Background: Money. Power. Glory. An industrialist in railroads and steamboats, Vanderbilt rests as one of the wealthiest men in the gilded age. However, Vanderbilt never started his life with immense fortune. In fact, as the son of an impoverished and illiterate boatman, Vanderbilt quit his education in order to work beside his father. Eventually, his parents lent him money in order facilitate Vanderbilt’s expenditure on his first boat. With his new purchase, Vanderbilt utilized the ferry boat to transport his passengers between Staten Island and New York City. As he progressed, Vanderbilt expanded his ferry business and eventually sold his boats and found employment as a steamship captain under Thomas Gibbons. While under Gibbon’s employment, …show more content…
For example, Vanderbilt popularized the usage of steels in railroads in order to make railroads safer and further economical. As an astute business man, Vanderbilt purchased existing railroads and enhanced them. During 1867, Vanderbilt obtained the Central Railroad and coalesced it with other existing railroads that he possessed. Eventually, he mirrored the merge by consolidating the Hudson River Railroad and the New York Central Railroad. When Vanderbilt incorporated the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad in 1873, he offered the first rail service from New York City to Chicago. By continuing to merge railroads, Vanderbilt expanded his railroad system which allowed people reach further destinations. Thus, by creating an immense railroad system, Vanderbilt unified America through his successful contribution in transportation. His system of railroads allowed Americans to efficiently connect amongst one another across the country. Distance no longer remained a massive obstruction between the American