Robber Barons

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and power, legend has it, they held sway over a helpless democracy.

But here’s the strange part: That’s not what Raymond meant. He compared Vanderbilt to medieval robber barons because he preyed upon monopolists. Pacific Mail had total market control of the sea lanes to California, and it bought off Vanderbilt in order to preserve its monopoly. Raymond attacked the Commodore for pursuing “competition for competition’s sake; competition which crowds out legitimate enterprises.” To the editor of the New York Times in 1859, Vanderbilt was a robber baron because he was a challenger, a spoiler—almost the opposite of the current meaning of the term.

So how did the definition of “robber baron” change from Raymond’s to our own? The simple answer is scale. Starting in the middle of the nineteenth century—even as Raymond wrote “Your Money or Your Line”—the first truly large enterprises began to emerge. The rise of big business reshaped not only the economy, but politics and culture as ...

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