Andrew Carnegie In The Gilded Age: A Captain Of Industry

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Andrew Carnegie arrived in America an impoverished immigrant but died a millionaire with more than a dozen beneficial public institutions under his name. How Carnegie built his way to riches and fame is what we discussed in our class trial. Although both redeeming and condemning aspects were present in Andrew Carnegie’s life, his attempts at safe factories, disconnection with the Homestead Strike, and philanthropic virtues ultimately make him a captain of industry whom did not break any official laws. One of the primary characteristics of the Gilded Age were poor working conditions and meager wages. First and foremost, one cannot really persecute Carnegie for being guilty of the legal social norm. Furthermore, although the wages at Carnegie Steel Corporation were barely enough to survive, the workers were still paid above the poverty line. Wages were about $2 a day which may seem quite …show more content…
It ultimately resulted due to a step up of production demands, the refusal to meet them by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, and the locking out of workers. Since, Henry Clay Frick was the man who ordered the increase in demands and the locking of the Homestead Plant, he was directly at blame for the strike. Nevertheless, as seen in Exhibit 3, Carnegie threw his support behind Frick and is therefore partially responsible for what occurred at the Homestead Strike. The violence which then ensued was started by the strikers who fired the first shot at the Pinkerton Guards, and later in battle flipped freight cars and set objects on fire. Moreover, Carnegie was a man of tranquility who created the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He didn’t mean for the violence to occur, but this does not make him blameless. Conclusively, as stated by the defense, although the Homestead Strike and its bloodshed was not Carnegie’s goal, he was still partially at