Oakland Unified School District
History/Social Studies
Preparing for the Fall, 2000 U.S.
History Writing Assessment
Andrew Carnegie in Context:
Industrializing America
Question to Consider:
Is Andrew Carnegie an American Hero?
A person of exceptional courage or ability,
admired for his or her brave deeds and noble
qualities - someone whose actions are the
driving force behind an important social or
political change that lifts the spirit of America
and betters the situation of the country.
The Era of Industrialization was a
time of …
- Big Business
- Technological Change
- Great Wealth & Great Poverty
- Labor Activism
The Growth of Industry: Some Statistics
Increase in the Size of
Industrial Establishments
(Number of workers per
average establishment)
1860
1900
Agricultural
implements
8
65
Cotton goods
112
287
Iron and steel
65
333
Paper
15
65
Shipbuilding
15
42
Meatpacking
20
61
Tobacco
30
67
Increasing Industrial Output, 18701910
Coal
Steel
1870
20 million tons
850 million tons
1890
111 million tons
6,746 million tons
1910
417 million tons
24,216 million
tons
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/module12/tool_is_pop12.html
The Growth of Railroads: Railway Mileage of the U.S. 1830 -1890
50,000 miles 100,000 miles
150,000 miles
1840
1850
Central Pacific locomotive No. 1, the first
engine to be placed in construction service
on the western end of the transcontinental
railroad.
1860
1870
1880
1890
http://railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_document.php?id=rail.str.0252
A Time of Technological and
Material Advancement
Our inventors are the true national
builders, the true promoters of civilization.
They … add to the sum of human
knowledge, to the sum of human
possessions, and to the sum of human
happiness.
-- US Patent office, 1892
Industrial Leaders, the New Millionaires
Carnegie
Millionaire's Row, New York City in the 1880s
The Carnegie Mansion,
5th
Ave. &
91st
Mrs. Astor’s House, 5th Ave. & 65th St.
St.
The Frick Mansion, 5th Ave. & 70th St.
The Vanderbilt Chateau, 5th Ave. & 52nd St.
- American Experience - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gallery/index.html
The Condition of Workers
In 1890, 11 million of the nation's 12 million
families earned less than $1200 per year; of this
group, the average annual income was $380, well
below the poverty line.
Americans had sewing machines, phonographs,
skyscrapers, and even electric lights, yet most
people labored in the shadow of poverty.
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html
Lower East Side of New York Housing in the 1880s
Photos by Jacob Riis, at Colby
College Library,
http://imago.colby.edu/luna/servlet
Andrew Carnegie: A Very Brief Introduction
• Born to a poor family in Scotland, 1835. Came to
America at the age of 12.
• A “rags to riches” story.
• Founded his own business and rose to the top of steel
industry. His company dominated the steel business.
• Became one of America’s wealthiest men
• In 1901 Carnegie sold his company for $480 million and
retired. Devoted his time to giving away his fortune in
support of public libraries and education.
Andrew Carnegie was one of the 40 Richest Americans in History
American Heritage, October 1998.
Andrew Carnegie
- From Explore PAHistory - http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=2831
Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth
Carnegie believed that men who earned great
wealth through their hard work and industry should
use their money to help society. He argued that a
man of wealth’s ability to earn great amounts of
money meant he was also best able to determine
what was best for society; if he took on that
responsibility.
He wrote, “The man who dies rich dies disgraced."
http://www.carnegie.lib.oh.us/andrewcarnegie.htm
Many people admired Carnegie,
but he also has his critics
I honor the personal qualities of the author [Carnegie] which are
displayed in this essay [The Gospel of Wealth], — independence,
business wisdom, breadth of view, and generous motive. I acknowledge
the great benefit to society from the gifts of the rich....
But I believe that the charity given out by this gospel is too costly… For I
can conceive of no greater mistake… than that of trying to make charity
do the work of justice…
The question is not, "How shall private wealth be returned to the public?
But, why should it exist in such bewildering amounts … in the hands of
the few?“
- from William Jewett Tucker, “The Gospel of Wealth,” Andover Review, Vol XV, June 1891.
