Wednesday, December 2, 2015
The Vanderbilts
At the age of 16, Cornelius Vanderbilt borrow a hundred dollars to buy his first small ferry boat. He started his own passenger ferry business and ferried people and goods between Staten Island and Manhattan. Vanderbilt was a hard working and skilled sailor. He didn’t want his business to decline so he got a job operating a steamboat for a man. Later, he started his own steamboat business. He had very affordable rates and was very good at stealing customers. His competitors saw him as a threat and paid him to leave the Hudson River. As time went on, rail travel was growing, so Vanderbilt decided to buy railroads in New york. He became a millionaire with the business he made. Vanderbilt was so rich, in fact, when he died, he had more money than the government. He donated some of the money to the university. His son later double his fortune in six years. Vanderbilt popularized steel rails and led other like Rockefeller and Carnegie to do the same as him, allowing the economy to grow.
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I really enjoyed how you were on point with telling the Vanderblit's life step by step, based on important events on his life. That really showed his progress towards his success and how he ends up being a mutli-millionaire later on. The last part with the influencing Rockefeller and Carnegie was a great idea to add too.
ReplyDeleteGood summary of Vanderbilt. I'd also add that he could have been a big inspiration for the "american dream," because he was actually successful from simple hard work. Good job thought! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see how a teenager went from a small loan to building an empire. And unlike Donald Trump's case, this was actually a small loan, and not a million dollars. It's amazing to see how with hard work and smart choices he was able to build an empire and become one of the most successful men in history.
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