The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (127 page)

Six
Man of Honor

1
Karl Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” in Robert C. Tucker, ed.,
The Marx-Engels Reader
, 2nd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1972), 594–617.

2
Chase Kirkland,
Men, Cities, and Transportation: A Study in New England History, 1820–1900
, vol. 1 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1948), 234–7, 246–9; CtP to WDL, August 12, 1841, fold. 5, box 3, WDLP. The William D. Lewis Papers offer abundant accounts of the turmoil within the corporation and deep resentment among the railroad's officers at the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company.

3
CtP to WDL, March 14, 1840, fold. 7, box 2, CtP to WDL, May 8, 1841, fold. 4, box 3, Courtland Palmer to WDL, July 3, 1841, fold. 5, box 3, WDLP; WmC to COH, May 8, 1841, fol. vol. 2, CFP; Edwin L. Dunbaugh,
Night Boat to New England, 1815–1900
(Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1992), 68–73. WmC wrote, “No doubt his object is to be bought off.” Dunbaugh's book is generally useful, but due to his lack of research into correspondence of the different companies' officers he misses much of the maneuvering and payoffs behind the placement of boats on different routes.

4
Morrison, 328; Dunbaugh, 68–73; Francis B. C. Bradlee,
Some Account of Steam Navigation in New England
(Salem: Essex Institute, 1920), 89; CtP to WDL, May 19, 1841, WGM to CtP, June 7, 1841, CtP to WDL, June 18, 1841, fold. 4, box 3, CtP to WDL, August 4, 1841, fold. 5, box 3, WDLP; WmC to COH, June 24, 1841, fol. vol. 2, CFP. On CV's connection to the Hartford & New Haven Railroad, see an advertisement in
EP
, May 6, 1840.

5
WmC to COH, July 17, 29, 31, 1841, fol. vol. 2, CFP; CtP to WDL, August 4, 1841, fold. 5, box 3, WDLP.

6
WmC to COH, July 29, 1841, January 19, 26, 1842, fol. vol. 2, CFP; CtP to WDL, July 28, 1841, fold. 5, box 3, WGM to WDL, November 29, 1842, fold. 8, box 3, WDLP;
BE
, April 21, 1842. For reflections on the ongoing debate over corporations, see James Willard Hurst,
The Legitimacy of the Business Corporation in the Law of the United States, 1780–1970
(Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1970), 30–43.

7
CtP to WDL, September 23, 1841, fold. 5, box 3, and December 16, 1841, fold. 6, box 3, WDLP;
ProvJ
, September 3, 13, 1842.

8
For an idea of how fuel costs loomed over other categories, see CtP to WDL, November 9, 1840, fold. 1, box 3, WDLP. This letter gives the monthly figure for fuel expenditures for a steamer to Stonington at $2,600, far above the next largest item (“wear & tear,” at $1,000). On the unusual reliance on tips and incidental charges on this route, see an amusing complaint in the
Anglo-American
, September 11, 1847. For the quotations and other details, see WmC to COH, July 17, 29, 31,1841, January 19, 26, February 2, 10, 23, March 1, 18, 19, April 12, 18, 19, May 19, fol. vol. 2, CFP.

9
WmC to COH, July 17, 29, 31, 1841, January 19, 26, February 2, 10, 23, March 1, 18, 19, April 12, 18, 19, May 19, 1842, fol. vol. 2, CFP; CtP to WDL, January 18, February 18, March 3, 6, 19, 29, June 26, 1842, WGM to WDL, April 9, 1842, fold. 7, box 3, WDLP. CV's maneuvers did not draw traffic away from the Hartford & New Haven, because that railroad did not yet have a through connection to Boston.

10
Hugh McLaughlin v. CV
, December 12, 1843, Judgements, 1838–1848, box SI-66, Staten Island Court Papers, NYMA.

11
Meeting of February 16, 1842, Minute Book of the Elizabethport and New York Ferry Company, box 4, Central Railroad Company of New Jersey Papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.

12
NYH
, September 22, 1841, October 24, 1842; Lane, 71; WmC to COH, August 29, 1842, fol. vol. 2, CFP; WGM to WDL, October 20, 1842, fold. 8, box 3, WDLP; Morrison, 328; Bradlee, 89–95. CV continued to call his line “Vanderbilt's Independent Line” through the end of September;
ProvJ
, September 13, 1842;
EP
, September 27, 1842.

13
Minutes for March 1, July 29, 1844, Minute Book of the Elizabethport and New York Ferry Company, box 4, Central Railroad Company of New Jersey Papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.;
Anglo-American
, June 22, 1844 (which shows Daniel Allen also selling tickets for steamboats to the Norwich Railroad at 34 Broadway).

14
ARJ
, September 1844, February 20, 27, 1845; Long Island Railroad Company Directors' Minutes Book 1, 325, 344–50, 354, Long Island Railroad Company Directors' Minutes Book 2, 1, box 305, PennCentral Collection, NYPL.
ARJ
, February 27, 1845, discussed CVs sale of the three steamboats to the Long Island Railroad, and noted, “the former successful and experienced proprietor of these boats has taken a large interest in the company and participated in its management.”

15
Anglo-American
, April 19, 1845; meeting of April 8, 1845, Long Island Railroad Company Directors' Minutes Book 2, 16–7, box 305, PennCentral Collection, NYPL; CtP to WDL, April 16, 1843, fold. 2, box 4, WDLP. Immediately after completion, the Long Island Railroad did connect to the Stonington; however, director Elihu Townsend warned Lewis about a change that “seems to alter the state of feeling so far as relates to the former association;” Elihu Townsend to WDL, August 21, 1844, fold. 6, box 4, WDLP.

