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Period: to
History of U.S. Business 1861 to 2013
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Homestead acts
Land grants were offered on a federal level to any that have never taken up arms against the U.S. -
Income Tax
The first income tax was introduced in order to fund the civil war. -
Freedman's Bureau
Created to facilitate and manage the integration of blacks into the workforce. -
!3th Amendment
The 13th amendment was ratified abolishing slavery. -
International Telegraph
The first succesful telegraph line from the U.S. to England became operational. -
The Fourteenth Amendment Ratified
Gave citizenship to any person born within the United States. -
First Transonctinental Railroad
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Knights of Labor Established
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The Long Depression
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The Specie Payment Resumption Act
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Civil Rights Act
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Munn V. Illinois
The Munn case allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads, and is commonly regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal government regulation -
Bland–Allison Act
Required U.S Treasury to buy silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars. -
Kinghts of Labor Go Public
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Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
Regulated governments jobs on basis of merit rather that political ties or affiliations. -
American Federation of Labor
Created by the disaffected Knights of Labor. Largest labor union ifor the first half of 20th Century. -
Interstate Commerce Act
A commity that held the power to regulate railroads, trucking bus lines and telecommunications to ensure fair rates. -
Pittsburg PA steel strike
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The first Olympic games
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Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska
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Spanish-American War
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First Rose Bowl for college football
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First silent film debuts
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The Wright brothers first flight
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Hallmark was founded in Missouri
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Boy Scouts of America is founded
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Supreme court orders break up of standard oil
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IBM is founded
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Titanic Sinks
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World War I Starts
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Panamal Canal Opens
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America Enters WWI
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World War I Ends
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18th Amendment / Prohibition
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Great Depression
The Great Depression starts after the fall in stock prices. -
First U.S. Supermarket opens
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Federal Housing Administration Act
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The U.S. joins WW ll
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President Truman authorizes troops into Korean War
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Disneyland Opens
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Unemployment Assistance Act passed
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First man in space
Russia wins the race, and Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to enter space. -
First U.S. man in space
Alan Shepard became the first American in space in the tiny Mercury space capsule called Freedom 7. -
First Walmart
The first Walmaart was opened -
JFK assassination
Kennedy was fatally shot by a sniper named Lee Harvey Oswald -
First ATM
The first ATM was installed in a wall of the Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre, New York. -
3 Mile Island Disaster
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The first PC
The first ‘portable’ computer is launched in the form of the Osborne, a 24-pound suitcase-sized device. -
Chernobyl nuclear disaster
At chernobyl nuclear powerplant in Ukrain, an explosion and a fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe. -
The Black Monday crash
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac required to set aside percentage of lending to affordable housing. Affordable housing means that the home price is within the range of the median income. This, combined with the creation of CDOs, meant that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are organizations that purchase the mortgages from lenders, would just before the crisis began be holding a great amount of loans to poorer borrowers. -
Community Reinvestment Act
Changes to the Community Reinvestment Act allow mortgage lenders to receive credit toward their affordable-housing lending obligations for buying subprime securities. Subprime market grows. The subprime market allows poorer borrowers, who have a shorter history of obtaining loans, lower incomes, and fewer assets, to get a loan. These loans are much riskier because the borrower is much weaker. -
Growth in Mortgage backed securities
Huge growth in number of mortgage-backed securities purchased by investors. Home prices were increasing starting in 1997, which meant that investors felt that these were reliable investments. -
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act deregulates financial industry in US and allows financial institutions to grow very large. This allowed one institution to act as both commercial bank and investment bank. Commercial banks make loans, while investment banks raise capital and trade securities for businesses. This meant that institutions that were commercial banks and investment banks were not regulated strictly as banks. They therefore had looser capital requirements and the banking side of these new in -
Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000
Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 allows trading of credit-default swaps with minimal oversight. A credit derivative contract between a buyer and seller. The buyer makes payments to a seller and received a payoff if the underlying financial instrument defaults. (A future is a contract to sell or buy a commodity in the future. -
US Federal Reserve dramatically cuts interest rates
Dot-com bubble bursts and in response, US Federal Reserve dramatically cuts interest rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has been accused of creating an environment ripe for crisis due to the allowance of very low interest rates. Introduction by David X. Li of Gaussian copula function, which is widely adopted throughout the financial industry and popularizes asset backed securities. The function allowed hugely complex risks to be modeled with more ease and accuracy than ever before -
Demand for housing grew
Home price appreciation begins. Home prices began to appreciate as investors took their money out of the bottoming stock market and put it into real estate. Demand for housing grew as both these investors and individuals, particularly subprime borrowers, purchased homes, driving up prices. -
Financial institutions start to issue huge amounts of mortgage-backed securities.
Financial institutions start to issue huge amounts of mortgage-backed securities. This was due a combination of factors that made securities more profitable, especially after leveraging restrictions were lifted, allowing securities priced at many times the underlying value to be issued. Securities issuers could make a lot of money from the high prices of securities, while securities investors assumed home prices would continue to increase and that they would make money on the securities. -
Home prices began a rapid decline.
Home prices began a rapid decline. This occurred because as mortgage loan terms changed and interest rates rose, families were no longer able to afford their homes. The homes went into foreclosure and the excess supply of homes put downward pressure on home prices. Subprime mortgage borrowers had been given loans that would increase in interest rates after an initial period of very low interest rates. -
25 subprime lending firms declare bankruptcy
More than 25 subprime lending firms declare bankruptcy in February and March, while the largest subprime lender, New Century, declares bankruptcy in April. This occurs due to increasing defaults on subprime loans. As interest rates on subprime loans adjusted upwards, families could not afford to pay the increased payments, and were not able to refinance their homes because their home value had declined. -
Global stock markets suffer largest fall
Global stock markets suffer largest fall since September 11, 2001. This was due to fears that the proposed stimulus package in the US would not be enough to prevent a large recession. The scope of the financial crisis was just beginning to be revealed. -
unemployment drops
The unemployment rate drops to 9.7% in January 2010, down from 10% in December, reports the Labor Department. An additional 20,000 jobs were lost. Both numbers show that the economy is beginning to improve, as they demonstrate a decline in joblessness in the United States following the recession. -
The U.S. adds 171,000 jobs
The U.S. adds 171,000 jobs in October, showing steady, consistent economic growth. The unemployment rate climbs slightly higher from 7.8 percent in September to 7.9 percent in October, but this is because more workers joined the labor force. Economy analysts say even though the outlook is positive, the report will not be a heavy influence on the rapidly approaching election. -
Barack Obama becomes president
Barack Obama takes his post as the new President of the United States. His top priority was to fix the US’s ailing economy by creating jobs and increasing accountability in the financial system.
