From the article: Political entrepreneurs, by contrast, made money back then by gaming the political system. Steamship builder Robert Fulton acquired a 30-year

From the article: Political entrepreneurs, by contrast, made money back then by gaming the political system. Steamship builder Robert Fulton acquired a 30-year monopoly on Hudson River steamship traffic from, no surprise, the New York legislature. Cornelius Vanderbilt, with the slogan "New Jersey must be free," broke Fulton's government-granted monopoly. That is, Fulton exemplified your "deep political connections," but Vanderbilt overcame them. I'm not arguing that the robber barons didn't take advantage of politics (they'd be foolish not to!) but rather that they weren't any more political per dollar of resources than any other businessman.