A Self-Made Tycoon
Cornelius Vanderbilt once said himself that “ [he does not] care half so much about making money as [he does] about making [his] point, and coming out ahead” (1). Cornelius Vanderbilt, first of the five tycoons of America, established himself as a self made man. His only wish and desire was to be ahead of his competitors and by being able to use both his wit and entrepreneurial tactics, he was able to create his own successful career and legacy.
Starting off from the very beginning, young Vanderbilt was able to start his own business. At the age of sixteen, Vanderbilt decided to begin his own ferry service with the loan he received by working through his Mother, which he was able to return ten times the amount later. With the one hundred dollars he was able to obtain, by clearing and planting an eight-acre field, Vanderbilt purchased two small vessels and carried freight and passengers from Manhattan to Staten Island. Young Vanderbilt quickly realized that steamboats at the time were the predominant way of transportation because he knew that water was the quickest transportation available. Even though he was uneducated, he was able to utilize his own earnings in order to start up a business for a chance to make more profit. Even at the very start, Vanderbilt was in a road to become a successful entrepreneur. This action proves that even at the very start, Vanderbilt proved to be reliable and efficient. Despite the fact that he did not have a rich upbringing, he was able to establish his own business through hard work. He even prospered at the age of 18 during the War of 1812. He realized that there was an opportunity for expansion and thus, he received a contract to supply for the forts all around New Yo...
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...not be where it is today.
Through the various companies and associations he made by the steamboats and railroads, it was only possible through Vanderbilt’s hard work and innovative ideas. He was the first tycoon to completely change the way steamships and railroads operated, which ultimately lead an increase in the Industrial Revolution and so on. Despite being unable to have a rich upbringing, Cornelius Vanderbilt surpassed any rich person at the time. It is through hard work that can amount to great achievements.
Works Cited
1) "Cornelius Vanderbilt." - New World Encyclopedia. MediaWiki, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
2) Poole, Keith T. "Cornelius Vanderbilt Page." Cornelius Vanderbilt Page. N.p., 1997. Web. 12 May 2014.
3) Stiles, T. J. The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
Andrew Carnegie, the monopolist of the steel industry, was one of the worst of the Robber Barons. Like the others, he was full of contradictions and tried to bring peace to the world, but only caused conflicts and took away the jobs of many factory workers. Carnegie Steel, his company, was a main supplier of steel to the railroad industry. Working together, Carnegie and Vanderbilt had created an industrial machine so powerful, that nothing stood in its path. This is much similar to how Microsoft has monopolized the computer software
Cornelius Vanderbilt was a captain of industry. He came from a poor family and turned into a captain of industry controlling 85% of rail road and inspiring others to follow suit. He did many great things and not so great. Went from making a steamboat ferry to Grand Central Station. By the end of his life he had more than $100 million dollars.
Robert Fulton, Edward K. Collins and Samuel Cunard are a few political entrepreneurs, that Folsom tells about. All three of these men worked in the steamboat industry and received federal aid to run their businesses. Also, they all had high prices for passenger fair and mail postage. Unfortunately, Cornelius Vanderbilt, a market entrepreneur, defeated Fulton, Collins and Cunard.
At this time, Vanderbilt had emerged as a top leader in the railroad industry during the 19th century and eventually became the richest man in America. Vanderbilt is making it abundantly clear to Americans that his only objective is to acquire as much wealth as possible even if it is at the expense of every day citizens. Another man who echoed such sentiments is Andrew Carnegie. In an excerpt from the North American Review, Carnegie takes Vanderbilt’s ideas even further and advocates for the concentration of business and wealth into the hands of a few (Document 3). Carnegie suggests that such a separation between the rich and the poor “insures survival of the fittest in every department” and encourages competition, thus, benefiting society as a whole. Carnegie, a steel tycoon and one of the wealthiest businessmen to date, continuously voiced his approval of an ideology known as Social Darwinism which essentially models the “survival of the fittest” sentiment expressed by Carnegie and others. In essence, he believed in widening inequalities in society for the sole purpose of placing power in the hands of only the most wealthy and most
Cornelius Vanderbilt is most recognized in the United States history for building the New York Central Railroad System and expanding this system to be over 2,400-miles long. From when Vanderbilt was only eleven-years-old, to the day he died, he was working hard, making money, and becoming known as one of the richest persons of, not only his time, but all time. Vanderbilt was also known for his impeccable business skills in the boating and railroad industry, and how he made such a fortune through these two things. Throughout United States history, many people are admired for their hard work and dedication to their businesses and how successful they are in their fielf, but Cornelius Vanderbilt will always be remembered as the most successful, competitive, hard-working, and intelligient businessman in the hisstory of the United States. (Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline: Who Is Cornelius Vanderbilt? Everything You Need to Know. Page
William Vanderbilt was an American businessman whose wealth was derived from the thriving railroad industry of the late nineteenth century. He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1821 and died at age 64 on December 8, 1885. During this time, he led the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, the Canada Southern Railway, and the Michigan Central Railroad. He took over as president for these organizations for his father. His father, Cornelius Vanderbilt, brought the railroad business to his family. Upon his death, William Vanderbilt was the richest man in the world. His success can be attributed to his ability to capitalize on the transportation revolution that swept America years ago, and only remained to expand and grow with the construction of additional rail lines. Savvy with the educated skills of a businessman, he turned the one hundred million that he inherited from his father onto more than one hundred and ninety million dollars in less than nine years. Besides an expert businessman, he also is well known for dabbling in the philanthropic arena with ventures into the for...
