Andrew Carnegie (properly , but commonly or ) (25 November 1835 – 11 August 1919) was a Scottish industrialist, businessman,
entrepreneurAn entrepreneur is a person who has possession of an enterprise, or venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome. It is an ambitious leader who combines land, labor, and capital to often create and market new goods or services. ... The term is a loanword...
, and a major
philanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
.
He is one of the most famous
robber baronsRobber baron is a term that revived in the 19th century in the United States as a reference to businessmen and bankers who dominated their respective industries and amassed huge personal fortunes, typically as a direct result of pursuing various anti-competitive or unfair business practices...
and
business oligarchBusiness oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate", with a divergence in that business oligarchs represent informal power over a certain region or country because of their increased wealth...
s of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
He was an immigrant as a child with his parents. He built Pittsburgh's
Carnegie Steel CompanyCarnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century....
, which was later merged with Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company and several smaller companies to create
U.S. SteelThe United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales...
. With the fortune he made from business, he later turned to philanthropy and interests in education, founding the
Carnegie Corporation of New YorkCarnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
,
Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceThe Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
,
Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since its inception, Carnegie Mellon has grown into a world-renowned institution, with numerous programs that are frequently ranked among the best in the world...
and the
Carnegie Museums of PittsburghCarnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
.
Carnegie gave away most of his money to establish many libraries, schools, and universities in America, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and other countries, as well as a pension fund for former employees. He is often regarded as the
second-richest man in history after
John D. RockefellerJohn Davison Rockefeller was an American industrialist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. Standard Oil began as an Ohio...
. Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe.
He earned most of his fortune in the steel industry. In the 1870s, he founded the Carnegie Steel Company, a step which cemented his name as one of the “Captains of Industry”. By the 1890s, the company was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world. Carnegie sold it to J.P. Morgan in 1901, who created U.S. Steel. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research. His life has often been referred to as a true "
rags to richesRags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, or sometimes from obscurity to fame. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture ....
" story.
Early life
Andrew Carnegie was born on 25 November 1835 in
DunfermlineDunfermline is a city in Fife, Scotland. It is located on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth on the route of major road and rail crossings across the firth to Edinburgh and the south. Dunfermline has a population of 45,462, making this the second-largest settlement in Fife...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in a typical weaver's cottage with only one main room consisting of half the ground floor which was shared with the neighbouring weaver's family. The main room would serve as a living room, dining room and bedroom. He was named after his paternal grandfather. In 1836, the family moved to a larger house in Edgar Street (opposite Reid's Park), following the demand for more heavy damask which his father, William Carnegie benefited from. His uncle, George Lauder to whom he referred to as "dod" introduced him to the writings of
Robert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
and such historical Scottish heroes as Robert the Bruce,
William WallaceSir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who is known for leading a resistance during the Wars of Scottish Independence and is today remembered in Scotland as a patriot and national hero....
, and
Rob RoyRobert Roy MacGregor, usually known simply as Rob Roy or alternately Red MacGregor, was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, who is sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood. Rob Roy is anglicised from the Scottish Gaelic Raibeart Ruadh, or Red Robert...
. Falling on hard times as a handloom weaver and with the country in starvation, William Carnegie decided to emigrate with his family to
Allegheny, PennsylvaniaAllegheny City was a Pennsylvania municipality located on the north side of the junction of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, across from downtown Pittsburgh. It was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1848 for the prospect of a better life. Andrew's family had to borrow money in order to emigrate. Allegheny was a very poor area. His first job at age 13 in 1848 was as a
bobbin boyA bobbin boy was a boy who worked in a textile mill in the 19th and early 20th century. He would bring bobbins to the girls at the looms when they called for them, and collected the full bobbins of spun cotton or wool thread. They also would be expected to fix minor problems with the machines...
, changing spools of thread in a cotton mill twelve hours a day, six days a week. His wages were $1.25 per week. Andrew's father, William Carnegie, started off working in a cotton mill but then would earn money weaving and peddling linens. His mother, Margaret Morrison Carnegie, earned money by binding shoes.
In 1850, Carnegie became a telegraph messenger boy in the Pittsburgh Office of the Ohio Telegraph Company, at $2.50 per week, following the recommendation of his uncle. His new job gave him many benefits including free admission to the local theater. This made him appreciate Shakespeare's work.
He was a very hard worker and would memorize all of the locations of Pittsburgh's businesses and the faces of important men. He made many connections this way. He also paid close attention to the telegraph's instruments and within a year was promoted as an operator.
Carnegie's education and passion for reading was given a great boost by Colonel James Anderson, who opened his personal library of 400 volumes to working boys each Saturday night. Carnegie was a consistent borrower and a "self-made man" in both his economic development and his intellectual and cultural development. His capacity, willingness for hard work, his perseverance, and his alertness soon brought forth opportunities. At work, Carnegie quickly taught himself to distinguish the differing sounds the incoming telegraph signals produced and learned to transcribe signals by ear, without having to write them down.
Starting in 1853, Thomas A. Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company employed Carnegie as a secretary/telegraph operator at a salary of $4.00 per week. At age eighteen, the youth began a rapid advancement through the company, becoming the superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division. His employment by the Pennsylvania would be vital to his later success. The railroads were the first big businesses in America, and the Pennsylvania was one of the largest of them all. Carnegie learned much about management and cost control during these years, and from Scott in particular.
Scott also helped him with his first investments. Many of these were part of the corruption indulged in by Scott and the Pennsylvania's president, J. Edgar Thomson, which consisted of inside trading in companies that the railroad did business with, or payoffs made by contracting parties "as part of a quid pro quo," as biographer David Nasaw writes. In 1855, Scott made it possible for Carnegie to invest $500 in the
Adams ExpressThe Adams Express Company is an American investment trust that traces its roots to a 19th century freight and cargo transport company.-History:...
