Andrew Carnegie Was Not A Hero

Andrew Carnegie, a tightfisted employer among many, but a good-hearted philanthropist among many more; however, does this really explain if he was or was not a hero? Andrew Carnegie was a scottish immigrant born in November 1835 who grew up in a poor and hard life, whose family made the tough decision to the Americas in 1848, started working at age 12 to appease his family’s financial trouble. He worked harder and harder, deciphering dot-dot-dash messages by ear, setting train schedules and untangling train wrecks, and saving Union soldiers, and finally, as a result, rose to become one of America’s richest and most integral heroes. However, we should ask ourselves this: Was Andrew Carnegie truly a hero? Well, to answer that question we need to look at the definition of a hero. Hero, a word defined as a person who holds amazing courage, or a person who possesses strong integrity, or a person who boasts a vast amount of intelligence or wisdom. Going by this interpretation, we could state that Andrew Carnegie was a hero in the business area because of his strategic intelligence; in the social area because of his honest integrity; and in the economic area because of his courageous work and investments.

Andrew Carnegie Essay Andrew Carnegie was a ruthless millionaire because of him having a under average wage to so many people that for example led to Homestead Strike (www.history.com, Doc H, Doc I, Doc O). Andrew Carnegie believed in social darwinism that was a way of thinking that the strongest and the ones giving the most effort climes the social ladder the most and his competitor in that area was the great danish person named Jacob Riis who wrote the book called how the other half lives showing the horrible living conditions of how the poor half of the country lived and wrote (notes). Carnegie was also a ruthless millionaire because of the way he gained his monopoly and used it. He made the prices so low for steel that they would go

Prior to viewing this documentary I had no opinion of Frick. On the other hand, I did have some opinions of Carnegie. I feel as if in school I was always taught that Carnegie was nothing short of a hero. Teachers and professors would always recount everything he’d done for the state of Pennsylvania, and the country as a whole. This documentary on the other hand, shows a different side of Carnegie. At the end of the day he was a businessman, and this documentary definitely brings that side of him to light. I now know that he wasn’t always operating as a perfect man or some sort of savior to his

Many people at the time were living in poverty and there weren’t enough jobs that had sufficient pay to support a family. The steel industry was one that had the highest earning wages. The average daily wage at the time for iron and steel workers were $1.87, this is far above other industries that had a smaller amount of pay. Others can argue that because of the bad working conditions workers faced in the steel industries, Carnegie shouldn’t be considered a hero. But isn’t the goal of a business to create more jobs? Carnegie believed that it was proper to have completion between the rich and the poor because if there wasn’t, there would be no individuals capable enough to provide such jobs to further expand the essential needs of laborer and those of the economy (Doc 3). When Carnegie sold the Carnegie Steel company to J.P Morgan for $400 Million, the newly named company (U.S Steel) created numerous amounts of jobs employing 168,000 people.

is a Hero because he gave a lot of money to charity and to have libraries and music halls built all

Andrew Carnegie. Who was he? Was he just a robber baron or a captain of industry. Andrew was a self made Entrepreneur in the late 1800s. He was the owner of the Carnegie Steel Company which monopolized the steel industry. In 1889 he wrote the famous “Gospel of Wealth” which made the use of libraries to give to the worthy poor that were smart to use them. He also gave away 350 million dollars. On the other side Carnegie’s steel workers were treated poorly by long working hours and reduced wages. He also gave support to the plant manager Henry Frick who hired Pinkerton thugs to intimidate workers on strike and many were killed in the conflict. Andrew Carnegie was sometimes saw as a robber baron taking others money to give away not spending his own money On the other hand people saw him as a captain of industry giving to the worthy poor with libraries and millions of dollars.

Andrew Carnegie can be looked at as a double edged sword. One edge of the blade would show Carnegie as an ideal example of a poor immigrant fighting his way up to become an incredibly successful business man who would one day give nearly all his fortune away to help society improve itself. The reverse edge of the blade would show Carnegie as a ruthless business man who would slash his workers pay, drive other businesses under and used corruption to become leader of the capitalist world. These viewpoints of Carnegie have changed as years pass. Early accounts of Carnegie depict him as the ruthless conqueror of the steel industry while other later works tend to show both sides of Carnegie with great emphasis on the fact that he was a great

Carnegie is showed being two-faced by the way he acts. Carnegie is showed being two-faced by always helping everyone, but the people that work for him. (Document D) Carnegie donates all this money to education and charities, but treats his workers like garbage (Document C). He lowered the pay for his

The second industrial revolution had a major impact on the United States, which is also referenced as the Technological Revolution. By the early 1900’s, the United States was known as the greatest Industrial powerhouse. America had several technological advancements happening at once, that not only improved people's lives but also made businesses flourish. Andrew Carnegie was the creator of steel, and he also found a way to mass produce it. Though Andrew Carnegie had several accomplishments and did the greater good he was not a hero in my eyes. If you were to define a hero, many would say that a hero is someone who sacrifices their own life for others, and wants what's best for everyone. A true hero would not use their fortune to run away from conflict, a true hero would not prey on others weakness to get to the top, and most importantly a true hero would pay their workers what they deserved for a deadly job and their time.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a major American industrialist in the late 19th century and after obtaining substantial wealth from his steel industry, became an advocate for giving back to the less fortunate. Carnegie’s desire to donate to those less fortunate came from past experiences, growing up as an immigrant and working in a cotton factory young. He knew and understood the hardships that people faced when not able to acquire the type of wealth he rose to earn. Through his long life this atypical businessman advocated for many and dedicated the later years of his life to promoting the general welfare of the world.

Andrew Carnegie did amazing things with his money while and even after he was alive. He also had flaws and did some not so very good things. He used his fortune to do things like buying organs for churches, donating to colleges, and building public libraries. His Homestead steel mill, on the other hand experienced a strike and its workers were not very content, which Carnegie turned a blind eye to. So was Andrew Carnegie a hero?

As young as 33, Carnegie was pulling in an annual income of $50,000 a year, a huge amount at that time, and this was enough for him. Carnegie was a firm believer that anyone could make it to the top, and that it was the wealthys’ duty to help the poor work towards a more comfortable life. Carnegie said that “the man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” This is a greedy, unselfish philosophy that a robber baron could not conceive.

Andrew Carnegie was a firm believer in idea of individualism. That everyman must work and rise on his own ambition alone, that each man for themselves. In other word, he did not believe in the communist thought of working

Carnegie is looking out for the best interests of the rest and his admirable goals are clearly seen from this quote. He puts power in the hands of those who can make a difference with the excess amounts of money given by wealthy men. If inheritances were instead used during life to help the community instead of

For Carnegie, there was a need to balance between the individual and fairness in order for society to function correctly. That is to say that those who enjoy the possession of large sums of money shouldn’t just look out for themselves and their own needs or wants at the time to make decisions on how to use their fortune, but instead, should try to use such resources for the benefit of all individuals of society. However, with this Andrew Carnegie didn’t mean that wealth was there to be distributed equally among all men. Instead, he believed that wealthy individuals were superior to the rest of the people and therefore, should be the ones managing surplus earnings since they had the experience and knowledge required which made them more fitted to do the job. According to Carnegie’s idea under this system based on principles and responsibilities, if everyone was to do their part of the job society will continue to experience