Andrew Carnegie vs. John Rockefeller

Andrew Carnegie vs. John Rockefeller During the 1800’s, two men started as poor, working class citizens with a dream, a dream to become wealthy and be able to support their families. Both of these men made their dreams come true by ruthless tactics and sometimes were looked down on. These two men were Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller, the original entrepreneurs of America. Both men acquired mass fortunes and lived extravagant lives after they had retired, but they used their money for good; they helped fund multiple charities, build libraries, hospitals and colleges. Even when they were amassing their fortunes they were helping the common man, they created thousands upon thousands of jobs, some of which were low wages for long hours, but it got the food on the table for these men. I believe that what Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller did bettered America, not just then but now as well. Andrew Carnegie was born in Ireland to a poor farmer, at the age of 13 he came with his family to America in search of hope and a new life. After taking one step on American soil, he had already gotten a job and was working his way up the corporate ladder. He worked directly under the business men of his time, learning the ropes and the tricks to making people happy. After successfully investing in the stock market, he used the money he had to start his own company, Carnegie Steel, and began his ruthless rule over the steel industry. He used vertical integration, a tactic that means that he bought out all the companies who supplied him or had some control over the market, like the coal mines, the distributors, anyone he considered a “middle-man” that could change the prices. So, after amassing his fortunes in the steel industry, he decided to sell it to J.P. Morgan for 400 million dollars, giving him enough to retire happily for the rest of his life. In his retirement he became a philanthropist and gave millions of dollars to charities and other non-profit organizations. He created jobs for thousands of Americans who needed one. John Davison Rockefeller was born in Ohio to a poor working class family. While growing up he noticed that the supply of fuel was high and also that demands for it were slowly increasing. He decided to go into business with his brother and some of his close friends and started, “Standard Oil”, when Henry Ford came out with the Model-T demand for petroleum and oil skyrocketed, bringing wealth Rockefeller. But this wasn’t enough for him, he bought out the other members of his company so he could fully control it, and after he had the power of his own went and bought out all of the other competitors in the oil business, also known as Lateral Integration. At the point of his retirement, Rockefeller was estimated to be worth over a billion dollars, making him one of the wealthiest men in the world. He used this money to establish hospitals, libraries and other areas of needs in the community to give back for the ruthlessness he sometimes showed. Like Carnegie, he gave jobs to thousands upon thousands of workers and created numerous amounts of jobs for everyone. These two men where both very smart and knew how to make millions of dollars. They were both ruthless in their purchases of their competitors, but also gave back millions of dollars to the communities in order to build up the future of our great country. They have paved the way for millions of other entrepreneurs to make their fortunes. Although some believe that it isn’t fair for one person to control the wealth of millions of people, if we didn’t have someone that strived for the best, then our society would fall apart and everyone would sit around and just do what they have to do to get by. Its people like Carnegie and Rockefeller that make the world spin, that help our economy and I believe that the wealthy now should learn from these men, in our times we have Bill Gates who follows in the footprints and give millions of dollars to the less fortunate. If not for Carnegie and Rockefeller, I believe that our society would have fallen apart.

12 Paragraphs: 1) CH 5, Q3: I believe that Carnegie and Rockefeller’s actions were more beneficial to the country then bad. They both showed that anyone can make it here and that all you need is hard work and determination to make millions of dollars. Not only did they increase the amount of jobs but they were also adamant philanthropists who gave back millions of their earning to the communities and bettered America. 2) Ch 5 Q4: The new wave of immigrants from 1880-1910 were poor Europeans from Eastern and Southern Europe. Most of them were Roman Catholic and didn’t have much to their names. When they arrived at Ellis Island, most of them did not know the language and didn’t know anyone here that could help them. Many people took advantage of these people and gave them jobs that no one else wanted for wages that would barely get them by. 3) Ch 6 Q1: Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair and many other “muck-rackers” changed the lives of the working class citizens by revealing the true sides of how they lived their lives and what these politicians and executives were doing to make the lives of the poor, harder. Upton Sinclair revealed how the meatpacking industry was taking advantage of the poor inspection laws and how they were disgustingly producing the meats that people ate on a daily basis. Tarbell and others exposed the living conditions of the poor and how the political machines were running politics in America. 4) Ch6 Q3: Theodore Roosevelt is arguably one of the most popular and successful presidents that we have had. He laid the foundations for presidents to come and made many changes to the lives the people lived. He broke up monopolies so that people would have equal opportunity and that sales prices couldn’t be manipulated in order for maximum profits. Also he made peace with the Coal Miners and the executives which allowed for coal to be processed again. He believed in a “Square Deal” that allowed everyone to get an equal share. 5) Ch 6 Q4: Teddy Roosevelt had a huge impact on everything after his presidency. In 1908 he decided not to run for re-election and instead hand-picked Taft to be his successor as President. Once Taft was in office, Roosevelt left the country and went to Africa on safaris. When he returned he was appalled to see what Taft had done with the job. So, in 1912 Roosevelt decided to run again but the Republicans didn’t back him because Taft was the reigning president. So Roosevelt decided to create his own “Bull-Moose” party or the progressive party and run for president. By running though he created a split in the republican voting which allowed for the Democrat, Wilson, to win the election.