, which contracted with the Pennsylvania to carry its messengers. The money was secured by the act of his mother placing a $500 mortgage on the family's $700 home, but the opportunity was only available because of Carnegie's close relationship with Scott. A few years later, he received a few shares in T.T. Woodruff's sleeping car company, as a reward for holding shares that Woodruff had given to Scott and Thomson, as a payoff. Reinvesting his returns in such inside investments in railroad-related industries: (
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
,
bridgeA bridge is a structure built to span a valley, road, body of water, or other physical obstacle, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge and the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed.-History:The first...
s, and rails), Carnegie slowly accumulated capital, the basis for his later success. Throughout his later career, he made use of his close connection to Thomson and Scott as he established businesses that supplied rails and bridges to the railroad, offering the two men a stake in his enterprises.
1860–1865: Civil War
Before the
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, Carnegie arranged a merger between Woodruff's company and that of George M Pullman, the inventor of a
sleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured for...
for first-class travel which facilitated business travel at distances over . The investment proved a great success and a source of profit for Woodruff and Carnegie. The young Carnegie continued to work for the Pennsylvania's Tom Scott, and introduced several improvements in the service.
In spring 1861, Carnegie was appointed by Scott, who was now Assistant Secretary of War in charge of
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military...
transportation, as Superintendent of the Military Railways and the Union Government's telegraph lines in the East. Carnegie helped open the rail lines into Washington that the rebels had cut; he rode the locomotive pulling the first brigade of Union troops to reach Washington. Following the defeat of Union forces at
Bull RunThe First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Battle of Manassas , was fought July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia...
, he personally supervised the transportation of the defeated forces. Under his organization, the telegraph service rendered efficient service to the Union cause and significantly assisted in the eventual victory. Carnegie later joked that he was "the first casualty of the war" when he gained a scar on his cheek from freeing a trapped telegraph wire.
Defeat of the Confederacy required vast supplies of munitions, as well as railroads (and telegraph lines) to deliver the goods. The war demonstrated how integral the industries were to American success.
In 1864, Carnegie invested $40,000 in Storey Farm on Oil Creek in
Venango County, PennsylvaniaVenango County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2000 census, the population was 57,565. Its county seat is Franklin.- History :Venango County was created on March 12, 1800 from parts of Allegheny and Lycoming Counties...
. In one year, the farm yielded over $1,000,000 in cash dividends, and
petroleumPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.The term "petroleum" was first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in...
from
oil wellAn oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and produce petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest known oil...
s on the property sold profitably. The demand for iron products, such as armor for gunboats,
cannonA cannon is any tubular piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, and shells, as well as a hundred other industrial products, made Pittsburgh a center of wartime production. Carnegie worked with others in establishing a
steelSteel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
rolling millA rolling mill is a machine or factory for shaping metal by passing it between a pair of work rolls.Rolling mills are often incorporated into integrated steelworks, but also exist as separate plants and can be used for other metals, and other materials....
and steel production and control of industry became the source of his fortune. Carnegie had some investments in the iron industry before the war.
After the war, Carnegie left the railroads to devote all his energies to the ironworks trade. Carnegie worked to develop several iron works, eventually forming The Keystone Bridge Works and the Union Ironworks, in Pittsburgh. Although he had left the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, he remained closely connected to its management, namely Thomas A. Scott and J. Edgar Thomson. He used his connection to the two men to acquire contracts for his Keystone Bridge Company and the rails produced by his ironworks. He also gave stock to Scott and Thomson in his businesses, and the Pennsylvania was his best customer. When he built his first steel plant, he made a point of naming it after Thomson. As well as having good business sense, Carnegie possessed charm and literary knowledge. He was invited to many important social functions—functions that Carnegie exploited to his own advantage.
Carnegie believed in using his fortune for others and doing more than making money. He wrote:
1880–1900: Scholar and activist
Carnegie continued his business career; some of his literary intentions were fulfilled. He befriended English poet
Matthew ArnoldMatthew Arnold was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...
and English philosopher
Herbert SpencerHerbert Spencer was an English philosopher, prominent classical liberal political theorist, and sociological theorist of the Victorian era....
as well as being in correspondence and acquaintance with most of the
U.S. PresidentsThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
, statesmen, and notable writers.
Carnegie erected commodious swimming-baths for the people of his hometown in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1879. In the following year, Carnegie gave $40,000 for the establishment of a free library in Dunfermline. In 1884, he gave $50,000 to Bellevue Hospital Medical College (now part of New York University Medical Center) to found a
histologicalHistology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It is performed by examining a thin slice of tissue under a light microscope or electron microscope...
laboratory, now called the Carnegie Laboratory.
In 1881, Carnegie took his family, including his 70 year-old mother, on a trip to the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. They toured Scotland by coach, and enjoyed several receptions en-route. The highlight for them all was a triumphal return to his native town of Dunfermline, where Carnegie's mother laid the foundation stone of a Carnegie Library for which he donated the money. Carnegie's criticism of British society did not mean dislike; on the contrary, one of Carnegie's ambitions was to act as a catalyst for a close association between the English-speaking peoples. To this end, in the early 1880s, he purchased numerous newspapers in England, all of which were to advocate the abolition of the
monarchyThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
and the establishment of "the British Republic". Carnegie's charm aided by his great wealth meant that he had many British friends, including
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
William Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone was a British Liberal Party statesman and four times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
.
In 1886, Andrew Carnegie's younger brother Thomas died at age 43. Success in the business continued, however. While owning steel works, Carnegie had purchased at low cost the most valuable of the
iron oreIron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite , hematite , goethite, limonite or...
fields around
Lake SuperiorLake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by Ontario, Canada and Minnesota, United States, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan...
