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Reconstruction
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Post Civil War and Reconstruction
The era of reconstruction in the U.S. that followed the Civil War developed many of the changes that the war had sparked. America had been a country of farmers before the war, each region depending on the fruits of its own land. Post war, industry began to spread, turning America into a country of big business, instead of farms and plantations. -
Railroads and Business Tycoons
The Transcontinental Railroad opened in 1869, only five years after the Civil War ended, and the following decade saw a flurry of railroad development that allowed for the growth of industrial superpowers like J.D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan. Capatalism became rampant, environmental and societal concerns were for the lower classes and government intervention in business was almost non-existent allowing for employee abuse, monopolies, and get rich quick mentalities. -
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Emergence of a Global Economy
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President Grover Cleveland
"As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters." -
Unskilled Labor and Mass Production
As businesses multiplies and grew and the local economy became increasingly global, production rates increased beyond the capacity of the traditional business. Manufacturing incorporated more and more machinery, required less skill, and businesses sought out the masses of desperate immigrants and their children as cheap labor with no rights. -
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Progressive Era
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William Jennings Bryan
W. J. Bryan was a proponent of the Progressive Era. He supported women's rights and suffrage, along with the rights of laborers which had been long ignored by big business. -
Social Reform
Progressivism lead to a social reform based on the knowledge that society has several basic problems; war, poverty, class; and that these problems are best addressed by a quality, educated upbring of the next generation. Theodore Roosevelt was considered a progressive, and helped pave the way for business law and ethics codes to protect the masses. -
Roaring Twenties
The twenties was a golden age for America. The wealth that had been held in abundance by oil and steel empires during the end of the last century had slowly trickled down via Progressivism until it rested in the hands of the American people. Laws affecting business and economics were few, our economy was accelerated by WW1, and risky economic practices lead to a decade of prosperity, and high living standards. -
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Roaring Twenties
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Great Depression
The Great Depression had extremely significant long term impact on American Business. Before the Depression, U.S. government controlled business with a laissez faire attitude, doing only what it had to in order to keep the well being of the American people in the best interest of big business. After the Derpresson, the government took control of U.S. business and remains thoroughly in control today. -
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Great Depression through WW2
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WW2
WW2, much like the Great Depression, had an enormous and lasting impact on American business and economics. The U.S.had been struggling out of economic collapse for almost a decade when the war began. Pearl Harbor galvanized Americans out of the Depression and into the War. Almost overnight we went from one of the poorest countries in the world with an unemployment rate of 25%, to unemployment of 1.5% and control of more than half the world's wealth. -
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Post WW2 Prosperity
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Aerospace Activities
Riding of the prosperity of WW2, America enjoyed a Golden Age through the fifties when the quality of life went higher than any other time in history. It was this prosperity and superior mindset, coupled with the ever present Cold War with the Soviets that lead President J.F. Kennedy to demand a man be put on the moon by the end of the decade. Aerospace and electronic engineering became big business in the U.S., launching the age of technology we still see today. -
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Economic Turmoil for Businesses
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The End of an Era
In 1973 America waved goodbye to the prosperity it had enjoyed since WW2. The monster cars of the 60s were subjected to SMOG laws, the oil crises hit and lead into another, smaller depression, and the energy crises of 79 makes a final blow to American manufacturing. Businesses across the country take a hit. The 80s usher in a new era: technology is big business, everything else is imported. America becomes increasingly service oriented, providing few domestic products and low quality. -
Dow Jones Crash
The 80s were a continuation of the 70's for American Business. Big business was increasingly exported, domestic products like cars were extremely low quality, and unstable economic conditions have business bankruptcies approaching 50%. The Dow Jones crash of 1987 marks the bottom of the trough, -
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Technological Boom
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Business Makes a Comeback
After the crash of 1987, American businesses slowly began to rise again from the low of the 70s and 80s. Businesses dealing in technology were heavily invested in and boomed, domestic automakers began to incorporate long-lost quality into their vehicles and businesses began hiring again, leading to a slight decrease in unemployment. -
Social Networking
The onset of social networking cannot be pinpointed, the date provided is approximate for the boom it experienced. The social networking business is worth mentioning all on its own, because sites like facebook are subscribed to by hundreds of millions of people globally, all of them interested in a simple service. -
Great Recession
One of America's favorite businesses, housing development, was involved in the greatest economic downturn in U.S. history in 2008. This was a devastating hit to businesses of all sorts nation wide. Even the technology producers that had developed through the low economy of the 80s were down in sales. Unemployment doubled during the recession to 10% as businesses made desperate moves to survive. Many applied for government bail out, many went bankrupt. -
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Modern Business Era
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Present
American business came back from the 2008 Recession changed. The American people are looking for quality, honesty, personal touches, domestic goods, fair trade, small businesses, and eco friendly products, and gadgets with the latest technology, all on a post-recession budget, and often managed by online companies like Etsy.com. American business has done a fair job of responding, and the auto industry in particular has taken great strides in improving quality since its downfall in 73.
