How Is Cornelius Vanderbilt A Captain Of Industry

Cornelius Vanderbilt was well known for his intelligence in the business industry. Vanderbilt originally made his money off of steamships, but eventually changed his path to the railroad industry. Many people perceived Vanderbilt as a Captain of Industry; however, others perceived him as a Robber Baron. Nevertheless, Vanderbilt was one of the most well known business leaders of his time, which is still talked about today. In May of 1794 Cornelius Vanderbilt was born to Cornelius Vanderbilt and Phebe Hand Vanderbilt on Staten Island, New York. Vanderbilt worked with his father on a ferry ship from a young age (Biography). When Cornelius Vanderbilt was 11, he quit school and continued to work on the ferry with his father (Biography). When Vanderbilt

Subsequently, by the time the war was coming to an end, Vanderbilt was able to purchase a small quantity of a fleet of boats (Sandoval). Vanderbilt was able to create a new life for himself and acquired so many new and state of the art business opportunities for himself and others. Vanderbilt continued this life until his interest shifted more to the railroad industry, where his railroad business thrived tremendously and he became a multi-millionaire by his death in 1877. Although Vanderbilt was a great businessman and leader of the 19th century, he may have been perceived differently by others. It is believed to have been said that many of his workers viewed him as a robber baron for the reason that he paid them low wages and they were to work long strenuous hours. Nevertheless, many businessmen also saw Vanderbilt as a Robber Baron due to the hostile things he would do like running small railroad companies out of business and wanting to take control of them all for himself. In my opinion, I feel that Cornelius Vanderbilt was a Captain of Industry for the reason that he did a lot of good in this world by paving the way for future generations of