. The same year Carnegie became a figure of controversy. Following his tour of the UK, he wrote about his experiences in a book entitled
An American Four-in-hand in Britain. Although still actively involved in running his many businesses, Carnegie had become a regular contributor to numerous magazines, most notably the
Nineteenth CenturyNineteenth Century was a British monthly literary magazine founded in 1877 by Sir James Knowles.In 1901, the title was changed to Nineteenth Century and After and existed until 1972. The magazine notably asserted, shortly before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, that "the only court in which...
, under the editorship of James Knowles, and the influential
North American Review, led by editor
Lloyd BryceLloyd Stephens Bryce was a U.S. Representative from New York.His father, Joseph Smith Bryce, graduated from West Point in 1829, third in his class . J. S. Bryce was a Union Major in the Civil War, engaged in the defense of Washington D...
.
In 1886 Carnegie wrote his most radical work to date, entitled
Triumphant Democracy. Liberal in its use of statistics to make its arguments, the book argued his view that the American
republicA republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "a public affair".Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their...
an system of government was superior to the British
monarchicalThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
system. It gave a highly favorable and idealized view of American progress and criticized the British royal family. The cover depicted an upended royal
crownA crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art the crown may be shown being offered to those...
and a broken scepter. The book created considerable controversy in the UK. The book made many Americans appreciate their country's economic progress and sold over 40,000 copies, mostly in the U.S.
In 1889, Carnegie published
"Wealth" in the June issue of the
North American Review. After reading it, Gladstone requested its publication in England, where it appeared as "The Gospel of Wealth" in the
Pall Mall GazetteThe Pall Mall Gazette was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865. It was owned by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood...
. The article was the subject of much discussion. Carnegie argued that the life of a wealthy industrialist should comprise two parts. The first part was the gathering and the accumulation of wealth. The second part was for the subsequent distribution of this wealth to benevolent causes. The philanthropy was key to making the life worthwhile.
Carnegie was also known to be a great journalist. This came about from his experience in constantly writing to newspapers and to their editors. His knowledge in reading newspapers stems from a habit from his childhood. He also would go on to publish three books on travel. One of them entitled "Round the world" he began writing while traveling England and Scotland.
In 1898, Carnegie tried to arrange for independence for the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
. As the end of the Spanish American War neared, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
bought the Philippines from
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
for $20 million
USDThe United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
. To counter what he perceived as imperialism on the part of the United States, Carnegie personally offered $20 million USD to the Philippines so that the
Filipino peopleThe Filipino people are the nationals of the Republic of the Philippines and to persons having Filipino ancestry. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines and about 11 million outside the Philippines....
could buy their independence from the United States. However, nothing came of this gesture and the
Philippine-American WarThe Philippine–American War, sometimes known as the Philippine War of Independence was an armed military conflict between the Philippines and the United States, which arose from the struggle of the insurgent First Philippine Republic against United States annexation of the islands...
ensued.
Carnegie opposed the annexation of
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
by the United States and in this, was successful with many other conservatives who founded an anti-imperialist league that included former presidents of the United States,
Grover ClevelandStephen Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
and
Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States, serving one term from 1889 to 1893. Harrison was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at the age of 21, where he became a prominent state politician...
, and literary figures like
Mark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is extensively quoted...
.
1885–1900: Empire of Steel
Carnegie made his fortune in the steel industry, controlling the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations ever owned by an individual in the United States. One of his two great innovations was in the cheap and efficient mass production of steel rails for railroad lines. The second was in his
vertical integrationIn microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies are united through a hierarchy with a common owner. Usually each member of the hierarchy produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...
of all suppliers of raw materials. In the late 1880s, Carnegie Steel was the largest manufacturer of
pig ironPig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Pig iron has a very high carbon content, typically 3.5–4.5%, which makes it very brittle and not useful directly as a material except for limited applications.The traditional shape of the molds...
, steel rails, and
cokeCoke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous.-Production:Coke is usually produced from coal; the process is called coking....
in the world, with a capacity to produce approximately 2,000 tons of
pig metalPig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Pig iron has a very high carbon content, typically 3.5–4.5%, which makes it very brittle and not useful directly as a material except for limited applications.The traditional shape of the molds...
per day. In 1888, Carnegie bought the rival
Homestead Steel WorksHomestead Steel Works, located in Homestead, Pennsylvania, was originally a rival of the steel company, Carnegie Steel, founded by Andrew Carnegie...
, which included an extensive plant served by tributary
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and iron fields, a 425-mile (685 km) long railway, and a line of lake steamships. Carnegie combined his assets and those of his associates in 1892 with the launching of the
Carnegie Steel CompanyCarnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century....
.
By 1889, the U.S. output of steel exceeded that of the UK, and Carnegie owned a large part of it. Carnegie's empire grew to include the
J. Edgar Thomson Steel WorksThe Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in North Braddock, Pennsylvania.-History :The mill occupies the historic site of Braddock's Field, on the banks of the Monongahela River east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, (named for
John Edgar ThomsonJohn Edgar Thomson was an American civil engineer, railroad executive and industrialist. He was the third president of the Pennsylvania Railroad , and oversaw the railroad's conversion from wood to coal as a fuel for its steam locomotives.- Childhood, early experience:Born in Springfield Township,...
, Carnegie's former boss and president of the Pennsylvania Railroad), Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Works, the Lucy Furnaces, the Union Iron Mills, the Union Mill (Wilson, Walker & County), the Keystone Bridge Works, the Hartman Steel Works, the Frick Coke Company, and the Scotia ore mines. Carnegie, through Keystone, supplied the steel for and owned shares in the landmark
Eads BridgeThe Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois....
project across the
Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
at
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
(completed 1874). This project was an important proof-of-concept for steel technology, which marked the opening of a new steel market.
