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American Industry: Andrew Carnegie And John D. Rockefeller

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As virtually all high school students in Massachusetts do, I took US history in eleventh grade. Over the course of that year, each student in the class produced a lengthy research paper on a topic of their choosing. Fascinated by entrepreneurship, I studied two titans and pioneers of American industry: Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. As I learned more about their lives, I realized that the ultimate goal for these men in business was to do as much good as possible in their communities, country, and the world. In accordance with this sentiment, Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie technical schools, which would eventually become Carnegie Mellon University. Furthermore, I learned that the way to improve the lives of humans around the globe is to create products, services, or organizations that …show more content…

The business I am referring to is called “TechSimple,” a local service business providing technology support and educational services for those who grew up before the ubiquity of computers and smartphones, which I started with my brother at the end of tenth grade. Since its inception, TechSimple has consistently serviced a small clientele and garnered four figures of revenue. After the minor success in launching and running this business, I knew I wanted to pursue entrepreneurship at some point in my career. Next, I needed to figure out what skill I wanted to dedicate my time to. I have always enjoyed learning and have excelled in science and math because of the generally intuitive and logical nature of those subjects. Engineering combines these disciplines and applies them to solve real life problems. That is exactly what I am looking for and that is precisely why I will study

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Haley Farrell 8/7/14 AP U.S History Summer Assignment • Andrew Carnegie was an industrialist who influenced the enlargement of the American steel industry in the conclusion of the 19th century. In his era, he was one of the most well-known philanthropists who had also given most of his wealth to charities and foundations. Carnegie believed that those who are wealthy should distribute their riches to work towards amelioration of society and to reduce the gap between socioeconomic statuses, which he expressed in an article called “The Gospel of Wealth” in 1889. Andrew gained his fortune by investing in railroads and bridges in the 1860’s and then later became a bond salesman in which he worked to elevate American enterprise in European countries.

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250 Words | 1 Pages

The question of whether John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were "captains of industry" or "robber barons" is a complex one. Both John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie played significant roles in the growth and development of American industry during the late 19th and early 26th centuries. On one hand, they are often referred to as "captains of industry" because of their entrepreneurial spirit and their ability to innovate and transform entire industries.

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George Eastman, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie were Captains of Industry. They were all Captains of Industry because they were all leaders in their own industry. George Eastman was the leader of the film industry. Eastman created the well known Eastman Kodak film company. Eastman developed film and a small, affordable camera that the average person could afford.

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Arguably one of the most pivotal points in American history, the industrialization of the 19th century brought about a new way of life, and with that came intense competition and crucial outcomes. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller are just a few examples of industrialists that made lasting impacts on society. I believe that these 19th century industrialists did not always play fair, but it was their motivation and intuition behind their choices that credit them as the “Captains of Industry” and helped shape American business. To earn this title, these men had to do whatever it took to stay on top. Being the front runners, they were constantly being targeted and had to fight back to ensure the prosper of their own

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As industry began to grow in America, a select group of pioneers such as Andrew Carnegie became controversial. The controversy was that they were simply rich and took from the poor. People who participated in such acts were referred to as “Robber Barons”. It is often said that Andrew Carnegie was a “Robber Baron” but he was not because in his case, he was one of the first people to bring industry to such a large scale. Without people before him, he had no guidance and therefore it was much harder to conduct business because he was essentially creating his own path.

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These men were captains of industry because they all donated money. One way Rockefeller bestowed a portion of his money away was by giving “millions of dollars to a variety of causes.” In the reading it quotes, “In 1919 Rockefeller donated $50,000,000 to the Board to raise academic Salaries.” This quote demonstrates that John D. Rockefeller was not an awful guy and cared for other people. In addition, it later says in the reading it that he also donated money for religion and medical purposes.

