jmiller

=James Fisk=

James Fisk was born on April 1, 1834 in Bennington, Vermont. He lived in poverty with his family untill he was 16. He then ran away to the circus. He then became a hotel waiter. After that he became a pedler just like his father. He was then sent to Washington D.C. to sell textiles to the goverment. Fisk then became welthy smuggling cotten across enemy lines. He maried Lucy Moore in 1854. She was only 15 at the time. After the war he moved to New York and became a stockbroker. He was employed as a buyer for Daniel Drew. He aidded Drew in his fight against Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie Railroad. This caused Fisk and Jay Gould to become members of the Erie directorate. Then a well planned raid of Fisk and Gould landed them control of the railroad. They remained partners untill Fisk's death. They used many finacial bucineering tactics to try to corner the gold market. This is what caused the famous Black Friday. He was shot and killed on January 6th, 1872 by Edward S. Stokes.

These events have caused many historians to consider James Fisk as a robber barron. He got his welth from smuggling cotten and buying out public officials. He is aslo partly responsible for Black Friday. He is one of the best examples of a robber barron ever. He did whatever was necesairy to become wealthy. Some people that worked on the rail road credited Fisk with giving them better wages. This small bit of kindness doesn't outway all the bad things he has done in his life. This proves that he is a robber baron and not a captian of industry.

=References=

James Fisk (financier). Wikipedia. wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fisk. (2/25/08) James Fisk. library.com. library.jamesfisk.com (2/25/08)