1901: U.S. Steel
In 1901, Carnegie was 66 years of age and considering retirement. He reformed his enterprises into conventional joint stock corporations as preparation to this end. John Pierpont Morgan was a banker and perhaps America's most important financial deal maker. He had observed how efficiently Carnegie produced profit. He envisioned an integrated steel industry that would cut costs, lower prices to consumers, produce in greater quantities and raise wages to workers. To this end, he needed to buy out Carnegie and several other major producers and integrate them into one company, thereby eliminating duplication and waste. He concluded negotiations on 2 March 1901, and formed the United States Steel Corporation. It was the first corporation in the world with a market capitalization over $1 billion.
The buyout, secretly negotiated by
Charles M. SchwabCharles Michael Schwab was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturers in the world.-Life:Schwab was born into a German Catholic family and grew up in Loretto,...
(no relation to
Charles R. SchwabCharles Robert Schwab, Jr. is the founder and former CEO of the Charles Schwab Corporation.On the 2008 Forbes 400 list, Schwab is listed as the 55th richest person in the United States with a fortune of approximately $6.2 billion....
), was the largest such industrial takeover in United States history to date. The holdings were incorporated in the United States Steel Corporation, a trust organized by Morgan, and Carnegie retired from business. His steel enterprises were bought out at a figure equivalent to twelve times their annual earnings—$480 million (approximately $10.3 billion in 2003 prices- according to Gale Virtual Reference Library)—which at the time was the largest ever personal commercial transaction.
Carnegie's share of this amounted to $225,639,000, which was paid to Carnegie in the form of 5%, 50-year gold bonds. The letter agreeing to sell his share was signed on 26 February 1901. On 2 March, the circular formally filing the organization and capitalization (at $1,400,000,000—4% of U.S. national wealth at the time) of the United States Steel Corporation actually completed the contract. The bonds were to be delivered within two weeks to the Hudson Trust Company of
Hoboken, New JerseyHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city's population was 38,577. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, in trust to Robert A. Franks, Carnegie's business secretary. There, a special vault was built to house the physical bulk of nearly $230,000,000 worth of bonds. It was said that "...Carnegie never wanted to see or touch these bonds that represented the fruition of his business career. It was as if he feared that if he looked upon them they might vanish like the gossamer gold of the leprechaun. Let them lie safe in a vault in New Jersey, safe from the New York tax assessors, until he was ready to dispose of them..."
1901–1919: Philanthropist
Carnegie spent his last years as a
philanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. From 1901 forward, public attention was turned from the shrewd business acumen which had enabled Carnegie to accumulate such a fortune, to the public-spirited way in which he devoted himself to utilizing it on philanthropic projects. He had written about his views on social subjects and the responsibilities of great wealth in
Triumphant Democracy (1886) and
Gospel of Wealth (1889). Carnegie bought
Skibo CastleSkibo Castle is located to the west of Dornoch in Sutherland, Highland, Scotland, UK overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although the castle dates back to the 12th century, the present structure is largely of the 19th century, and early 20th century, when it was the home of industrialist Andrew Carnegie...
, in
SutherlandSutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'Ic Aoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and made his home partly there and partly in New York. He then devoted his life to providing the capital for purposes of public interest and social and educational advancement.
He was a powerful supporter of the movement for
spelling reformMany languages have undergone spelling reform, where a deliberate, often officially sanctioned or mandated, change to spelling takes place. Proposals for such reform are also common....
as a means of promoting the spread of the
English languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
.
Among his many philanthropic efforts, the establishment of
public librariesA public library is a library which is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and may be operated by civil servants...
throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking countries was especially prominent.
Carnegie librariesCarnegie libraries are libraries which were built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. More than 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built, including some belonging to public and university library systems...
, as they were commonly called, were built in many places. The first was opened in 1883 in Dunfermline, Scotland. His method was to build and equip, but only on condition that the local authority matched that by providing the land and a budget for operation and maintenance. To secure local interest, in 1885, he gave $500,000 to Pittsburgh for a public library, and in 1886, he gave $250,000 to Allegheny City for a music hall and library; and $250,000 to
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
, Scotland, for a free library. In total Carnegie funded some 3,000 libraries, located in 47 US states, and also in
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, the
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, the West Indies, and
FijiFiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country comprises an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited, and 522 islets...
. He also donated £50,000 to help set up the
University of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British 'Redbrick' university located in the city of Birmingham, England...
in 1899.
As VanSlyck (1991) showed, the last years of the 19th century saw acceptance of the idea that free libraries should be available to the American public. But the design of the idealized free library was the subject of prolonged and heated debate. On one hand, the library profession called for designs that supported efficiency in administration and operation; on the other, wealthy philanthropists favored buildings that reinforced the paternalistic metaphor and enhanced civic pride. Between 1886 and 1917, Carnegie reformed both library philanthropy and library design, encouraging a closer correspondence between the two.
The Broome County Public Library in New York opened in October 1904. Originally called the Binghamton Public Library, it was created with a gift of $75,000 from Andrew Carnegie. The building was designed to serve as both a public library and a community center.
He gave $2 million in 1901 to start the
Carnegie Institute of TechnologyThe Carnegie Institute of Technology , one of the predecessors to Carnegie Mellon University, was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. His stated intention was to build a "first class technical school" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the children of local steel...
(CIT) at Pittsburgh, and the same amount in 1902 to found the Carnegie Institution at Washington, D.C. He later contributed more to these and other schools. CIT is now part of
Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since its inception, Carnegie Mellon has grown into a world-renowned institution, with numerous programs that are frequently ranked among the best in the world...
