Cornelius Vanderbilt: The Men Who Built America

Cornelius Vanderbilt, also known as Commodore, was labeled as a “Cutthroat business man” from an early age, according to “The Men Who Built America”. Vanderbilt saw the potential for the railroad industry and started his own railroad company. While building his company, his son that was supposed to take over the family business passes away. Vanderbilt decides to start training his other, less accomplished, son. Upon training his son, Vanderbilt realizes that his competitors perceive his as week. This results in him shutting down the only railroad that goes into New York. Without the bridge, the railroad competitors start to lose a lot of income. They are finally forced to sell their companies for extremely cheap prices. Vanderbilt buys as many as he …show more content…
The Erie Line, a railroad that connected Chicago to New York, would help Vanderbilt stay at the top. Unfortunately, two newcomers scammed Vanderbilt out of 7 million dollars by printing phony stocks and persuading Vanderbilt to by them. Vanderbilt eventually realizes this and vows that it will never happen again. But it still infuriated him, which made him want to corner the market for kerosene. Kerosene was used to produce light which helped the people work later. This plan eventually leads him to meet with an almost bankrupt refiner owner in cleveland named John D. Rockefeller. He reaches out to Rockefeller and agrees to a deal which says that he will transport the oil for $1.65 a barrel. Little did Vanderbilt know that Rockefeller only produced half of that. Rockefeller now had to find a way to produce more oil. He soon realizes that he needs to expand his company but he needs providers to do so. At this time, kerosene had gotten a bad name because of the many fires it caused. Rockefeller proceeded to create “Standard Oil”. This product brought in investors from everywhere, allowing Rockefeller to reach his promise to