Examples Of Heroism In Andrew Carnegie

Jhonatan Amaya

Mr. Plata

U.S. History/Period 3

22 October 2017

Heroism in Carnegie Philanthropy; the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes. Nobody better fits this definition than Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie had a beginning in poverty and after migrating to the United States he became the richest man in the world because of his steel business. After reaching such high success Carnegie ultimately decided to use his fortune to help people. Carnegie believed that his fortune should be spent on benevolent purposes, stating that “the man who dies rich dies disgraced” (The Gospel Of Wealth). Thus he donated millions of dollars to charities and foundations. Yet the question still

This is exhibited in document B which contains an excerpt from Carnegie’s book, The Gospel of Wealth. Carnegie’s belief in Social Darwinism leads him to state that the wealth of the rich should be used to help the poor. He illustrates the three ways to dispose of money in his book. Carnegie states that “money can be left to the families of the descendants, it can be bequeathed for public purposes and finally it can be distributed by its possessors during their lives”. The best and only way that money should be distributed (in Carnegie’s view) is by the possessors during their lives. Leaving wealth to family is the wrong form of affection and waiting for death to give away money just states that the possessor would take the money with him if he could. Document C then shows how Carnegie donated millions as he said he would do. Many of the donations went to charities and foundations. The follow through of his principles demonstrates why Andrew Carnegie is a hero who gave all his money to be used for benevolent

In document D it is shown that Carnegie mistreated the Americans that worked for him. Carnegie lowered wages for his workers and then proceeded to give away money to the Scottish. This is evidence for the counter argument that Andrew Carnegie is not a hero. All in all, Carnegie does the most to make up for these mistakes. He donates all his wealth to many charities and foundations in the United States. He may have hurt his workers but he made up for it by giving all he had to better the lives of the poor in America. Thus Andrew Carnegie is a hero. A man who helped illions with his donations to America and