Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, in Staten Island, New York and lived to January 04, 1877 where he died in the same state that he started his life in, New York. During his lifetime, he made an imprint on the United States and even more than that, the world. Through building steamships and railroads, as a result of his hard work, when he finally passed, he left an estate of almost one hundred million dollars, according to Gale Cengage Learning. Cornelius Vanderbilt is an example of a powerful and wealthy man as well as an extreme industrialist. Furthermore, he is a robber baron. From watching his father engage in boating activities whether it was for a hobby or for his occupation, Vanderbilt became …show more content…
In 1849, many made their way to California for the gold fields, most of them going by boat. Vanderbilt saw this as an opportunity to make more money. Turning against his next competitor, the Pacific Steamship Company, Vanderbilt found a way to cut the trip down six hundred miles and cut the price in half, due to his smart industrial move, he was making one million dollars a year. He sold the interests of this to the Nicaraguan Transit Company. As time went on, they failed to pay him. According to Gale, he said that “the law was too slow; rather, he would ruin them.” Then, at the age of seventy, Vanderbilt suddenly became interested in railroads. This is when he acquired the Hudson River Railroad and then later merged it with the Central Railroad. When 1867 came around, he finally hit a point of failure when trying to obtain the Erie Railroad and he lost between one and two million …show more content…
capitalist or industrialist that was considered to have become wealthy by exploiting natural resources, corrupting legislators, or other unethical means.” Whereas a captain of industry is a “business leader whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributes positively to the country in some way. This may have been through increased productivity, expansion of markets, providing more jobs, or acts of philanthropy.” Under these terms, I believe that Cornelius Vanderbilt was a robber baron of industry. He had only made two acts of philanthropy and that was at the end of his life. Other than that, he made no acts of kindness towards the community. No improvements were made for the betterment of the generation he had been apart of. He did not donate any money towards the creation of parks, libraries, or recreational activities. His only interest was working on steamships and railroads, perhaps creating a faster and more luxurious travel time for society, but not truly improving it. Vanderbilt was not an extreme robber baron, he had no unethical acts during his time, but he certainly could not be considered a captain of industry with the amount of business’s he put out of business and the way in which he did so. His main goal was not to improve human life, it was to make more