Robber Barons in AmericaWhat is a robber baron? Webster's New Dictionary defines it as a late 19th-century American capitalist who became wealthy through exploitation (with respect to natural resources, government influence, or low wage scales) or a person who satisfies himself by depriving another. In America we had many such people. For this report I will tell you about the ones that I found most interesting for me. I would like to tell you first about Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cornelius Vanderbilt was born in Port Richmond on Staten Island, NY in 1794. Cornelius at the age of 16 had already entered the business world and didn't even know it. At 16 he entered the steamboat business when he established a freight and passenger service between Stanton Island and Manhattan. Little did Cornelius know that this would be one of the main ways he would make millions and millions. Cornelius entered the steamship business in 1818 and purchased his first steamship in 1829. Cornelius was not a laid-back guy, nothing was ever good enough for him. If you had done it and Cornelius Vanderbilt wanted it, there wasn't much you could have done to stop him from getting it. This is the kind of attitude that put him on top of the world. After founding his steamboat, Vanderbilt became a very vigorous competitor, lowering his rates and making his ships top of the line. Vanderbilt himself, the entrepreneur, soon controlled most of the Hudson River. After a while his fellow competitors in the steamboat business paid him to take some of his traffic elsewhere so they wouldn't get all the work. In 1846 Vanderbilt was a very wealthy man and with wealth he learned power. He became widely known as Commodore Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt sold his steamboats in 1862 and began buying railroad stock. In just 5 years Vanderbilt used his power to support most of New York's central rail system. Vanderbilt, as in his steamboats, now strove to be the best in railroading. Vanderbilt created many railroad systems during his railroad career, perhaps his most famous being the one that connected New York and Chicago in a direct rail line in 1873. At the time of Vanderbilt's death in 1877 it was worth more than $100 million at most. that time. Another questionable hard worker is John Davison Rockefeller. Rockefeller was born in R... middle of paper ......of what we know about automobiles back to Henry Ford. Ford died on April 7, 1947 in Dearborn. Who owns the "Superstation" and the Atlanta Braves? The King of Television Robert Edward Turner III, born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1938. Turner who studied at the Georgia Military Academy and Brown University. Turner had a major setback in his life after his father committed suicide. He inherited the family billboard business. By 1970 Turner had purchased a failing television station in Atlanta, Georgia, and by 1975 had turned it into a major station. It did this by broadcasting low-cost sports and entertainment programs via satellite or cable throughout the country. In 1976 Turner purchased the Atlanta Braves baseball team and then the following year purchased the Atlanta Hawks. In 1980, Turner invented Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour news station. In 1988, he launched Turner Network Television (TNT). Then in 1991 Turner married actress Jane Fonda. Turner now, at age 63, still owns all of his companies. I have to say that after writing this report I learned that it doesn't matter how you earn money, you just have to have it to be successful.