As you can see, the business world we know today would not have been possible without some of the many advances that took place in the Gilded Age, and although newer laws and standards in the business prevent big business tycoons from becoming as powerful as they once were in the Gilded Age, we still see signs today of what business leaders such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan all contributed to the business world.
“Learn About the Gilded Age.” Digital History. N.p., 3 Jan. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2010. .
The 19th century was a time of prosperity and adversity; there was a great deal of accomplishments in the 1800s, such as steamboats being introduced as a new technology and creation of railroads. Despite the growth during this period, it contained innumerable hardships; the introductions of new technologies continued, ultimately leading to increased competition. Competition played an enormous part in the success and downfall of many people during the 19th century, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, who thrived in competition. Vanderbilt was not born with the skills and abilities to succeed in a field where many fell, he learned from the people he worked under and the conflicts he encountered during his apprenticeships. Those quarrels taught him the skills necessary to be the best in the steamboat trade as well as the railroad industry later in his life. Vanderbilt’s wealth was greatly associated with competing for business with individuals and companies. Cornelius Vanderbilt was truly one of a kind; he dominated many companies and people. It ultimately brought him to the pinnacle ...
It ultimately set up how we would produce products in the future. He was just a smart business man that became very wealthy by using his head and thinking of a better solution. Cars used to be a luxury item before Henry Ford made them affordable.
a. Railroads in the late nineteenth century helped America become the richest industrial nation on earth. The railroads increased commerce and integrated the American market as well as helped national brands to emerge such as Ivory soap and A&P grocery stores. They also introduced time zones to make shipping and passenger travel more standard. The railroad was the first modern publicly traded corporations, the companies were large and expanding across the country. Railroad companies had a large amount of employees. Capital was needed to build railroad tracks so stocks were sold to the public such as wealthy tycoons such as Vanderbilt and Carnegie. The Railroad system was also a symbol of the partnership between national government and industry. The railroad would have never been created without legislature, land grants passed out by congress. An example would be the Central Pacific Railroad it was backed by wealthy tycoons including Leland Stanford, the ex-governor of California who had useful political connections, and Collis P. Huntington, an adept lobbyist. Railroads gave land th...
Aldrich, Nelson W., Jr. Old Money: The Mythology of America’s Upper Class. New York: Vintage, 1989.
The railroad cause more efficient shipping and railroads was where industrial captains survived. “He went to London in 1872, saw the new Bessemer method of producing steel, and returned to the United States to build a million-dollar steel plant. Foreign competition was kept out by a high tariff conveniently set by Congress, and by 1880 Carnegie was producing 10,000 tons of steel a month, making $1 1/2 million a year in profit. By 1900 he was making $40 million a year, and that year, at a dinner party, he agreed to sell his steel company to J. P. Morgan. He scribbled the price on a note: $492,000,000” (). This quote illustrates how one man took one process of producing steel and turned it to riches. Carnegie life really represent “rags to riches”, because he came over as an immigrant who parents was seeking economic opportunity. Carnegie possessed many jobs, but Carnegie also possessed a keen sense of hard work. His hard work and friendly personality put him in a position to be noticed by his boss. One of the men Carnegie met in his early work career was Thomas A. Scott, which erupted his impressive career at Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie always loved steel since his first encounter with it, from there he knew steel would revolutionize the world. Carnegie was able to achieve great success through vertical integration. Vertical integration is the process of controlling the entire manufacturing of the industry. For example, Carnegie controlled the marketing and production of the steel, thus saving him and his steel corruption an abundance of money. Carnegie monopoly produced more steel than Britain by itself. In addition to vertical integration, there was horizontal integration, which was used by John D. Rockefeller. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller possessed knowledge to get him rich. Rockefeller horizontal integration allowed him to get rid of competition. “John D.
During the 1800’s, business leaders who built their affluence by stealing and bribing public officials to propose laws in their favor were known as “robber barons”. J.P. Morgan, a banker, financed the restructuring of railroads, insurance companies, and banks. In addition, Andrew Carnegie, the steel king, disliked monopolistic trusts. Nonetheless, ruthlessly destroying the businesses and lives of many people merely for personal profit; Carnegie attained a level of dominance and wealth never before seen in American history, but was only able to obtain this through acts that were dishonest and oftentimes, illicit. Document D resentfully emphasizes the alleged capacity of the corrupt industrialists. In the picture illustrated, panic-stricken people pay acknowledgment to the lordly tycoons. Correlating to this political cartoon, in 1900, Carnegie was willing to sell his holdings of his company. During the time Morgan was manufacturing
Finseth, Ian. "The Rise and Fall of Alexander Hamilton." xroads virginia. asgrp@virginia.edu, Web. 20 Nov 2013.