Andrew Carnegie's Impact On The Industrial Era

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. As a child in Scotland, his family faced many financial issues. Their main source of income was from weaving, which was not very lucrative at the time. On top of this, their income was further limited by the introduction of the power loom. This invention forced Carnegie’s father to sell his extra looms, having his fortune ruined. These experiences

Often, he made harsh business decisions that negatively impacted his employees; however, he always felt it was justified. One reason he felt it was justified was that he was serving “America by building their enterprises.” (44). He saw the creation of wealth as a noble endeavor. When Carnegie built his company, he ended up creating one of the biggest companies in the world. This greatly impacted the American economy. He helped to bring a large amount of iron and steel into global circulation, and made these two one of America’s largest exports at the time. This steel and iron also helped advance and speed up America’s industrialization. Although Carnegie’s lower class employees were sometimes negatively impacted by his harsh business decisions, Carnegie felt these decisions benefitted all of

Carnegie was a firm believer in Social Darwinism. He saw himself as the most fit, and his financial success was attributed to this fitness. This idea of Social Darwinism made him believe that he was better than everyone else, because he was the most successful and elevated of all mankind. “America needed steel,” (45) and Andrew Carnegie provided. Although Carnegie felt he had more worth than most other people, he still felt he should give back to help others. Believing in the Gospel of Wealth, he believed he was morally obligated to give his wealth back to others in society. At the time of his death he had given ninety percent of his wealth to charity, leaving “10 percent of his wealth for his wife and daughter,” (47). Most of the money he gave was to educate and edify mankind. He believed that he had more self worth than others, but instead of using his success for greed, he used it to positively change the