. Carnegie served on the Board of
Cornell UniversityCornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA, that is a member of the Ivy League.Cornell counts more than 255,000 living alumni, 28 Rhodes Scholars and 41 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university as faculty or students...
.
In 1911, Andrew Carnegie became a sympathetic benefactor to
George Ellery HaleGeorge Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer, born in Chicago. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, , and at Berlin...
, who was trying to build the 100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope at
Mount WilsonThe Mount Wilson Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715 foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles....
, and donated an additional ten million dollars to the
Carnegie InstitutionThe Carnegie Institution for Science is an organization in the United States established to support scientific research....
with the following suggestion to expedite the construction of the
telescopeA telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects by the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century...
: "I hope the work at Mount Wilson will be vigorously pushed, because I am so anxious to hear the expected results from it. I should like to be satisfied before I depart, that we are going to repay to the old land some part of the debt we owe them by revealing more clearly than ever to them the new heavens." The telescope saw first light on November 2, 1917, with Carnegie still alive.
In Scotland, he gave $10 million in 1901 to establish the
Carnegie Trust for the Universities of ScotlandThe Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland is a charitable trust established by Andrew Carnegie in 1901 for the benefit of the universities of Scotland, their students and their staff....
, a fund to assist education at Scottish universities. He was subsequently elected Lord Rector of University of St. Andrews. He also donated large sums of money to Dunfermline, the place of his birth. In addition to a library, Carnegie also bought the private estate which became
Pittencrieff ParkPittencrieff Park is a public park in Dunfermline. It was purchased in 1902 by the town's most famous son, Andrew Carnegie, and gifted to the people of Dunfermline in a ceremony the following year...
and opened it to all members of the public, establishing the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust to benefit the people of Dunfermline. A statue of him stands there today. He gave a further $10 million in 1913 to endow the
Carnegie United Kingdom TrustCarnegie United Kingdom Trust is a charitable foundation based in the United Kingdom, established by Scottish-born American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on the model of his U.S. foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York....
, a grant-making foundation.
Carnegie also established large pension funds in 1901 for his former employees at Homestead and, in 1905, for American college professors. The latter fund evolved into
TIAA-CREFTIAA-CREF is one of the largest financial services companies in the United States, with $398 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2008....
. One critical requirement was that church-related schools had to sever their religious connections to get his money.
His interest in music led him to fund construction of 7,000 church organs. He built and owned
Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
.
Carnegie was a large benefactor of the Tuskegee Institute under
Booker T. WashingtonBooker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author, presidential advisor, and the dominant leader of the nation's African-American community from the 1890s to his death. Born into slavery and freed by the Civil War in 1865, he led the new Tuskegee Institute, then a teachers'...
for African-American education. He helped
Booker T. WashingtonBooker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author, presidential advisor, and the dominant leader of the nation's African-American community from the 1890s to his death. Born into slavery and freed by the Civil War in 1865, he led the new Tuskegee Institute, then a teachers'...
create the
National Negro Business LeagueThe National Negro Business League was an American organization founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1900 by Booker T. Washington. The mission and main goal of the National Negro Business League was "to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro." The organization was formally...
.
He founded the
Carnegie Hero FundThe Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, also known as Carnegie Hero Fund, was established to recognize persons who perform extraordinary acts of heroism in civilian life in the United States and Canada, and to provide financial assistance for those disabled and the dependents of those killed saving or...
for the United States and Canada in 1904 (a few years later also established in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Germany) for the recognition of deeds of heroism. Carnegie contributed $1,500,000 in 1903 for the erection of the
Peace PalaceThe Peace Palace , situated in The Hague, Netherlands, is often called the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice , the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the extensive Peace Palace Library.In addition to hosting these...
at
The HagueThe Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 485,818 and an area of approximately 100 km²...
; and he donated $150,000 for a Pan-American Palace in Washington as a home for the International Bureau of American Republics.
Carnegie was honored for his philanthropy and support of the arts by initiation as an honorary member of
Phi Mu Alpha SinfoniaPhi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men who wish to devote themselves to the advancement of music in America and who wish to associate with others who share that interest...
Fraternity on October 14, 1917 at the
New England Conservatory of MusicThe New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent conservatory in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of Continuing...
in Boston,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. The fraternity's mission reflects Carnegie's values by developing young men to share their talents to create harmony in the world.
By the standards of 19th century tycoons, Carnegie was not a particularly ruthless man but a Christian humanitarian with enough acquisitiveness to go in the ruthless pursuit of money; on the other hand, the contrast between his life and the lives of many of his own workers and of the poor, in general, was stark. "Maybe with the giving away of his money," commented biographer
Joseph WallJoseph Frazier Wall was an American historian and professor of history at Grinnell College. His biography of Andrew Carnegie won the Bancroft Prize in 1971, and he was later nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his biography on the Du Pont family.-External links:*...
, "he would justify what he had done to get that money."
Andrew Carnegie represents to some what is the idea of the American dream. He was an immigrant from Scotland who came to America and became successful. He is not only known for his successes but his enormous amounts of philanthropist works, not only to charities but also to promote democracy and independence to colonized countries.
Death
Carnegie died on 11 August 1919 in
Lenox, MassachusettsLenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. It is the site of Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra...
of bronchial pneumonia. He had already given away $350,695,653 (approximately $4.3 billion, adjusted to 2005 figures) of his wealth. At his death, his last $30,000,000 was given to foundations, charities, and to pensioners. He was buried at the
Sleepy Hollow CemeterySleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York is the resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent Old Dutch Burying Ground...
in North Tarrytown, New York. The grave site is located on the Arcadia Hebron plot of land at the corner of Summit Avenue and Dingle Road.
