie is one such man.
The Father of Modern Philanthropy, Andrew Carnegie, in his article, “Wealth,” describes his views about prosperity and inequality. Carnegie’s views are very much logical considering he was one to come from “rags to riches.” He began by working as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill and soon became a messenger boy in a telegraph office. In addition, Andrew was an enthusiastic reader and expanded his knowledge constantly which led him to become a telegraph operator and later, the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Throughout the years, he climbed up the ladder and eventually built the Carnegie Steel Corporation that transformed into the largest steel industrial company in the world.
andrew used his workers well earned money; later Carnegie used the money for charity and himself. Andrew Carnegie was not a hero, he took money from his worker, and later used that money for charity and himself. The steel company was important to America, but what would the steel company be without the workers? ANdrew Carnegie reduced wages of worker
Andrew Carnegie was born in scotland and moved to America. Carnegies family moved to america when industrialism advanced in technology and most people at that time lost their jobs. So when Carnegie's dad lost his job they moved to Pennsylvania,WA. In Pennsylvania Carnegie got a job as a bobbin boy for a pay of $1.20 a week working day and night. But after a couple months Carnegie was noticed by a man named Thompson A. Scott.
Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business (1975) by Historian Harold C. Livesay is a biography about the 19th century steel-industry icon and tycoon, Andrew Carnegie. A bestseller when first published, the book was praised for its comprehensiveness of information yet succinct style. It is commonly assigned to college students in business and US history as an “abridged” version of Carnegie’s life. Its themes include the rise of corporations in the US, smart business tactics, and wealth accumulation as well as philanthropy.
Andrew Carnegie was an entrepreneur during the late 1800s. He was best known for his success in his own steel company. Over the years Carnegie became very wealthy once his steel business took off. Carnegie was known as the richest man in the world in that era. Being the richest man in the world wasn't always easy, it came with long hours of work and constant decision making.
Carnegie was considered a Robber Baron for many reasons. For example, he gained huge profits because of his workers low wages. In the excerpt, “Who was Andrew Carnegie,” the author said, “his steel workers were often pushed to long hours and low wages.” Workers worked in harsh conditions and received no benefits causing them to live in poverty with scarce food, clothing, and shelter. Workers were tired of the low wages and decided to go on strike.
I categorized Andrew Carnegie a Captain of Industry after learning of his philanthropic views and actions. Carnegie not only obtained a wealth from working hard and wisely investing but used most of his fortune to make a difference on the world. Carnegie own words categorize the essence of generosity and kind hearth. I cannot disagree with him when he stated that “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced”
He would often cut the wages of his workers while giving extravagant things out to places only he cared about; such as Scotland, where he grew up. An illustration in The Saturday Globe depicts Carnegie as two faced and evil. It says; “Forty-millionaire Carnegie in his great double role. As the tightfisted employer he reduces wages that he may play philanthropist and give away libraries, etc.” (Document D).
Andrew Carnegie was a famous industrialist. When Carnegie was 13, he and his family moved to the United States from Scotland. They came to the United States very poor. Carnegie started as a bobbin boy at the age of 13, changing spools of thread in a cotton mill 12 hours a day, for 6 days a week. He was paid a low wage of $1.20 per week.