History of Business: Civil War-Present

  • U.S Buys Alaska from Russia

    On March 30, 1867 the secretary of state at the time William H. Seward paid Russia $7.2 million for the 586,412- square mile territory of Alaska.
  • Transcontinental Railroad Complete

    Two sets of railroad tracks were joined and the continent united with a ceremony at Promontory, Utah.
  • Edison Electric Founded by Thomas Edison

    In 1878 Edison founded the Edison Electric Lighting Company in lower Manhattan to produce his new bulbs.
  • American Federation of Labor Formed

    The American Federation of labor was formed by trade unions to organize skilled workers.
  • Olds Co. Begins Mass-Producing Automobiles

    By 1900 a mass producttion of automobiles had begun in France and the US.
  • Wright Brothers Make First Flight

    Orville Wright piloted first powered airplane above a beach in North Carolina and 3 more flights were made by Wilbur Wright later that same day.
  • Panama Canal Opens

    The Panama Canal opens, which connects the worlds two largest oceans which signals America's emergence as global superpower.
  • Great Stock Market Crash

    Black Tuesday hit Wall Street; investors traded 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a day. Thousands of investors were wiped out.
  • 1st Commercial Television Broadcast

    The RCA began the first commercial and public television broadcasts using Famsworth's system.
  • FDR Signs Bill of Rights

    FDR signs Bill of Rights, he was determined to plan ahead for a smooth transition to peace abroad as well as in America.
  • Bank of America Launches First Credit Card

    Bank of America issues first credit card called the BankAmericard. It was issued and only accepted in California at this time.
  • Equal Pay Act of 1963

    An act that requires that men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work.
  • Fed Ex Begins Operations

    Officially began on this day with 14 small air crafts from Memphis International Airport.
  • Microsoft Software

    Bill Gates and Paul Allen create a partnership called Microsoft.
  • Apple Launched

    Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in a Silicon Valley Garage.
  • US Government Bails Out Chrysler

    What saved Chrysler was the $1.2 billion in loan guarantees provided by the federal government.
  • Black Monday Crash of 1987

    When the Dow Jones lost nearly 22% in a single day, this marked the beginning of a global stock market decline.
  • NAFTA Took Effect

    This came into effect creating one of the worlds largest free trade zones, which would lay the foundations for economic growth.
  • 911

    A series of 4 coordinated terroris attacks on the United States launched by Al Qaeda.
  • YouTube is Launched

    A video-sharing website was launched in February 2005 reaching a 100 million views per day within a year of being launched.
  • Global Economic Crisis

    The world experiences biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. "Once in a century" type of event.
  • Oil Prices Record High

    Oil prices rose to a record high, reaching $147 a barrel.
  • Unemployment Dips

    US economy added more than 100,000 jobs in December 2010, once November hit the following year unemployment rates dropped dramatically to 9.4%
  • Facebook Part of Nasdaq

    Facebook went public and many shares occured on their first day of trade on Nasdaq.
  • Jobs Added; Unemployment Steady

    US adds 155,000 jobs while the unemployment rate remained at 7.8%