Brendon Bennett
Mrs. Smart
ACP US History 1 Period 8
30 April 2015
Men Who Built America
Andrew Carnegie is truly a man who helped build modern America. “On November 25, 1835, in Fife, Scotland Andrew Carnegie was born the son of a handloom weaver” ("Andrew Carnegie."). He had not or could not receive a formal education, his family valued the power in books. “At 13 years old, in 1848, Carnegie came to the United States with his family, and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania” ("Andrew Carnegie."). “He began work at a factory for a dismal $1.20 a week , and in the following years he found a job as a telegraph messenger and then moved to a telegraph position in 1851” ("Andrew Carnegie."). “In a few years he began to work as the assistant and telegrapher to Thomas Scott, one of the railroad's top officials,” and through
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“Three years later, Carnegie was promoted to superintendent” ("Andrew Carnegie."). While working Carnegie began making investments on what he believed were profitable and wise, such as oil . “Within the next 10 years Carnegie turned his attention to steel, a building block of the nation, and eventually created Carnegie Steel Company” ("Andrew Carnegie."). While Carnegie revolutionized the steel industry, his business grew, becoming bigger and much wealthier, through the simple act of making steel cheaper and faster to make . Carnegie owned everything he needed to produce and distribute steel, such as railroads, ships, coal, and of course factories with the raw material . “By the end of the 1800’s Carnegie’s little empire was the largest the world had ever seen” ("Andrew Carnegie."). So with Carnegie supplying the cheapest, strongest steel around, as the world’s largest steel producer, he helped the US blossom, building up and out of its previous areas,