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. Andrew Carnegie’s success came from hard work and never giving up, that's how he became the man he was ; rich and successful. A quote that describes Andrew Carnegie's success was “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” -Andrew Carnegie (Goodreads.com)
Growing up, life wasn't easy for Andrew Carnegie,
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His investments in oil companies started bringing him in lots of money. After lots of hard work he left the railroad industry in 1865 to focus on his other business interests, including the Keystone Bridge Company. In the book “Andrew Carnegie” by Joseph Frazier Wall he says the Keystone Bridge Company was an important American bridge building company. It was one of the 28 Bridge Building Companies in America in 1900. (Wall, pg 271). Finding this company, brought even more success to Carnegie but he wasn't done yet. In the next decade, most of Carnegie's time was put into the steel industry. Carnegie developed his own business called Carnegie Steel Company which was his biggest accomplishment. In the book “Andrew Carnegie” by Joseph Frazier Wall it states that Carnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company used to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century (Frazier, pg.311-312). Carnegie's business got more and more intense which lead to him to build more plants around the country, using technology and methods that made manufacturing steel easier, faster cheaper and more productive, kind of like a snowball effect. Andrew Carnegie was always very serious with his jobs and his money but he also says it is important to enjoy what you do, a quote stated by Andrew Carnegie is “Perhaps the most tragic thing about mankind is that we are all dreaming …show more content…
In 1901, Carnegie sold his business to J.P Morgan which later was later known as the United States Steel Corporation for $480 Million which is roughly $390 Billion U.S dollars today. He had more money than anyone else in that time and decided to put it to a good use. At the age of 65, Andrew Carnegie decided to spend the rest of his days helping others. He started building libraries and making donations to charities. In the book “The Many Lives of Andrew Carnegie” by Milton Meltzer it states that Carnegie donated approximately $5 Million dollars to the New York Public Library so that the library could open several branches for studies (Meltzer, pg. 121,124). Andrew Carnegie says “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.”(Goodreads.com) He believed that building libraries were the smartest buildings to build because people of any age can benefit from them. After building libraries and helping people get a better education he established the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh which “is a global research university known for its world-class, interdisciplinary programs: arts, business, computing, engineering, humanities, policy, science” (Cmu.edu) which is now known as Carnegie-Mellon University in 1904. In the book “The Many Lives of
Once he left, he dedicated most of his time to the steel industry, later resulting in his business called the Carnegie Steel Company which revolutionized steel production in the U.S. From this he started to build plants around the country, using technology and methods that made it faster and more efficient to manufacture steel. This made him a very wealthy man and he continued this for a few more years. Carnegie used a system of vertical integration to maintain his market dominance. Vertical integration is essentially the merging together of two businesses that are at different stages of production. This is when a company expands its business operations into different steps yet on the same production path; an example would be when a manufacturer owns its supplier and/or distributer.
Andrew's steel company, Carnegie Steel Company, became the leading and most efficient company in producing steel. Not only did his company make him one of the richest men in the world, but it also helped in the advancement of society. By 1889 his company was the largest steel company in the world. However, shortly after the homestead incident, Carnegie sold his company in January 1901 for 480 million
Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland, but immigrated to the United States in 1848 with his parents. Carnegie became wealthy through his venture in steel with his company Carnegie Steel Corporation. He sold the company in 1901 for $480 million to JP Morgan and decided to focus on his philanthropic work. Carnegie developed an ideology called the “Gospel of Wealth”, in which he stated that “those who accumulated money had an obligation to use it to promote the advancement of society”. Carnegie became famous for practicing what he preached, as he would fund public libraries and gave money to charities.
Questions: Take detailed notes from the reading about the ways in which Carnegie was a Captain of Industry (Bullet-points are fine). Andrew Carnegie was a successful businessman and industrialist who made significant fortune in the steel industry known for his innovative techniques and methods for producing steel, which allowed him to significantly reduce costs and increase efficiency in his factories believed in the principle of "vertical integration," meaning he owned and controlled every aspect of the steel production process, from the raw materials to the finished product $4 million dollar relief fund to assist injured employees and pensions to families dependent on those killed He made much philanthropic efforts by donating millions of
He went to Henry Bessemer, a German scientist, who had invented a way of introducing iron to carbon more efficiently. Carnegie could produce a steel railroad tie in 15 minutes, rather than the average 2 weeks. Taking this invention back to the United States, Carnegie built a bridge spanning the Mississippi River and thus creating structural steel. After having a very successful life with Carnegie Steel, he then sold his company to JP Morgan for $480 million.