16
WGM to WDL, January 7, 1843, CtP to WDL, January 23, 1843, fold. 1, box 4, S. Jaudon & Co. to WDL, April 5, 1843, fold. 2, box 4, Richard M. Blatchford to WDL, July 23, 1843, WDL to H. G. Stebbins, July 31, 1843, fold. 3, box 4, WDLP; Stonington Reports, 32–9.

17
New York, Providence, and Boston Rail Road Company v. Elisha Peck, Richard M. Blatchford, James Foster Jr., Henry G. Stebbins, Matthew Morgan, Samuel Jaudon, and William S. Wetmore
, January 3, 1848, file PL-1848-N-4, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC.

18
Samuel R. Brooks to WDL, October 9, 1845, fold. 6, box 4, WDLP; Stonington Reports, 41; WmC to COH, April 18, 19, 1842, fol. vol. 2, CFP. Though WmC's report was made three years earlier, its truth regarding the events of 1845 and 1846 were clearly born out. For contemporary evidence of Drew's partnership with Newton in Hudson River steamboats, see
Daniel Drew and Isaac Newton v. New York and Erie Rail Road Company
, September 10, 1842, file 1842-#331, Superior Court, and
Caleb F. Lindsley and George E. Cock v. Daniel Drew and Isaac Newton
, March 20, 1848, file 1848-#951A, Court of Common Pleas, NYCC (the latter referring to an incident in 1846); also entries for August 1846, pages 336–6, in vol. 2 of the William D. Murphy Account Books, NYHS.

19
Curtis Peck v. Daniel Drew
, January 7, 1850, file PL-1850-P 3, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC;
Curtis Peck v. Daniel Drew
, January 31, 1848, file PL-1848-P 256, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC.

20
Nelson Robinson, Robert W. Kelley, and Daniel B. Allen v. Daniel Drew and Isaac Newton
, June 27, 1848, file PL-1848-R, and
Nelson Robinson, Robert W. Kelley, and Daniel B. Allen v. Daniel Drew and Isaac Newton
, November 2, 1848, file PL-1848-R 2, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC; Medbery 312; Edmund Clarence Stedman,
The New York Stock Exchange
(New York: Stock Exchange Hstorical Company, 1905), 104. Interestingly, the court filings cited here make clear that manipulation of the road's traffic and its stock price were part of the initial investment plan.

21
Boston Daily Advertiser
, July 3, 1845. For full sources for my analysis of CVs operation, see the next endnote.

22
NYH
, July 4, September 26, 1845;
Boston Daily Advertiser
, July 3, 1845;
NYTr
, October 2, 1845, September 29, 1847; Stonington Reports, 46–50; Lane, 75.
CV
, it appears, rallied support among Drew and others by promising to challenge the legitimacy of the corporation's bonds, even though they represented a 50 percent reduction of the original debt. The argument used in court was that the original bonds were usurious and thus invalid, which would invalidate the compromised debt as well. The case never reached a decision. See
NYH
, cited above, and
New York, Providence, and Boston Rail Road Company v. Elisha Peck, Richard M. Blatchford, James Foster Jr., Henry G. Stebbins, Matthew Morgan, Samuel Jaudon, and William S. Wet-more
, January 3, 1848, file PL-1848-N-4, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC.

23
ARJ
, October 10, 1846;
Seventeenth Annual Report of the Board of Directors to the Stockholders of the Hartford & New Haven R. R. Co
. (Hartford: Case, Tiffany, 1852);
HC
, September 10, 1846.

24
NYH
, July 4, September 26, 1845, September 30, 1847;
NYTr
, October 2, 1845, September 29, 1847; Stonington Reports, 46–50. Regarding the dates of Drew's takeover of the Navigation Company: on August 7, 1846, WmC wrote a letter to COH; on August 17, he wrote to R. E. Lockwood, Drew's secretary, asking him to show the letter to Drew; fol. vol. 2, CFP.

25
NYTr
, October 31, 1844.

26
Daniel Walker Howe,
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), esp. 570–612; Sean Wilentz,
The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln
(New York: W. W. Norton, 2005), 530–3; Howard Bodenhorn, “Bank Chartering and Political Corruption in Antebellum New York: Free Banking as Reform,” in Edward L. Glaeser and Claudia Goldin, eds.,
Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 231–57; Richard R. John, “Private Enterprise, Public Good? Communications Deregulation as a National Political Issue, 1839–1851,” in Jeffrey L. Pasley, Andrew W. Robertson, and David Waldstreecher, eds.,
Beyond the Founders: New Approaches to the Political History of the Early Republic
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 329–54; Richard R. John,
Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), 94–9, 242–3. Richard R. John stresses the pragmatic and nonpartisan considerations behind antebellum policy making; see Richard R. John, “Ruling Passions: Political Economy in Nineteenth-Century America,” in Richard R. John, ed.,
Ruling Passions: Political Economy in Nineteenth-Century America
(University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006), 1–20.

27
Howe, 648–743;
NYTR
, November 1, 1844.

28
NYTr
, October 31, November 1, 1844. On the dates, nature, and impact of Irish immigration, see Tyler Anbinder,
Five Points: The 19th-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum
(New York: Free Press, 2001).