The Fortune That Began with an Act of Defiance
Happy Fourth of July!
Few stories capture the American entrepreneurial spirit better than Cornelius Vanderbilt’s in the early 1800s. This was at the very start of his career, before he became the railroad and shipping magnate we all know.
New York State had handed steamboat pioneer Robert Fulton and his heirs a monopoly on all steamboat traffic in state waters. No competition. No alternatives. Just Fulton’s boats, Fulton’s prices, Fulton’s rules.
Vanderbilt, at the time working for someone else, had other ideas.
