andrew carnegie research paper topics

Andrew Carnegie Length: 746 words (2.1 double-spaced pages) Rating: Red (FREE)   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -                                          5162000      Over the last hundred years many great people have come and gone. Only a few of these people have etched a legacy in history that puts them in a category of being influential through out the entire century. To achieve this state of supreme centennial importance ones impact must benefit not only the people living in the present but must also positively affect the men and women of the near and distant future. Anyone who accomplishes this task should be named the most influential person of the Twentieth Century. Because of Andrew Carnegie’s stand against harsh labor, expansion of the steel industry, and extreme generosity with ongoing philanthropic work, history will record him as the most influential person of the Twentieth Century.      Carnegie is most widely known for his monopolization of the steel industry. He developed numerous companies to support the need for steel in the developing United States. He foresaw that following the Civil War steel was going to be an important part of American life. He decided that it would be a smart idea to invest in the developing industry and that decision paid off enormously. (Amer. Exp.) He worked to modernize the United States through the building of bridges, railroads, and other vital roadways, which in turn brought the country together. By 1900, Carnegie Steel Juggernaut produced more steel, than all of Great Britain. In the early part of the Twentieth century large monopolies ruled the industrial world bringing about long hours, low wages, and harsh working conditions. This was also the time when the thought or the attempt to unionize was completely out of the question as far as most leaders of industry were concerned.
Andrew Carnegie may be the most influential philanthropist in American history. The scale of his giving is almost without peer: adjusted for inflation, his donations exceed those of virtually everyone else in the nation’s history. The magnitude of his accomplishments is likewise historic: he built some 2,800 lending libraries around the globe, founded what became one of the world’s great research universities, endowed one of the nation’s most significant grantmakers, and established charitable organizations that are still active nearly a century after his death. And, perhaps uniquely among businessmen, the quality of his writing has ensured that his thoughts on philanthropy have been continuously in print for more than a century, and remain widely read and studied to this day. Carnegie was born in 1835 in Scotland, one of two sons of a linen weaver and his wife. Advances in looming technology rendered his father’s occupation obsolete, threatening the family with dire poverty. Seeking a better future, in 1848 the Carnegies borrowed money to go to the United States. They settled near Pittsburgh, where young Andrew began an extraordinary rags-to-riches business career. Successful men should help lift the unsuccessful into more productive lives, thought Andrew Carnegie, and a man who neglects this duty and dies rich, he insisted, dies disgraced. Starting as a “bobbin boy” in a cotton mill for a weekly salary of .20, he advanced rapidly, eventually becoming a manager with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. There Carnegie came to appreciate the importance of iron and steel for the future of the American economy and shifted his efforts toward producing them. Carnegie had consummate—some might say ruthless—financial and organizational skills, as well as an unremitting appetite for cost-efficiencies and a keen eye for innovations (most notably the Bessemer process, the.
Andrew Carnegie, whose life became a rags-to-riches story, was born into modest circumstances on November 25, 1835, in Dunfermline, Scotland, the second of two sons of Will, a handloom weaver, and Margaret, who did sewing work for local shoemakers. In 1848, the Carnegie family (who pronounced their name “carNEgie”) moved to America in search of better economic opportunities and settled in Allegheny City (now part of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania. Andrew Carnegie, whose formal education ended when he left Scotland, where he had no more than a few years’ schooling, soon found employment as a bobbin boy at a cotton factory, earning .20 a week. Did You Know? During the U.S. Civil War, Andrew Carnegie was drafted for the Army; however, rather than serve, he paid another man 0 to report for duty in his place, a common practice at the time.Ambitious and hard-working, he went on to hold a series of jobs, including messenger in a telegraph office and secretary and telegraph operator for the superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1859, Carnegie succeeded his boss as railroad division superintendent. While in this position, he made profitable investments in a variety of businesses, including coal, iron and oil companies and a manufacturer of railroad sleeping cars. After leaving his post with the railroad in 1865, Carnegie continued his ascent in the business world. With the U.S. railroad industry then entering a period of rapid growth, he expanded his railroad-related investments and founded such ventures as an iron bridge building company and a telegraph firm, often using his connections to win insider contracts. By the time he was in his early 30s, Carnegie had become a very wealthy man.
The Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was one of the first captains of industry. Leader of the American steel industry from 1873 to 1901, he disposed of his great fortune by endowing educational, cultural, scientific, and technological institutions. Andrew Carnegie typified those characteristics of business enterprise and innovation that changed the United States from an agricultural and commercial nation to the greatest industrial nation in the world in a single generation—between 1865 and 1901. The era has sometimes been called the Age of the Robber Barons on the assumption that because no public regulation or direction existed large fortunes were built by unprincipled men who corrupted officialdom, despoiled the country's natural resources, and exploited its farmers and laborers. Surely, there were some men who manipulated the corporate securities of the companies they controlled in the stockmarket for their own gain, but the only victims were their fellow speculators.The entrepreneurs of the period not only built and modernized industry, but because they were technologically minded, they increased the productivity of labor in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and railroading. As a result, the real wages of workers and the real wealth of farmers went up sharply.In all this, Carnegie was a pacesetter. He was a stiff competitor; plowing back company earnings into new plants, equipment, and methods, he could lower prices and expand markets for steel products. In years of recession and depression he kept running his plants, undercutting competitors, and assuring employment for his workers.These 19th-century entrepreneurs were successful in a dog-eat-dog world for several reasons. Government followed a hands-off policy: it did not regulate; it also did not tax. Government had not yet made commitments to social justice.
Nicole Notario Biographical Highlights Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was one of the most successful businessmen and most recognized philanthropists in history. His entrepreneurial ventures in America's steel industry earned him millions and he, in turn, made great contributions to social causes such as public libraries, education and international peace. Andrew Carnegie was the pioneering tycoon of the Age of Steel (Let's Talk Business Network 2002). His steel empire produced the raw materials that built the physical infrastructure of the United States. He was a catalyst in America's participation in the Industrial Revolution, as he produced the steel to make machinery and transportation possible throughout the nation. In his later life, he began to shift from a focus on industrialism to a more philanthropic view on life. Carnegie became the world's benefactor to education, as he is responsible for the construction and donation of approximately 2,509 public libraries in the United States, Europe and around the world (Ibid.). Historic Roots Andrew Carnegie was born November 25, 1835, in Dunfermline, Scotland. In this area of Scotland, most residents earned a livelihood through the craft of linen weaving. Carnegie was expected to follow in the footsteps of his family and become a weaver also. As a boy, however, Andrew was educated on the history of the land of Scotland, the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of Robert Burns, the United States and its heroes, and a radical view of politics. The Carnegie family had always lived a modest life, but they were hit particularly hard when factories began using automated weaving looms. In 1848, the family immigrated to the United States. Three months after leaving their home in Scotland, the family arrived penniless in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Andrew's father, Will Carnegie, had become greatly disheartened by his failure. Andrew's.
Ms. Bollaci Period 3 Research Paper Outline: Andrew Carnegie Introduction: • Introductory Statement: Throughout history, many men and women have contributed to the betterment of the nation, each adding their unique and revolutionary ideas and inventions to the melting pot that is America. Andrew Carnegie was one of these people. • Background Information: Born in Ireland, Carnegie became one of the most famous leaders of industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was often regarded as a “Captain of Industry”. He built the multibillion dollar Carnegie Steel Company, which was a leading producer of steel and other metals, starting off with nothing more than a few years worth of pay as a mere clerk for a telegraph company. After successfully becoming the largest industrial enterprise in the world, he started to devote his life to philanthropy, emphasizing the improvement of libraries, schools, universities, and museums. Also, he placed great importance on world peace, using his influence over the worlds’ leaders to maintain stable relations with other countries. • Thesis Statement: Because of his various successful endeavors in business, philanthropy, and education, Andrew Carnegie changed the way businesses and public schools were run; also, his life achievements show that he embodies the American dream of rising from rags to riches. First Body Paragraph: • Topic Sentence: The early life of Andrew Carnegie helped create his firm foundation in business by allowing him to create connections with many of the leading industrialists, which was revolutionary since it started the trend of the creation of alliances between companies. • Research/Support:  In 1850, Carnegie became a telegraph messenger boy in the Pittsburgh Office of the Ohio Telegraph Company, at .50 per week. His new job gave him many benefits, including the ability to create lasting connections.