Summative AssessmentDBQ Essay #1Was Andrew Carnegie a Hero?”A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” – Joseph Campbell. This world brought up many admirable people who have impacted our United States, way of life, and history greatly with the use of their noble qualities.
One of these individuals are Andrew Carnegie, the famous business tycoon in the steel industry. Carnegie was a Scottish born who immigrated to the United States at 13 years old and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, a small town near Pittsburgh after being driven out by the arrival of power looms and the fall out of the Irish potato famine. (Background essay) His first job was in a cotton mill, where he earned $1.20 per week and then he later evolved into one of the charitable and wealthiest people in the world once he saw the needed steel for physical plant and machinery and then seized the moment. He was an American industrialist who accumulated a fortune because of the industrialization of steel and then became a major philanthropist. (UShistory.
org) He has impacted, inspired, and greatly affected the industrial revolution and the ones around him with courage and his outstanding achievements. With great ambition, skill, and heart Andrew Carnegie became a hero by his influence on the American Steel Industry, leaving his Philanthropy, and being an inspiration to others to achieve great success. Oil was not the only commodity in great demand during the Gilded Age. The nation also needed steel for rails, cars, naval fleet, skyscrapers, physical plant, and machinery. (ushistory.
org) In 1872, Andrew Carnegie made a trip to England to get out of the railroad business and there met Henry Bessemer who previously created a technique for converting iron into steel. While being involved with Bessemer, Carnegie was able to see the process up close which lead to him adopting the system and building a steel mill in America. In a matter of months he was back in the state with 107 acres of land, $700,000 raised in investment capital, and an eager spirit. Construction began not long after and his journey didn’t end there, he and his partners continued to build up mills and other acquisition to benefit others and have monopoly on. (Background Essay) After retiring in 1901, Carnegie wanted to become a philanthropist. He made numerous donations giving an overall total of $350,695,653 to education, his hometown, churches, the less fortunate, libraries, research, a supertrust, and much more. (Doc N.
) He stated that “the man who dies rich dies disgraced.” so he wanted to use what he had accumulated to “produce the most beneficial results for the community.” (Doc M) Everyone wants to become successful and prosperous but our world has always had individuals who are seen as more valuable or containing more potential to reach triumph and others who are not but Andrew Carnegie played a role in invalidating that. He had to work his way up from the absolute bottom facing poverty, hardship, and endless work just to get the smallest amount of money for his family and still became a wealthy and a captain of industry. After steel Andrew Carnegie had laissez faire approach It is easy to think that Andrew Carnegie was the most contradictory of the robber barons but when one looks at the facts you will see that he was one of the most full hearted, skilled and ambitious heros.
He made a immense sacrifices. Carnegie was born into poverty, he was familiar with the feelings of being poor. Becoming wealthy did not change his mindset, he never forgot about the impencious. Instead, he gave the less fortune a little more to become more fortunate and live better lives.