According to History.com, Andrew Carnegie’s investments and primary holdings consolidated into forming Carnegie Steel Company, which he co-founded. Carnegie’s next few decades were important because the company brought benefits to both the company and the people. He became one of the most powerful people in the world which lead him to become a steel magnate. History.com said, “The steel magnate considered himself a champion of the working man.” According to Learningtogive.org, Andrew Carnegie was the pioneering tycoon of the Age of Steel (Let’s Talk Business Network 2002).
Carnegie was without a doubt a beneficent man. Not having any desire to kick the bucket with a crazy measure of cash, Carnegie chose to help general society. He was exceptionally contributing individual from society and gave away as much cash conceivable. " There stays, then, just a single method of utilizing incredible fortunes; … The obligation of the man of riches (is to) set a case of unobtrusive … living … ; and … to consider every surplus income … as trust assets … to create the most useful consequences of the group - the man of riches in this way turning into the … operator for his poorer brethren, conveying to their administration his prevalent astuteness, experience, and capacity to direct; showing improvement over they would or could accomplish for themselves… " (Document 8) says Carnegie.
For the next decade most of his time was spent with the steel industry in Pennsylvania. He soon started a very well known company called Carnegie Steel. Carnegie Steel Company revolutionized the steel production in America. As I already stated he was producing it faster than anyone else in the world.
A hero is someone who does a meaningful deed, worthy of remembrance and selflessly. Andrew Carnegie was a wealthy man. After he sold his steel company in 1900, he devoted the rest of his life giving money to charity. Did Andrew Carnegie’s generosity make him a hero? Andrew Carnegie was not 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.
Allegheny Bessemer Steel had came up with new technology that would actually help the railroads, but Carnegie didn’t like the idea of another company being bigger than his so he sent out a fake letter to the railroad companies (Doc H). Later, the Allegheny Steel Company went out of business giving Carnegie power again. In Doc. G an article published by Harold C. Livesay states that Carnegie was indeed competing with other companies. He asked his friend, Frank Doubleday how much money he was making and then suggested he get out of it because it wasn’t a lot.
Through Carnegie Corporation of New York, the innovative philanthropic foundation he established in 1911, his fortune has since supported everything from the discovery of insulin and the dismantling of nuclear weapons, to the creation of Pell Grants and Sesame Street. Andrew Carnegie’s birthplace, Dunfermline, was Scotland's historic medieval capital. Later famous for producing fine linen, the town fell on hard times when industrialism made home-based weaving obsolete, leaving workers such as Carnegie’s father, Will, hard pressed to support their families. Will and his father-in-law Thomas Morrison, a shoemaker and political reformer, joined the popular Chartist movement, which believed conditions for workers would improve if the masses were to take over the government from the landed gentry. When the movement failed in 1848, Will Carnegie and his wife, Margaret, sold their belongings to book passage to America for themselves and their sons, 13-year-old Thomas A. Scott, superintendent of the western division of the Pennsylvania Railroad and Andrew Carnegie’s boss, initiated the future millionaire’s first investment when he alerted Carnegie to the impending sale of ten shares in the Adams Express Company.
During the late 19th century, there was a growth in industrialization. This brought new opportunities for the poor and the rich. For example, Carnegie helped build the steel industry in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, which made him one of the richest man in the world. As Carnegie gained more wealth, he questioned who money should be given to. Carnegie was both a Robber Baron and a Captain of Industry.
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.
Working as a personal telegrapher he came up with two ideas to help make the railroads more efficient and these two ideas were the most successful ideas. In 1859, he was promoted to Pennsylvania railroad superintendent. In 1861, Carnegie started the freedom iron company. Since the railroads were getting destroyed in war and deteriorating over time the iron business allowed him to bring in a lot of money since he was the biggest iron maker. In 1865, Andrew changed paths and sold the freedom iron company to make the keystone bridge company, this was revolutionary because this is when bridges started being built with iron instead of wood.