1889: Johnstown Flood
Carnegie was one of more than 50 members of the
South Fork Fishing and Hunting ClubThe South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a club composed of more than fifty extremely wealthy men who operated an exclusive and secretive retreat at a mountain lake near South Fork, Pennsylvania. The club is best known for overseeing the construction of the South Fork Dam, a water retention...
, which was blamed for the
Johnstown FloodJohnstown Flood disaster occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of the failure of the South Fork Dam situated upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, made worse by several days of extremely heavy rainfall...
that killed more than 2,200 people in 1889.
At the suggestion of his friend Benjamin Ruff, Carnegie's partner
Henry Clay FrickHenry Clay Frick was an American industrialist and art patron, once known as "America's most hated man"...
had formed the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club high above Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The charter members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club were: Benjamin Ruff; T. H. Sweat; Charles J. Clarke; Thomas Clark; Walter F. Fundenberg; Howard Hartley; Henry C. Yeager; J. B. White; Henry Clay Frick; E. A. Myers; C. C. Hussey; D. R. Ewer; C. A. Carpenter; W. L. Dunn; W. L. McClintock; and A. V. Holmes.
The sixty-odd club members were the leading business tycoons of Western Pennsylvania and included among their number Frick’s best friend, Andrew Mellon, his attorneys Philander Knox and James Hay Reed, as well as Frick's business partner Andrew Carnegie. The Club members created what would then be the world's largest earthen dam, behind which formed a private lake called Lake Conemaugh. Less than 20 miles downstream from the dam sat the city of Johnstown, and Carnegie Steel's chief competitor (from whom Carnegie had hired away steelmaking expert Bill Jones), the Cambria Iron and Steel Company, which boasted the world's largest annual steel production.
Poor maintenance, unusually high snowmelt and heavy spring rains combined to cause the dam to give way on May 31, 1889 resulting in the
Johnstown FloodJohnstown Flood disaster occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of the failure of the South Fork Dam situated upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, made worse by several days of extremely heavy rainfall...
. When word of the dam's failure was telegraphed to Pittsburgh, Frick and other members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club gathered to form the Pittsburgh Relief Committee for assistance to the flood victims as well as determining never to speak publicly about the club or the flood. This strategy was a success, and Knox and Reed were able to fend off all lawsuits that would have placed blame upon the club’s members.
Although Cambria Iron and Steel's facilities were heavily damaged by the flood, they returned to full production within a year and a half. By that time, Carnegie's steel production had outstripped Cambria's. After the flood, Carnegie built Johnstown a new library to replace the one built by Cambria's chief legal counsel Cyrus Elder, which was destroyed in the flood. The Carnegie-donated library is now owned by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, and houses the Flood Museum.
1892: Homestead Strike
The
Homestead StrikeThe Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. It is one of the most serious labor disputes in US history...
was a bloody labor confrontation lasting 143 days in 1892, one of the most serious in U.S. history. The conflict was centered around Carnegie Steel's main plant in
Homestead, PennsylvaniaHomestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," seven miles southeast of downtown Pittsburgh but directly across the river from the city limit line.- History :...
, and grew out of a dispute between the National Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers of the United States and the Carnegie Steel Company.
Carnegie left on a trip to Scotland before the unrest peaked. In doing so, Carnegie left mediation of the dispute in the hands of his associate and partner
Henry Clay FrickHenry Clay Frick was an American industrialist and art patron, once known as "America's most hated man"...
. Frick was well known in industrial circles for maintaining staunch anti-union sensibilities.
After a recent increase in profits by 60%, the company refused to raise worker's pay by more than 30%. When some of the workers demanded the full 60%, management locked the union out. Workers considered the stoppage a "
lockoutA lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
" by management and not a "
strikeStrike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to perform work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines...
" by workers. As such, the workers would have been well within their rights to protest, and subsequent government action would have been a set of criminal procedures designed to crush what was seen as a pivotal demonstration of the growing labor rights movement, strongly opposed by management. Frick brought in thousands of strikebreakers to work the steel mills and
PinkertonThe Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton had become famous when he foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton...
agents to safeguard them.
On 6 July, the arrival of a force of 300 Pinkerton agents from New York City and
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
resulted in a fight in which 10 men—seven strikers and three Pinkertons—were killed and hundreds were injured. Pennsylvania Governor Robert Pattison ordered two brigades of state militia to the strike site. Then, allegedly in response to the fight between the striking workers and the Pinkertons,
anarchistAnarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which consider the state, as compulsory government, to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable, and favors the absence of the state ....
Alexander BerkmanAlexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
shot at Frick in an attempted assassination, wounding Frick. While not directly connected to the strike, Berkman was tied in for the assassination attempt. According to Berkman, "...with the elimination of Frick, responsibility for Homestead conditions would rest with Carnegie." Afterwards, the company successfully resumed operations with non-union immigrant employees in place of the Homestead plant workers, and Carnegie returned to the United States. However, Carnegie's reputation was permanently damaged by the Homestead events.
Andrew Carnegie Dictum
A) To spend the first third of one's life getting all the education one can.
B) To spend the next third making all the money one can.
C) To spend the last third giving it all away for worthwhile causes.
On wealth
As early as 1868, at age 33, he drafted a memo to himself. He wrote: "...The amassing of wealth is one of the worse species of idolatry. No idol more debasing than the worship of money."
In order to avoid degrading himself, he wrote in the same memo he would retire at age 35 to pursue the practice of philanthropic giving for "...the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced." However, he did not begin his philanthropic work in all earnest until 1881, with the gift of a library to his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland.
Carnegie wrote "
The Gospel of Wealth"Wealth", or what is more commonly known as "The Gospel of Wealth", is an essay written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 that described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich...
", an article in which he stated his belief that the rich should use their wealth to help enrich society.
