List of America's richest people

This is a list of men (so far it has only been men) who at some time in their life could have been considered the wealthiest person in the United States. Determining the wealthiest people in the world throughout history is difficult as wealthy businessmen are a relatively new phenomenom. Often monarchs and rulers of countries had great control over lifes and wealth. Determining the richest man in America however is somewhat easier as the United States is a fairly young country with no hereditary aristocracy.

Name	Dates of Birth-Death	Wealthiest	Associated State	Areas of Business
John Jacob Astor	July 17, 1763 - March 29, 1848	?	New York	Fur trading, Real Estate
William Backhouse Astor, Sr.	September 19, 1792 - November 24, 1875	?	New York	Real Estate
Cornelius Vanderbilt	May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877	?	New York	Shipping
William Henry Vanderbilt	May 8, 1821 – December 8, 1885	?	New York	Railways
John Davison Rockefeller	July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937	?	New York	Petroleum
Howard Hughes	December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976	?	born in Texas	Aircraft, Movie Production
Sam Walton	1918 - 1992	1985-1988 (Forbes 400)	Arkansas	Wal-Mart
John Kluge	1914 -	1989 (Forbes 400)	Germany	Television
Warren Buffett	August 30, 1930 - living	?	Omaha, Nebraska	Investments - Berkshire Hathaway
Bill Gates	October 28, 1955 - living	1996-2005 (Forbes 400)	Seattle,Washington	Computer Software - Microsoft corporation