The World’s First Modern Philanthropist: Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie, born 1835 in the small town of Dunfermline, Scotland. He remains one of the richest people who ever lived and became the world’s first modern philanthropist. He has impacted many across the country and the world. He had lived in one of the first mansions with a steel frame and central heating. By the end of his life he had given over 2,600 public libraries to broaden the education of many in the United States and Scotland. This fairy tale life didn’t start off so happily. Carnegie’s family wasn’t the most affluent in the country, they were actually desperately poor, however, their influence on Andrew and his brother Tom, was rich. Carnegie’s mother, Margaret Carnegie, taught him the thirst to survive and thrive. She taught him to put his needs before the needs of anyone else. This greatly affected his business and business techniques later in life. His father, William Carnegie, was a handloom weaver, who believed in making conditions better for the working man and taught him the value of helping others less fortunate. Andrew Carnegie once said, "He who dies thus rich dies disgraced"; the teachings of his father were well absorbed and helped him later in life as well.

It was Margaret Carnegie who had the idea of emigrating to the United States where the whole family could have a new start and make a better life for themselves. They were fully committed, they borrowed money from a friend and sold all of their possessions and made the seven week long journey to the new world. Andrew Carnegie took a job in a mill in Pittsburgh to try and help the family’s struggle to live and make ends meet. Carnegie then took a better job in a different factory for more money, but when the factory owner found out that Andrew had som...

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...nion conceded. Three hundred locked-out workers applied for work and were rehired. Many more were blacklisted. With the union gone, Carnegie cut wages, made twelve-hour workdays, and eliminated 500 jobs. "Oh that Homestead blunder," Carnegie wrote a friend. "But it's fading as all events do & we are at work selling steel one pound for a half penny."

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