Andrew Carnegie, 1835-1919, was born to a poor family in Scotland. His parents moved to Pennsylvania when he was a teenager, and he soon went to work, first in a cotton mill where he was a bobbin boy, then as a telegrapher, and later as a superintendent for the Pennsylvania Railroad. His hard work and a canny investment in a sleeping car company provided him with some financial success. During the Civil War, he put his money into oil, iron and steel. After the war, he concentrated his efforts on steel. By the 1880s, he had brought a number of companies together as the Carnegie Steel Company.

Carnegie's business policy was to concentrate on production rather than on trying to affect the stock market. By 1900, Carnegie Steel was responsible for the production of a fourth of all the steel in the U.S. Carnegie also owned iron mines, ore ships, coke ovens, and railway systems. As a young man, Carnegie had been something of a political radical, although he continued to be a capitalist. Although Carnegie publicly supported the unions in times of labor troubles, and generally avoided using strike breakers he tended to get his way during union disputes. He and his partner Henry Clay Frick worked to break the steel unions.

In 1889, Carnegie wrote an essay called “The Gospel of Wealth” in which he described his philosophy that rich men are the “trustees” of their wealth and they should administer it so that the public good is served.

Eventually, U.S. Steel Corporation was formed to buy out Andrew Carnegie. He sold in 1901, and retired as the richest man in the world.

Philanthropy

When he was 33, Carnegie wrote a letter to himself saying that he wanted to quit the business world in two years so that he could take part "in public matters especially those connected with education and improvement of the poorer classes." He wanted, he wrote, to "cast aside business forever except for others." Although Carnegie did not quit when he wished, he did work to help those less fortunate. In total, he gave away about $350 million to such organizations as Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He also provided funding for nearly 3,000 local libraries.