Andrew Carnegie Essay

The richest man in the world, in his time, was Andrew Carnegie. His story of success was truly one of rags to riches. After coming to the U.S. from Scotland as part of a working–class family, he moved from job to job, eventually becoming more influential and gaining a large sum of money. Soon he was using his wealth to contribute to many public services, such as libraries and schools.Andrew Carnegie's life and actions have left a long–standing legacy and have contributed greatly to the American way of life, particularly toward education. Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25th, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. His father was a hand loom weaver and Chartist. Carnegie believed in the importance of birthplace. "I was supremely so in...show more content...

It was not long before Andrew had built his own blast furnace, inspired by Bessemer and his ideas. This was in 1870, and in Braddock in 1874, he had open his steel furnace. Henry Frick was one of his many partners, although he always wanted to stay in control of his ventures. Carnegie was also interested in political and social issues, writing a few books including Round the World in 1881, An American Four–in–Hand in Britain in 1883, and Triumphant Democracy in 1886. He was also a big fan of the educational system in the United States. In June of 1889, an article was published in the North American Review by Andrew about what he referred to as the "Gospel of Wealth". In it, he stated that rich people have a duty to use their wealth towards benefiting the community. In his words, "A man who dies rich dies disgraced.2" In the same year, he made Henry Frick chairman of the Carnegie Company and then moved to New York to do some research. He also spent six months with his family in Scotland. In 1892, Frick realized there was no centralized management for the company and decided to combine everything to form the Carnegie Steel Company. It was worth $25 million and was the largest steel company in the world. Frick became greedy and wanted to increase profits, so he lowered employee wages. Workers began to strike, so Frick hired 300 strikebreakers to resolve the situation. There was a battle that lasted a day and 60 men were wounded.