How Did John D. Rockefeller Become The Richest Man In America?

During the time of Industrialization in the United States men fought for power and money. Primarily, men such as John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was once known as the king of the railroads due to his sharp wit. However, Rockefeller started out poor and was an almost bankrupt oil industry. Vanderbilt yearning for more control over his competition, had decided to make a deal with Rockefeller so that he could transport oil and gain more profit. Then Rockefeller made a promise that he couldn’t keep so he had to either go bankrupt or get a new idea. Luckily, he decided that if you can not find oil in a short amount of time then why not refine it. Rockefeller, over time, became the richest man in America by refining oil, leaving Vanderbilt out of the game. Therefore, John D. Rockefeller was the best businessman in the U.S.

For starters, Rockefeller had a very competitive attitude towards business. In fact, when one of his business partner’s Scott had come up against him, he simply shut off his refinery so that Scott’s trains wouldn’t …show more content…
It was all because he knew that oil refining is much more expeditious than trying to gamble and find oil so he would make a much more substantial profit while being able to keep up with Vanderbilt’s trains and railways. In addition, he had what Vanderbilt needed to stay in business and his deal with him got his kerosene shipped cheaper than most. Then when Rockefeller was rich enough, he closed off his deal with Vanderbilt and got an even cheaper deal with another railroad company. In an attempt to stop Rockefeller from increasing his profit, Vanderbilt tried to team up with his rival to close off Rockefeller’s only way of transportation, trains. However, Rockefeller constructed a new plan and it was a new way of transporting his kerosene. It was a colossal pipe that led across the