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Robber barons, specifically Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist and John D. Rockefeller, a philanthropist, were the chosen, elite members of society according to the doctrine of Social Darwinism. Darwinism is when evolution occurs and the strongest organisms of an ecosystem survive and reproduce to outnumber the weaker, less fit organisms of an ecosystem. Similarly Social Darwinism follows the same concept, but in a capitalist sense of thought. Those who were able to exploit the Gilded Age’s laissez faire economy to their own benefit, like the robber barons Andrew Carnegie of Carnegie Steel and J. D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil, were the fittest members of society because they were able to survive in the grueling and ruthless free economy. By usurping all of the fresh yet unfit immigrants that were flowing into the States due to the rise of urbanization, these two men integrated these easily-manipulated people into their factories to augment their profits.

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Olivia Strzalka 10/19/15 The wave of industrialism, in the 1800s and 1900s, was driven by men that ruled over American industry. These two men, most commonly known as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, used strategies and tactics that made some people think of them as robber barons while others had a more positive outlook and believed they were captains of industry. Robber barons referred to people who used unfair business practices. On the contrary, captains of industry were entrepreneurs who took risks developing the new inventions and technology during the era of the Industrial Revolution.

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In addition to the significant impacts Rockefeller had already left on the oil industry, he sought to gear his philanthropic efforts toward the future through education. Hoping to inspire more research to be made across the country’s youth, especially in the field of medical research, Rockefeller provided the necessary funding needed to kick-start the launch of the University of Chicago. This new addition to academia has led many Americans to further their education and pursue careers they may not have otherwise. While Rockefeller’s influence focused on the oil industry, Andrew Mellon had a similar impact on the steel industry. Through vertical integration and various technological advancements, Mellon contributed to the widespread availability of steel.

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Over the course of this post several points regarding John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie contributions to the industrialization of society were discussed. For instance, Rockefeller’s business model for growing a small company into a national powerhouse. Additionally, Carnegie’s ideas on steel mill worker’s wages and the effects it has on the community’s wages. Now, when looking at these two great men’s contributions to business, it is easy to say, Rockefeller and Carnegie, shaped not only the 19th-century business but also 20th-century

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Harold C. Livesay writes a great tell-all biography of the life of the great Steel head Andrew Carnegie. In Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business, Livesay writes about the life of Carnegie and the hardships that he had to endure in his early life and how the hardships molded him into the wealthiest man on the planet in his era. Livesay leaves the reader with a sense of what it takes for any man to achieve anything in this world if they just put their mind to it. Livesay shows all of this by showing us from the beginning when Andrew Carnegie and his family came over to the United States in search of the “American Dream”.

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The Gilded Age, around the 1870s to the late 1890s, led to immeasurable success within the American economy and society. Wealth for a few led to hope for the many, and the idea of becoming immensely wealthy appealed to people. People saw that anybody could rise to the top through hard work and it was exemplified in people like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. This gave them hope and advanced the idea of American exceptionalism and superiority. The process of obtaining wealth led to industrialization and urbanization but also to many problems.

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289 Words | 2 Pages

Andrew Carnegie lived a very poor childhood but he managed to create the biggest company in the United States during the 1800’s. Andrew Carnegie donated millions of dollars to the public when he got older such as the education system, Scotland –his home country–, and Pittsburgh –The city that he lived in before he died–. Andrew Carnegie as he got older realized that he didn’t want to die to be rich because “The man who dies rich dies disgraced”(1). Andrew Carnegie after his realization he started to give his money away. Carnegie gave away around three hundred fifty million dollars to multiple foundations or places he was involved in such as Dunfermline trust –his hometown– and the Carnegie institution which promotes scientific research.

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308 Words | 2 Pages

“And what was I? Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was not even of the same nature as man,” said the Creature, a mere by-product of Victor Frankenstein’s bona fide interest in the realm of human anatomy. The quote above depicts the plight of the Creature and how he gradually developed his unique, somewhat rich, personality through his encounters in the “real world”, laden with momentous literary pieces. All in all, in the novel Frankenstein,

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1406 Words | 6 Pages

History should remember the entrepreneurs of the 1800’s and 1900’s as Captains of Industries or Robber Barons. These entrepreneurs

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