Andrew Carnegie is an excellent example of Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is fundamentally based on the belief that hard work leads to success and that those who fail have only themselves to blame. Carnegie was from Scotland, where his father was a weaver. Carnegie and his father moved to western Pennsylvania in 1848. Carnegie started relatively poor and worked his way up. He worked several jobs, where he saved his money and learned the skills of running a business by observing the operations of the companies he worked for. By 1873, Andrew Carnegie had opened his own steel company in Pittsburgh. Eventually, he dominated the steel industry and became one of the richest and most famous industrialists of the period. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay At the age of thirteen, Carnegie worked in a textile factory. In this position, he only earned about $1.20 per week. Until 1853 he also worked as a telegraph messenger. As a telegraph messenger he earned about $2.50 a week. In 1853, he decided to begin working for the Pennsylvania Railroad. In this position, he took advantage of the resources available to him. He carefully observed management techniques and later used this knowledge and methods when he started his own business. Carnegie advanced in his work at the Pennsylvania Railroad through his determination to learn how the company was run. After deciding he had earned and saved enough money, he quit his job at the Pennsylvania Railroad and began managing his own investments. Carnegie had not only invested in railroads, but also in telegraphs and oil. Soon he turned his attention to investing in iron and steel. He first started by building bridges, then he turned his attention to steel itself. Another method Carnegie used to make his steel company the big industry it became was technological innovation. This innovation was known as the Bessemer process or Bessemer converter. The Bessemer process was invented in England in 1856. It converted raw iron into steel. By using this process, the company has eliminated some of the steps that previously had to be used to convert pig iron into steel. So making steel much cheaper to make and because it was cheaper to make, more and more people started using it. Carnegie capitalized on the Bessemer process. By 1880, the United States was capable of producing approximately 1.4 million tons of steel per year. This was a huge difference from the approximately thirteen thousand tons of steel that could be produced in 1860. Carnegie had noticed some of the methods Rockefeller used to earn his fortune and began using very similar tactics in his own business. At this point, Carnegie had saved a good portion of his money. Similar to Rockefeller, he used the large sums of money he had saved to buy up other steel companies when the economy was going through tough times. Henry Clay Frick was Carnegie's associate. With Frick as a partner, he purchased several coal mines as well as railroads after leasing part of the Mesabi Iron Range in Minnesota and establishing a fleet of ore ships on the Great Lakes. Carnegie's steel industry prospered so well because he was always looking toward the future. He preferred the most expensive equipment.