Cornelius Vanderbilt
By Madison Anderson, Allison Holmes & Abby Johnson
Opening statement
- Cornelius Vanderbilt was the first person to construct the industry of railroads and be successful in organizing it.
Causes (Background knowledge)
- Vanderbilt was also known as the "commador." At first other fairy men called him that as a joke because he was so young, it eventually became apart of his image or persona.
- At age 11 he started working with his father and ships, at age 16 he then bought his own fairy with a loan of $100
- He was a very tough individual, he would get into fights with other people
- He started to be successful in about the 1860's, he was mostly in New York
Characteristics (important facts)
- The Albany Bridge- this was the only bridge going in and out of New York City. Vanderbilt is the one who came up with the idea of the bridge to get cargo shipped. He shut down the bridge which cause major conflict because the cargo could not be transported.
- Vanderbilt owned 90% of the railroads. When he closed the Albany Bridge and was able to make people sell their part of the railroads for 20 a share.
- He was able to collect all the same parts of the railroads and connect & merge them to make one big railroad that expanded to many different states.
- http://www.tubechop.com/watch/6998569
Significance (BIG ideas)
- What was transported?- articles, goods, and merchandise
- Where did they transport it?- New York, Chicago, Michigan & Southern Canada
Conclusion
- In our opinion, Vandevilt was a very smart and ethic business man and knew how to stay on top and make money even when people tried to tear him down. He was always deticated to his railroad company as well as a great entreprenau.