Editing Cornelius Vanderbilt (section)

==Steamboat entrepreneur==
[[File:Cornelius Vanderbilt (steamboat).jpg|thumb|''C. Vanderbilt'', Hudson River steamer owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt (oil on canvas by [[James Bard|James and John Bard]])]]
After Thomas Gibbons died in 1826, Vanderbilt worked for Gibbons' son William until 1829. Though he had always run his own businesses on the side, he now worked entirely for himself. Step by step, he started lines between New York and the surrounding region. First he took over Gibbons' ferry to New Jersey, then switched to western [[Long Island Sound]]. In 1831, he took over his brother Jacob's line to [[Peekskill, New York]], on the lower [[Hudson River]]. That year he faced opposition by a steamboat operated by [[Daniel Drew]], who forced Vanderbilt to buy him out. Impressed, Vanderbilt became a secret partner with Drew for the next thirty years, so that the two men would have an incentive to avoid competing with each other.<ref name="Stiles"/>{{rp|72, 84–87}}

On November 8, 1833, Vanderbilt was nearly killed in the [[Hightstown rail accident]] on the [[Camden and Amboy Railroad]] in New Jersey. Also on the train was president [[John Quincy Adams]].<ref name="Stiles"/>{{rp|90–91}}
[[File:Nathaniel Jocelyn - Cornelius Vanderbilt - NPG.78.281 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Vanderbilt by [[Nathaniel Jocelyn]] in 1846]]

In 1834, Vanderbilt competed on the Hudson River against the [[Hudson River Steamboat Association]], a steamboat monopoly between New York City and [[Albany, New York|Albany]]. Using the name "The People's Line", he used the populist language associated with Democratic president [[Andrew Jackson]] to get popular support for his business. At the end of the year, the monopoly paid him a large amount to stop competing, and he switched his operations to Long Island Sound.<ref name="Stiles"/>{{rp|99–104}}

During the 1830s, textile mills were built in large numbers in [[New England]] as the United States developed its manufacturing base. Some of the first railroads in the United States were built from Boston to Long Island Sound, to connect with steamboats that ran to New York. By the end of the decade, Vanderbilt dominated the steamboat business on the Sound, and began to take over management of the connecting railroads. In the 1840s, he launched a campaign to take over the most attractive of these lines, the [[New York, Providence and Boston Railroad]], popularly known as the [[Stonington, Maine|Stonington]]. By cutting fares on competing lines, Vanderbilt drove down the Stonington stock price, and took over the presidency of the company in 1847. It was the first of the many railroads he would head.<ref name="Stiles"/>{{rp|119–46}}

During these years, Vanderbilt also operated many other businesses. He bought large amounts of real estate in Manhattan and Staten Island, and took over the [[Staten Island Ferry]] in 1838. It was in the 1830s when he was first referred to as "commodore", then the highest rank in the [[United States Navy]]. A common nickname for important steamboat entrepreneurs, by the end of the 1840s it was applied only to Vanderbilt.<ref name="Stiles"/>{{rp|124–27}}