Andrew Carnegie: A Villain

1218 Words5 Pages
The most famous businessman in the world, Andrew Carnegie, actually grew up with another family in one half of an attic, and him and his parents in another half. This attic was located above his father’s workplace in Dunfermline, Scotland. At the age of eight, he started his education in a one-room school packed with around 150 students. Driven by the Irish potato famine, his family left for the United states in 1848, searching for a better and safer life. In order to make ends meet his family needed $7.50 a week, so Carnegie took a job at a local textile mill setting, removing bobbins as they filled with spun yarn. At the age of sixteen, he worked as a telegraph operator. He became locally famous for being able to decode Morse code messages…show more content…
Andrew Carnegie ran away from trouble when it came instead of fighting it, as is shown with the following quote: “...thus removing himself from the scene of the battle just as he had done in 1889.” When stepping down from his position as the owner of Homestead and the entire steel mill, he handed his position to Frick. This shows that Carnegie was a coward because of how he always ran away from trouble when it approached him. An article was written in 2008 - about Andrew Carnegie and the army during the war - stated: “Carnegie followed the practice of many wealthy Northern draftees and hired a Pittsburgh draft agent to find a replacement. For $850, Carnegie bought his way out of military service. It was a legal transaction. An Irish immigrant took the money and served in Carnegie’s place.” This proves Carnegie was a coward. Bribing someone intoww his place (somebody who probably had little to no experience with war, someone who just needed money) while also running away from America. Andrew Carnegie being a coward after “proving” to have obtained immense power over others is a big deal in history because it leads to the fact that he wanted money and didn't want anything to do with risking to get…show more content…
Andrew Carnegie being a true villain is a near complete and utter fact, whilst him being a hero is blasphemy. He wanted wealth and fame, and chose not to support others unless they were on his ground or were earning him lots of money. He showed barely any respect to anybody, let alone the respect of the people who worked for him and were the reason as to why he is so rich. He knocked people down and ruined their lives as workers and human beings. Heroes do not perform such horrific actions towards their people, and the people that they are attempting to save. Andrew Carnegie was a villain, destroying and ruining lives in order to evolve the Bessemer process into something bigger for the American people. He spent money from the pain of others for his own wealth, which today, would be shown as terrible and this person would most likely be shunned by most of the

    More about Andrew Carnegie: A Villain

      Open Document