Business, Industry & Economics
Early Founding of the Nation
• Mercantilism under English colonial rule
• 1791: First bank of the United States loose vs strict
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constructionism; use of gov’t power to stimulate economy;
1792-1793 political parties form around economic issues of
industry/cities vs agriculture (Hamilton vs Jefferson)
1793-1807: Eli Whitney creates the cotton gin
1798 Eli Whitney devises idea of interchangeable parts
1807: Embargo promotes American manufacturing
1816: Introduction of the American System Henry Clay; the
first protective tariff; internal improvements (esp. transportation);
reauthorize national bank; tries to please east & west
1816: founding of the Second National Bank
1819: McCulloch v Maryland affirms federal power to create a
national bank
Panic of 1819
1825: Erie Canal opened
Business, Industry & Economics
Jacksonian Era
• 1828: Tariff of Abominations nullification;
• 1832: “Bank War” controversy over reestablishment of the Bank of the United States
• 1833: Compromise Tariff of 1833
• 1837: Financial Panic (crash)
Business, Industry & Economics
Civil War and post-war Industry
• Civil War: Lincoln’s pro-business platform
enacted by Congress; stimulates BIG business –
concentrated in the north
• 1873: Economic crash
• 1877: Munn v. Illinois; allowed states to regulate
certain businesses within their borders (incl. railroads);
begins growth of federal government regulation
• 1886: Wabash v. Illinois; severely limited the rights
of states to control interstate commerce; led to the
creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission
Business, Industry & Economics
Civil War and post-war Industry
• Railroads dominate U.S. economy
• 1887: Interstate Commerce Act; federal law
designed to regulate the railroad industry,
particularly its monopolistic practices
• 1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act; prohibits
certain business activities that federal government
deems to be anticompetitive; ends up busting unions
first and NOT regulating business much (too much
political corruption)
• 1901 formation of U.S. Steel
Business, Industry & Economics
Progressive Era
• 1902: Roosevelt’s Intervention in the
anthracite coal strike; beginning of
progressive intervention
• 1903: Elkins Act (made discriminatory railroad
practices illegal)
• 1906: Hepburn Act; Pure Food & Drug Act;
Meat Inspection Act
Business, Industry & Economics
Progressive Era
• widespread use of mass production
• 1913: Federal Reserve Act begins to take
serious government control of the money
supply & Underwood-Simmons tariff lowers
protective tariffs
• 1914: Clayton Anti-trust Act & Federal Trade
Commission
• Widespread use of electrification and oil fuel
in manufacturing
Business, Industry & Economics
Crash and the New Deal
• October 29, 1929 buying on margin leads to
stock market crash
• 1930: Hawley-Smoot tariff (restores
protective tariff)
• 1933: 100 Days Congress ushers in era of
federal government influence in economy
• 1939: Fair Labor Standards Act
• 1941-1945: World War II puts U.S. economy at
full production
Labor Movement
• (late 1820s-early 1830s: first labor unions formed in cities)
• (1842: Massachusetts Supreme Court says “peaceful” labor
unions can negotiate contracts w/employers)
• (1866: National Labor Union formed; all workers sought)
• 1869: Knights of Labor Organized; secret, went public in
1881; social as well as employment goals; 8-hour workday for
federal employees
• 1886: American Federation of Labor organized (skilled
labor) & Haymarket Riot – anarchists ruin things for K of L;
• 1892: Homestead Strike response to cut wages; lockout,
private guards, strike breakers; broke the union
• 1894: Pullman Strike response to cut wages; Pres.
Cleveland uses army to keep trains running; court
injunctions to end strikes
Labor Movement
• 1902: anthracite coal strike
• 1914: Clayton Antitrust Act says unions have a
legal right to organize (they are not a “labor
trust”)
• 1935: Wagner Act & Social Security
• 1936: General Motors sit-down strike
• 1938: Fair Labor Standards Act
• 1947: Taft-Hartley Act rolls back some of the
New Deal union protections and begins to limit
unions
• 1950s-1960s: labor’s heyday (peak membership
and good wages)