Transported back to the 1800s

[PoS]

I'd invent the light bulb before Edison so I can be on the same rich level as JP Morgan.

[Precocity]

The one thing that is important is what part of the 1800s?

[PoS]

Or I'll be a real life Daniel Plainview.

[foadi]

for the purposes of this thread, lets say it's 1840

largest cities in the country at the time by population

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_ci ... _by_decade

1 New York, New York 312,710
2 Baltimore, Maryland 102,313
3 New Orleans, Louisiana 102,193
4 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 93,665
5 Boston, Massachusetts 93,383
6 Cincinnati, Ohio 46,338
7 Brooklyn, New York 36,233
8 Northern Liberties, Pennsylvania 34,474
9 Albany, New York 33,721
10 Charleston South Carolina, 29,261

[foadi]

[Precocity]

[PoS]

[Dennis]

[eynon81]

[Precocity]

I go back on what I said earlier. The trick is to not completely alter the overall timeline because once you do your knowledge of the past gets thrown out the door and you are basically running blind like everyone else. The trick is to be a shadow of the timeline for a short time building wealth as you go but not altering it to the point that everything changes until you've secured your future, and your future generations so that it doesn't matter anymore.

That's why I said I would go to California and start buying up land starting near the historical spot of Sutter's Mill. Since you know there's gold there, and no one else does, you can work the timeline to happen almost identically (except the parties are different) pretty much the same. Almost anything you do could have a severe impact on the timeline but since California was pretty much wide open wilderness then, the impact wouldn't be that significant to completely alter American's future growth.

Imagine the information you could pass on to your children. Invest in Ford. Buy up dirt cheap land that becomes a hidden fortune. Stay a step ahead of Vanderbilt without interrupting what he does. Etc. The possibilities are endless as long as your children understand not to directly alter the timeline. Very tricky process but doable.