How Did Cornelius Vanderbilt Change The World

Decent Essays
Cornelius Vanderbilt was a disrespectful, ugly, genius shipping and railroad tycoon whose parents were farmers and he grew up with no education. “In New York, 1871 Vanderbilt was in the Grand Central Depot, the terminal for New York Central Railroad was constructed with features like elevated platforms , a glass balloon roof spanning all the tracks and boarding areas only accessible to passengers”. He made railroad much better than it was by making it cheaper and efficient. He mastered steamboat design when steamboats were new technology. Cornelius Vanderbilt made things we can use and keep using forever. He was born on May 27, 1794 in Staten island, New York,” As a boy Vanderbilt worked with his father on the water and attended school

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Cornelius vanderbilt should be the captain of industry because he stated the transportation of oil through trains. Also he was the inspiration behind many other industrial men. Plus he turned $100 dollars and 1 ferry into a giant shipping business that he then sold for a giant train business then he made millions of dollars and making him the richest man in america at that time. Plus he invested very well in stocks only making more and more money to add to his already millions of dollars.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cornelius Vanderbilt was a shipping and railroad tycoon and a self-made multi-millionaire who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century. Vanderbilt went into business in the 1820s, and eventually became one of the country’s largest steamship operators. He gained a reputation for being fiercely competitive and ruthless. In the 1860s, he went into the railroad industry, where he built another empire and helped make railroad transportation better. Vanderbilt When Vanderbilt finally died, he was worth more than a 100 million dollars.…

    • 226 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Civil War is now over, country is still divided. America's democracy seen as a failed experiment by other countries, but it's the opposite, it is the start to a new era and more advancements. Cornelius Vanderbilt was one man who helped with America's advancements. He once owned a single ferry, but it soon became a fleet of ships in which they carried cargo and passengers all over the country. Over the next 40 years he built the largest shipping empire in the world and became known as the Commodore.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This man was a significant person in school and his career he helped with the anti-slavery movement alongside Abraham Lincoln and helped extend the United State’s territory. William Henry Seward had a promising childhood and adulthood and to get as far has he did in his career with some ups and down like to be appointed Secretary of State by Abraham Lincoln and to be known for the purchase of Alaska or also known as Seward’s Folly. William Henry Seward was born on May 16, 1801 in Florida, New York (“William H. Seward”). His parents were Samuel Seward and Mary Jennings(“Our family tree”). He was the fourth child out of his six brothers and sisters (“Then & now - William Henry Seward”) .…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Fall 2015 History is often only taught but never questioned because of the impossibility to change what has already happened. However, Richard White, the author of “Railroaded” does exactly that, questions transcontinental life in the Gilded Age. White is a well-respected historian and professor from Stanford University who, during the 2007-2008 recession, was inspired to write about the strangely-familiar recessions of our nations past. This book provides great insight regarding the idea of railroads and whether or not such an invention was a good and needed advancement at the time. This paper will analytically criticize, praise and discuss Whites argument, effectiveness and credibility of the railroad industry.…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To be remembered as uniquely mediocre, just another number to add to the 43 men sworn to office and 44 presidencies, Martin Van Buren was announced as the United States of America’s eighth president in 1836. Considered as the first professional politician to hold office, the creator of the adjective OK, and the founder of the Democratic Party, Van Buren has contributed more to America as is known today, over the long run, compared to his own immediate contributions as president. Van Buren was born on December 5,1782 to parents of Dutch descent in Kinderhook, New York, which was six years after the colonists in the present day United States declared their independence from Great Britain (Martin Van Buren 1). His father was a tavern keeper and…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During Thomas Jefferson's term as President he changed the History America for the good, starting with the Louisiana Purchase , which helped increase the size of United States. By creating the Embargo Act, it banned all European trading from American ports by doing so, that maintained the peace between Britain and France. Studying European culture he was able to enhance the United States culture with books, seeds, plants, statues, architectural drawings as well as scientific instruments. As a great Author, Thomas Jefferson would wrote letters which influenced legislation support on public education. The support of public education allowed safety of liberty and avoided an ignorant society.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The creation of Eli Whitney revolutionized America and changed the way people valued others. The cotton-gin was a machine that removed the seeds from the cotton about fifty times faster than a slave per day. The cotton-gin mostly affected the eastern-southern part of America because of the large cotton farms. From 1800 to 1820 annual cotton production quadrupled and unfortunately the amount of slaves increased as well. In thirty years (1800 - 1830)…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    James Buchanan, Jr. was born in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, in a log cabin, in Franklin County, on April 23, 1791, to James Buchanan, Sr., a businessman, merchant, and farmer.-Buchanan attended the village academy and later Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. Though he was nearly expelled at one point for poor behavior, he pleaded for receive a second chance and subsequently graduated with honors on September 19, 1809. Later that year, he moved to Lancaster, where he studied law with attorney James Hopkins. -Since…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ANALYZING THE LIFE OF CORNELIUS VANDERBILT Yaran Zhang Student #: 220 RedID: 816353168 Introduction To understand the evolution of business in America, one must first analyze the great men and women that heavily contributed to the sector. The book “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt” by T. J Styles looks at Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the greatest historical figures in business, analyzing his success, struggle, contributions, and overall life. Almost all trade moguls and tycoons have admitted that Vanderbilt was one of the few men that made tremendous impacts to the American economy by heavily influencing the transportation sector. Vanderbilt story embodies the American dream where an individual rises from nothing to greatness.…

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, in Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York, to Cornelius van Derbilt and Phebe Hand. The Vanderbilt family was poor and had very meager means; therefore, young Cornelius experienced the disillusionment of being indigent. His parents were Dutch, and due to their erudition, they followed a different set of values than Americans, therefore Vanderbilt’s father…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Collis made America much better by being involved in all these projects that affected the american people in such a positive way. Now people from the south were able to travel to the west because of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Major Wickham was able to get Huntington involved in the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, because of Huntington’s involvment this railroad became a success. This railway was from Virginia and in West Virginia there is a town named after him. He established a coal business there as well.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Vanderbilt was young, he bought his first ferry boat. His business grew and soon became the one of the largest in the world and the largest in the U.S.. Vanderbilt then sees an opportunity and he sells his entire shipping business to invest in railroads. Not many people had started moving west, but he believed that if there were railroads, America could start westward expansion. This was a risk because even if Vanderbilt built railroads, people may not even wanted to move west because it is all indian territory.…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cornelius Vanderbilt was an industrial businessman who made his fortune in the railroad business (John 2012). The railroad system was a highly anticipated new technology that began with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. With rapid expansion, the railroad system bridged the regions of the country and triggered major economic growth for decades. Rapid consolidation of independent railroad systems occurred with the key robber barons being Cornelius Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan, and James J. Hill (Crawford 2013). Consolidation led to monopolies that set…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    How Abraham lincoln has changed the world for us today. In the war there was a big disagreement over slavery. The Southerners wanted to protect their rights to have and own black slaves. The only way they were able to do that was by the agriculture and it was their main profit in the south.…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays