US Economic Institutions Timeline

By Ngunny
  • Period: to

    US Economics

  • The Beginning

    The Beginning

    Robert Morris was named Superintendent of Finance of the United States which organized our system and giving people power.
  • Bank of North America

    Bank of North America

    Robert Morris used a loan to set up the private Bank of North America in order to finance the war.
  • United States Constitution Adopted

    United States Constitution Adopted

    The Constitution provided that the federal government could regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, establish uniform bankruptcy laws, create money and regulate its value, fix standards of weights and measures, establish post offices and roads, and fix rules governing patents and copyrights.
  • Thomas Jefferson's Economic Plan

    Thomas Jefferson's Economic Plan

    Thomas Jefferson, based his philosophy on protecting the common man from political and economic tyranny. He particularly praised small farmers as "the most valuable citizens." In 1801, Jefferson became president and turned to promoting a more decentralized, agrarian democracy.
  • Urbanization

    Urbanization

    By 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president, 16 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas, and a third of the nation's income came from manufacturing. Limited to mostly the industrialized north. The souths economic strategy relied heavily on farming.
  • Interstate Commerce Act

    Interstate Commerce Act

    Congress passed a law regulating railroads. Preventing the industry from taking all of control and becoming too powerful
  • Sherman Antitrust Act

    Sherman Antitrust Act

    Prevented large firms from controlling a single industry. Kept them from becoming a monopoly and maintained competition and free enterprise.
  • New Inventions

    New Inventions

    Henry Ford adopts the assembly line to speed up production on automobiles. This is a critical invention that allowed for more jobs and a product to spend money on.
  • Stock Market Crash

    Stock Market Crash

    Economic activity had dropped significantly when the stock market crashed, leading us into an economic depression. This period of time is known as the Great Depression. The stock prices fell and people pulled money out of the system and caused it to become worse.
  • The New Deal

    The New Deal

    Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal as a way to restore the nations economy. It also created many of the institutions that are still in use today like the FDIC and the Social Security System. These keep our economy strong and more reliable.
  • End of World War 2

    End of World War 2

    The war helped pull our country out of a depression, but the end of the war also helped the country grow. There was a large growth in spending and brought on economic growth. The postwar births also increased spending considerably
  • The Employment Act

    The Employment Act

    This was created and put into action by the government to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power.
  • New Frontier

    New Frontier

    John F. Kennedy looked to increase economic growth during his time as president. He wanted to increased government spending, cut taxes, and increased funds for education. He did push American space exploration. Lydon Johnson took over after the death of JFK and followed through on his visions of more government spending and programs like Medicare and education initiatives.
  • Oil Embargo

    Oil Embargo

    Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries raised energy prices higher and higher which created shortages. Even after the embargo was finished prices stayed high, causing worsening of inflation and rising rates of unemployment.
  • War Against Inflation

    War Against Inflation

    The Federal Reserve Board cut off money supply and refused to supply the money needed in the economy. The Fed caused interest rates to rise. Business slowed down significantly as a result causing a recession.
  • A Growing Federal Budget Deficit

    A Growing Federal Budget Deficit

    Between 1980-1986 the deficit grew nearly 3 times larger. There was concern that heavy spending and borrowing by the government would bring cause inflation, but the Federal Reserve controlled prices
  • Trickle Down Economics

    Trickle Down Economics

    President Ronald Reagan believed the best way to stimulate the economy was to give tax breaks to companies. He also wanted to reduce tax rates so that people will be more willing to spend money.
  • Healthy Economy

    Healthy Economy

    Bill Clinton brought back the idea of "Big Government" and with new technological advances the country's economy flourished. This technology changed how companies and industries operate making them more effiecient.
  • NAFTA

    NAFTA

    The North American Free Trade Agreement allowed the country to have more economic ties with other countries. This way we have more trading partners giving us a chance at a better economy.
  • Surplus

    Surplus

    For the first time in thirty years the government had a surplus, but was projected to have a difficult future that was not capable of producing a surplus.