A Significant Moment in Carnegie’s Career and in the
History of Labor in America:
The Homestead Strike of 1892
The Battle
Between
Carnegie Steel
and the
Amalgamated
Association of
Iron and Steel
Workers
Steel workers battle with Pinkerton agents brought in
by the company to break their strike, July 6, 1892
- Explore PAhistory - Courtesy of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=808
What Happened at Homestead
Carnegie Steel Company wanted to break the iron and steel workers union
that had successfully negotiated a contract that expired, July of 1892.
They did not want to a union work force.
The company cut wages for 325 of the skilled workers in the steel mill and
built a fence around the factory to keep the workers out. They planned to
bring in non-union workers, strike breakers, to take over the jobs of union
workers.
The company hired 300 Pinkerton agents to come the factory to help bring
in the strike breakers.
The steel workers resisted the Pinkerton’s attempt to get to the factory and
a battle broke out.
Images of the Battle
-Frank Leslie's illustrated weekly, July 14, 1892, Library of
Congress Prints and Photographs Division
- Wood engraving in Harper's Weekly, July 16, 1892, Library of
Congress Prints and Photographs Division
The Governor of Pennsylvania sends in the National Guard:
Support for the Company and a Defeat for the Workers
Troops arrive in Homestead, July 12, 1892
Credit: Library of Congress, at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=782
A Political Cartoonist Blames Carnegie for What Happened
-from Explore PAhistory http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=3395
Before the Battle of Homestead Carnegie left for Scotland:
Newspapers Commented in the Aftermath
“… what does Carnegie do? Runs off to Scotland out of harm's way… A single
word from him might have saved the bloodshed - but the word was never
spoken.... Say what you will of Henry Frick, he is a brave man. Say what you will
of Carnegie, he is a coward. And gods and men hate cowards."
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"While the slaughter was going on partner Carnegie was at his castle in Scotland
enjoying his more than princely income and posing as a benefactor of the
working class and a general friend to humanity.
- The Cleveland Plain Dealer
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_judas.html
Workers Across the Country Blame Carnegie
Sing ho, for we know you, Carnegie:
God help us and save us, we know you too well;
You’re crushing our wives and you’re staraving our babies;
In our homes you have driven the shadow of hell.
Then bow, bow down to Carnegie,
Ye men who are slaves to his veriest whim;
If he lowers your wages cheer, vassals, then cheer.
Ye are nothing but chattels and slaves under him.
-
From song, “A Man Named Carnegie,” anonymous, California,
July 7, 1892.
Carnegie – the Philanthropist
After he sold his
multi-million dollar
company, Carnegie
Steel in 1900 he
spent the rest of his
life giving his
fortune away.
Judge Magazine, July 25, 1903
Carnegie’s Views on Spending His Wealth - Philanthropy
Don't spoil your heirs.
Carnegie believed inherited wealth spoiled the heirs. "I should as
soon leave to my son a curse as the almighty dollar," he said.
Help those willing to help themselves.
"It were better for mankind that the millions of the rich were thrown
into the sea than so spent as to encourage the slothful, the drunken,
the unworthy," Carnegie wrote.
For Carnegie, himself a self-educated man, libraries and education
seemed the ideal gifts. In 1889, he presented the seven "wisest"
fields of philanthropy, listed in this order:
 Universities
 Free libraries
 Hospitals
 Parks
 Concert halls
 Swimming baths
 Church buildings (Carnegie's list generated more than a few
irate letters to the editor from ministers, who were upset to find
churches listed behind swimming pools.)
Some of the Free Public Libraries
Carnegie Helped Build
659 14th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Public library from 1902-1951. Now the
African American Museum Library
He Also Supported Education
Education was important to Carnegie, pictured here at the Tuskegee Institute
with Booker T. Washington and others
CREDIT: Johnston, Frances Benjamin. "Tuskegee Institute faculty with Andrew Carnegie, Tuskegee, Alabama." 1902.
Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
Is Andrew Carnegie
an American Hero?