Andrew Carnegie

 Khadijah Ahmed

Mr. Roddy

IHSS

April 21, 2022

Andrew Carnegie, Early Career

  American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835 Scotland to William and Margaret. His life story is known as one of the most prevalent rags-to-riches tales from the late industrial revolution period. His father was a Scottish handloom weaver, and also marched for fair wages and labor rights. Per the introduction of the uncostly mechanical weave, Carnegie's home country faced economic turmoil and distress through the working population, including his father. The Carnegie family was sent into poverty with the loss of William's factory job, leading the family to immigrate to the US in 1848. They moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to pursue the so told American Dream. Carnegie began factory work at the young age of just twelve, as a bobbin boy at a cotton factory. He quickly grew fond of educating himself through reading and writing. At fourteen, through his job as a messenger at a telegraph office, he caught the attention of the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Thomas Scott. He made Carnegie his private secretary and telegrapher, and Carnegie grew fond of his work and rose through the ranks quickly. At 24, he was made superintendent of the Pittsburgh railroad division. Through this job, he learned how the American investment and economic world worked. His early investments included the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, the Union Iron Mills, and the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works. He learned through experience about managing finances and passive incomes from this job. In some senses, this job gave him the opportunities that he pursued later in life to become what he became. Just being able to attain this information concerning investment and income put Carnegie on the track to pull himself up the economic ladder.