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Amier Gail
Debra Briley
IBT
23 February, 2018
Andrew Carnegie: The Father of Middle-Class America
For decades Americans couldn’t help but love the red-headed, fun-loving Little Orphan Annie. The image of the little girl moving so quickly from poverty to wealth provided hope for the poor in the 1930s, and her story continues to be a dream off what the future just might hold. The rags-to-riches phenomenon is the heart of the American Dream. And few other people have embodied this phenomenon as much as Andrew Carnegie did in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His example and industry caused him to become the father of middle-class America.
	Andrew Carnegie can be looked to as an ideal example of a poor immigrant making his way up to become leader of the capitalist world. Carnegie was born into a poor working-class family in Scotland. According to the PBS documentary “The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie” the Industrial Revolution was difficult on Carnegie’s father, causing him to lose his weaving business. The Carnegie family was opposed to the idea of a privileged class, who gained their wealth simply by inheritance (“Richest”), the type of upbringing played a large factor in Andrew Carnegie’s destiny. In order to appease his mother’s desire for material benefits, and perhaps in an effort to heal his father’s wounds, Carnegie rejected poverty and cleaved to prosperity.
	Carnegie’s character was ideal for gaining wealth. His mother taught him to “look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves,” he later turned this proverb into “watch the costs, and the profits take care of themselves” (Richest”). Such thrift was integral to his future success. He also believed that “all is well since all goes better.” (“Richest”)