The Men Who Built America

As the nation attempts to rebuild following the destruction of the Civil War, Cornelius Vanderbilt is the first to see the need for unity to regain America's stature in the world.

As the nation attempts to rebuild following the destruction of the Civil War, Cornelius Vanderbilt is the first to see the need for unity to regain America's stature in the world.

Andrew Carnegie immigrates to the United States with his parents and starts working at age 12. He finds a patron in railroad executive Tom Scott who teaches him about the business.

Carnegie hires a hatchet man, Henry Frick, to help him achieve his goal of besting Rockefellar. The partnership seems promising, but Carnegie does not know that Frick is running his factories far beyond capacity.

While Carnegie and Rockefeller continue to battle, JP Morgan arrives on the scene and establishes a bank in New York City that has one goal: to further the technological advancements of America.

With an investment from Morgan, the Edison Electric Company is created and begins wiring homes in New York. A rival, Nikola Tesla, soon emerges with a different technology for electric light.

Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan have gone unmonitored for decades, but American politicians are about to change that. They want these men to fall into line under government control. The men, some lifelong enemies, come together with a plan to buy the White House by donating the modern day equivalent of $30 million dollars to Ohio Governor, William McKinley.

A young engineer named Henry Ford devises the plan for a gas-powered car.