The following is taken from one of Carnegie's memos to himself:
In 1908, he commissioned (at no pay)
Napoleon HillNapoleon Hill was an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich, is one of the best-selling books of all time. Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in...
, then a journalist, to interview more than 500 wealthy achievers to find out the common threads of their success. Hill eventually became a Carnegie collaborator. Their work was published in 1928 after Carnegie's death in Hill's book
The Law of Success (ISBN 0-87980-447-5) and in 1937,
Think and Grow RichThink and Grow Rich is a motivational personal development and self-help book written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by a suggestion by Scottish-American billionaire Andrew Carnegie. It was published in 1937 during the Great Depression...
(ISBN 1-59330-200-2). The latter has not been out of print since it was first published and has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. In 1960, Hill published an abridged version of the book containing the Andrew Carnegie formula for wealth creation. For years it was the only version generally available. In 2004, Ross Cornwell published
Think and Grow Rich!: The Original Version, Restored and Revised (Second Printing 2007), which restored the book to its original content, with slight revisions, and added comprehensive end notes, an index, and an appendix.
Religion and world view
Witnessing the sectarianism and strife in 19th century Scotland regarding religion and philosophy, Carnegie kept his distance from organized religion and theism. Carnegie instead preferred to see things through naturalistic and scientific terms stating, "Not only had I got rid of the theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution."
Carnegie eventually came to identify himself as a positivist. He held much hope for humanity in what may be termed a humanistic view on life, shaped also by the Scottish values with which he was raised. After the outbreak of the First World War and its slaughter, Carnegie underwent a crisis of ideology in his positivist views.
Later in life, Carnegie's firm opposition to religion softened. While he never professed belief in a particular religion, he did accompany his wife and daughter to church. He also prepared (but did not deliver) an address to St. Andrews in which he professed a belief in "an Infinite and Eternal Energy from which all things proceed".
World peace
Influenced by his "favorite living hero in public life", the British liberal,
John BrightJohn Bright PC , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League...
, Carnegie started his efforts in pursuit of world peace at a young age. His motto, "All is well since all grows better", served not only as a good rationalisation of his successful business career but also in his view of international relations.
Despite his love and efforts towards international peace, Carnegie faced many dilemmas on his quest for world peace. These dilemmas are often regarded as conflicts between his view on international relations and his other loyalties. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, by example, Carnegie allowed his steel works to fill large orders of armour plate for the building of an enlarged and modernized United States Navy; while he opposed American oversea expansion. And he also had controversial criticisms of the British class structure which seemed to conflict with his promotion of
Anglo-AmericanAnglo-American may refer to:* English American, a North American of English heritage, origin, or background* Pertaining to Anglo-America, a term denoting an area of mixed English and American influence or heritage, or those parts of or groups within the Americas which have a tie to or which are...
friendship.
On the matter of American annexation, Carnegie had always thought it is an unwise gesture for the United States. He did not oppose the annexation of the Hawaiian islands, Cuba and Puerto Rico, but Carnegie stood still on his opposition towards the annexation of the Philippines. Because unlike the Hawaiians, Cubans and Puerto Ricans, the Filipinos were willing to fight for their independence, Carnegie believed that the conquest of the islands is a denial of the fundamental democratic principle, and he also urged
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley Jr. was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office....
to withdraw American troops and allow the Filipinos to live with their independence. This act well impressed the other American anti-imperialists, who soon elected him vice-president of the Anti-Imperialist League.
After he sold his steel company in 1901, Carnegie was able to get fully involved into the acts for the peace cause, both financially and personally. He gave away most of his fortunes to various peace keeping agencies in order to keep them growing. When his friend, the British publicist William T. Stead, asked him to create a new organisation for the goal of a peace and arbitration society, his reply was as such:
Carnegie believed that it is the effort and will of the people that maintains the peace in international relations. Money is just a push for the act; if it solely depended on financial support, world peace would not seem a goal, but more like an act of pity.
The creation of the
Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceThe Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
at 1910 was regarded as a milestone on the road to the ultimate abolition of war. Despite a gift of $10 million for peace promotion, Carnegie also encourage the "scientific" investigation of the various causes of war and the adoption of judicial methods that would eventually eliminate them. He believes that the Endowment is there to promote information on the nations' rights and responsibilities under existing international law and encourage other conferences to codify this law.
In 1914, on the eve of the First World War, Carnegie founded the Church Peace Union (CPU), a group of leaders in religion, academia, and politics. Through the CPU, Carnegie hoped to mobilise the world's churches, religious organisations, and other spiritual and moral resources to join in promoting moral leadership to put an end to war forever. For its inaugural international event, the CPU sponsored a conference to be held on August 1, 1914, on the shores of Lake Constance in southern Germany. As the delegates made their way to the conference by train, Germany was invading Belgium.
Despite its inauspicious beginning, the CPU thrived. Today its focus is on ethics and it is known as the
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International AffairsThe Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is a New York City-based a 5013 public charity serving international affairs professionals, teachers and students, and the attentive public. Founded in 1914, and originally named Church Peace Union, Carnegie Council is an independent and...
, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organisation, whose mission is to be the voice for ethics in international affairs.
The outbreak of the First World War was clearly a shock to Carnegie and his optimistic view on world peace. Although his promotion of anti-imperialism and world peace had all failed, and the Carnegie Endowment had not fulfilled his expectations; but his beliefs and ideas on international relations had helped build the foundation of the
League of NationsThe League of Nations was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members...
after his death, which took world peace to another level.
Writings
Carnegie was a frequent contributor to periodicals on labor issues. In addition to
Triumphant Democracy (1886), and
The Gospel of Wealth"Wealth", or what is more commonly known as "The Gospel of Wealth", is an essay written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 that described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich...
