During Andrew Carnegie's life, life he was blamed for many things. Like treating his workers like pieces of machinery instead of people. Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland in 1835 to a poor scottish family and forged his way to the top using the steel industry. He was taught the ways of business by Thomas Scott who told him to invest in certain companies to make money. He then used that money to build his first steel mill the Homestead steel mill. He then went on the build many other steel mills across the united states, completely dominating the steel industry. He was commonly known to mistreat his workers and only care about profits and his machines. His factory environments were awful and the conditions were harsh. Andrew Carnegie was …show more content…
He hired abominable people to manage his steel mills, and he took absolutely no responsibility and didn't care what they did to his employees. For example, he hired Henry Frick as a manager for the Homestead Mill in Virginia. The mill wasn’t making money, so Frick lowered wages and increased hours to attempt to save it. The workers revolted to the managers completely unfair treatment and locked themselves inside the mill. Frick hired the Pinkertons, a private army, to attack the workers. The Pinkertons fired upon the workers, and many of the workers tried to run many were shot and severely injured and nine were killed in this demonstration of profits over people attitude. One worker that survived the strike said “It was a place of torment. Men were lying around wounded and bleeding and piteously begging for someone to give them a drink of water, but no one dared to give them a drop, although water was all around us…” Often workers would say that if Carnegie knew what was going on inside his mills, he would be horrified. In reality, he was well aware of what went on and just didn’t care. Andrew Carnegie treated his workers horrible and in result was an unjust person, and was an awful, greedy, and treated people like
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.
Just like the treatment his workers endured Carnegie wasn't any nicer to his competitors. Andrew Carnegie was a phenomenal businessman. Much of his success is due to how he operated his business. He watched the costs of his business intently (Document C), always making sure that the steel was being produced at a lower price than what it was being sold for (Document D), and he watched his competitors even closer. In March 1889, when Allegheny Bessemer Steel built a mill directly across from Carnegie's mill it intimidated Carnegie.
Andrew Carnegie was born November 25 of 1835 in the small town of Dunfermline in the United Kingdom. Raised in an impoverished family his parents worked hard and finally decided to find a new start in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an up and coming factory city. Working his way up from a meager factory worker to the superintendent of the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad company in just 8 years, and then creating Carnegie Steel, which he would sell for $480 million was no easy feat. At least it was no easy feat, according to Carnegie’s personal testimony at his trial last week, where he was charged with reckless endangerment, hypocrisy, and greed; all of which make him a robber baron, rather then a captain of industry. Despite Carnegie’s
Andrew Carnegie owned and steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania that was slowly growing unfair, Carnegie put a man named Henry Frick in charge that wanted to lower people's pay and raise hours in the new contracts for the worker. The workers at the Homestead Steel mills were very upset so they went on strike. The strike was very violent and 16 people died. The main person responsible for the strike was Andrew Carnegie. He is to blame because he left to Switzerland to get away from all of this without having a new contract for his employees
Carnegie was involved in a highly competitive business. Does this excuse him (and others) for their treatment of workers? As told Carnegie grew up poor and then was forced to work unbearable hours and six days a week for little pay. “In 1849, at the age of 14, Ohio Telegraph Company hired Andrew as a telegraph messenger for $2.50 per week. With roaring ambition and an unbelievable work ethic propelling him, Carnegie taught himself the language of the telegraph and within a year became the operator.
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.
The late nineteenth century was a pivotal moment in American history. During this time, the Industrial Revolution transformed the nation, railroads had dissipated all throughout the country, and economic classes began to form, separating the wealthy from the poor. One of the wealthiest men of this generation was Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who fled to America to make millions off the railroad, oil and even steel businesses. Carnegie is considered one of the richest men in history, and even with all that wealth he decided to give back to the community. As a matter of fact, Carnegie donated most of his funds to charities, universities and libraries in his last few years.
In the late 1800’s, J.P Morgan, John Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie had a negative impact on society because they were Robber Barons. They treated their workers very poorly in a way that should not have happened. J.P Morgan forced his workers to labor under harsh conditions for long hours and low pay. This is coming from a guy who has made millions of dollars and who has started a 60 million dollar business. Knowing how much money he has and how very little he pays his workers shows how ruthless he is as a business owner.
Andrew Carnegie was a “robber baron” as shown in the way he acted towards the people who helped him reach the top and the terrible working environment that he subjected his workers to. He did various things in an attempt at overshadowing the awful things he did and positively alter his public image. His mentor, Thomas Scott, taught him the skills he would use to become the undisputed king of steel. Costs were the most important aspect of any business and reducing those required cutting wages, demanding 13 hour days and utilizing spies as a way to thwart possible strikes. Many years after Carnegie had gone out on his own, Scott met with him thinking that the years they spent together and all he had taught him would unquestionably result in help in his time of trouble.
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.
Andrew Carnegie was one of the most famous and wealthiest American industrialist during the Industrial Age. He was a robber baron who made a fortune in the steel industry and applied vertical integration to his business. Carnegie contradicted his views as a robber baron because he supported, but destroyed many unions. This made many of his views unethical.
Andrew Carnegie pushed his employees to work long, exhausting hours and put his support behind the plant manager Henry Frick who treated his workers atrociously. Henry even locked out workers and also hired pinkerton thugs to intimidate strikers. The working conditions in Carnegie's mill were so dangerous that twenty percent of deaths in Pittsburgh during the 1880’s were because of steelwork accidents. Andrew Carnegie did not play when it came to his wage. At one point, Carnegie lowered his wage by thirty percent which lead to a strike.
Andrew Carnegie is a steel plant owner who claims to support unions and the working man. His charge is that he ignored the legitimate grievances of his employees at his plant in Homestead Pennsylvania and that his neglect contributed to the death of several of his employees during a strike at Homestead in June of 1892 and that he should be held accountable. Andrew Carnegie has dealt with strikes at his plants before. One strike was at his plant in Braddock Pennsylvania where he settled with the workers by agreeing to higher pay but without input from the Union, essentially ruining it. The union at Homestead was one of the last unions in any of his plants.
A captain of industry can be defined as ¨a business leader whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributed positively to the country in some way.” Andrew Carnegie was an ideal representation of a captain of industry, he was born poor, yet he rose the ranks and became a successful businessman who dedicated his fortune to good causes. Due to his success and innovation in the steel industry and his benevolent donations, Andrew Carnegie was a prosperous businessman who benefited lives across America. Andrew Carnegie furthered the steel industry and brought forward new innovations that advanced technology and market shares for generations. Not only did Carnegie develop technologies, he helped forge new business models.
He grew up in poverty. His father's name was William Carnegie, William worked as a weaver and was the only source of income for the family. Carnegie’s mother's name was Margaret Morrison. Carnegie’s father died in 1855, after his death Carnegie realized that he would have to take care of the family. Carnegie gotta education and by the age 18 Carnegie was a secretary for Thomas A. Scott, the superintendent of the western division for the Pennsylvania Railroad.