(1889), he also wrote
An American Four-in-hand in Britain (1883),
Round the World (1884),
The Empire of Business (1902),
The Secret of Business is the Management of Men (1903),
James Watt (1905),
Problems of Today (1907), and his posthumously published autobiography
Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (1920).
Legacy and honors
- The dinosaur Diplodocus
Diplodocus is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones located in...
carnegiei (Hatcher) was named for Andrew Carnegie after he sponsored the expedition that discovered its remains in the Morrison FormationThe Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and limestone and is light grey, greenish...
(JurassicThe Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Ma to Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the "Age of Reptiles". The start of the period is marked by...
) of UtahUtah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80 percent of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making...
. Carnegie was so proud of “Dippi” that he had casts made of the bones and plaster replicas of the whole skeleton donated to several museums in EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. The original fossil skeleton is assembled and stands in the Hall of Dinosaurs at the Carnegie Museum of Natural HistoryThe Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was founded by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896...
in Pittsburgh.
- After the Spanish American War, Carnegie offered to donate $20 million USD to the Philippines
The Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
so they could buy their independence.
- Carnegie, Pennsylvania
Carnegie is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 8,389 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Carnegie is located at . It is approximately southwest of Pittsburgh...
, and Carnegie, OklahomaCarnegie is a town in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,637 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Carnegie is located at ....
, were named in his honor.
- The Saguaro
The saguaro, , is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and an extremely small area of California...
cactus's scientific name, Carnegiea, is named after him.
- The Carnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal in Literature was established in the UK in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It is awarded to an outstanding book for children and young adult readers. Nominated books must be written in English and should first have been published in the UK during the...
for the best children's literature published in the UK was established in his name.
- The Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education, at Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British university with two campuses in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It gained official university status in 1992; prior to this date it was known as Leeds Polytechnic. The number of students is listed by the HESA 2007/08 data as the largest in Britain,...
, UK, is named after him. This has filtered out to include the Carnegie Challenge Cup, and it seems likely, in September 2009, that the university will be renamed 'Leeds Carnegie University'.
- Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
was named after Andrew Carnegie in his lifetime.
- At the height of his career, Carnegie was the second-richest person in the world, behind only John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American industrialist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. Standard Oil began as an Ohio...
of Standard OilStandard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as an Ohio corporation, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
.
- Lauder College (named after his uncle who encouraged him to get an education) in the Halbeth area of Dunfermline was renamed Carnegie College in 2007 in his honor.
Andrew Carnegie's personal papers reside at the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
Manuscript Division.
The
Carnegie Collections of the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library consist of the archives of the following organizations founded by Andrew Carnegie: The
Carnegie Corporation of New YorkCarnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
(CCNY); The
Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceThe Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
(CEIP); the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT);The Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (CCEIA). These collections deal primarily with Carnegie philanthropy and have very little personal material related to Mr. Carnegie.
See also
- List of most wealthy historical figures
- American Anti-Imperialist League
The American Anti-Imperialist League was established in the United States on June 15, 1898 to battle the American annexation of the Philippines, officially called insular areas. The Anti-Imperialist League opposed annexation on economic, legal, and moral grounds.-Origins:The original organization...
, an organization to which Carnegie belonged
- Carnegie library
Carnegie libraries are libraries which were built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. More than 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built, including some belonging to public and university library systems...
- Carnegie Institution for Science
The Carnegie Institution for Science is an organization in the United States established to support scientific research....
- List of universities named after people
- Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill was an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich, is one of the best-selling books of all time. Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in...
- Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich is a motivational personal development and self-help book written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by a suggestion by Scottish-American billionaire Andrew Carnegie. It was published in 1937 during the Great Depression...
- Gospel of Wealth
- Harry Watts
Harry Watts was a Sunderland sailor and diver, who rescued over 40 people from drowning during his lifetime - and assisted in the rescue of another 120 people.-Early life:...
Primary sources
Secondary sources
- Josephson; Matthew. The Robber Barons: The Great American Capitalists, 1861-1901 (1938, 1987). ISBN 99918-47-99-5.
- Morris, Charles R. The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy (2005). ISBN 0-8050-7599-2.
- Krass, Peter. Carnegie (2002). ISBN 0-471-38630-8.
- Lester, Robert M. (1941) Forty Years of Carnegie Giving: A Summary of the Benefactions of Andrew Carnegie and of the Work of the Philanthropic Trusts Which He Created. New York: C. Scribner's Sons.
- Livesay, Harold C. Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business, 2nd Edition (1999). short biography ISBN 0-321-43287-8.
- Lorenzen, Michael. (1999). Deconstructing the Carnegie Libraries: The Sociological Reasons Behind Carnegie's Millions to Public Libraries. Illinois Libraries 81, no. 2, 75-78.
- Nasaw, David. Andrew Carnegie (New York: The Penguin Press, 2006), along with Wall the most detailed scholarly biography
- Patterson, David S. "Andrew Carnegie's Quest for World Peace" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 114, No. 5 (October 20, 1970), pp. 371–383
- Rees, Jonathan. "Homestead in Context: Andrew Carnegie and the Decline of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers." Pennsylvania History 1997 64(4): 509-533. Issn: 0031-4528
- Ritt Jr., Michael J., and Landers, Kirk. A Lifetime of Riches. ISBN 0-525-94146-0.
- VanSlyck, Abigail A. "'The Utmost Amount of Effective Accommodation': Andrew Carnegie and the Reform of the American Library." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1991 50(4): 359-383. Issn: 0037-9808 Fulltext: in Jstor
- Wall, Joseph Frazier. Andrew Carnegie (1989). ISBN 0-8229-5904-6. along with Nasaw the most detailed scholarly biography
- Whaples, Robert. "Andrew Carnegie", EH.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History.
External links