Author: s.progya

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1OZq-lczMFoyO6j7qvVk1r9QSk8q1pFqtPLoCQWZstEQ&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

Reference:

https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/history/transcontinental-railroad/timeline

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tcrr-timeline/

https://www.up.com/heritage/steam-meet/index.htm

 

 

When I was thinking of “History of Business Enterprise” I was expecting a class completely focused on the historic figures who crafted the policies of the American economy. As an International Student here in the US, I didn’t have a lot of knowledge on the history of capitalism in America and I was assuming it would be heavy on the dates and processes and changes. But this class was more than that.

I had the opportunity to learn how power was gained, used and transferred in the American business enterprise, how Slavery played a big role in shaping capitalism, and even how different colonies in different areas in the United States harvested different goods, from crops to animal fur. Also, how since the beginning of America, the rich kept getting richer, and poor got poorer, which is still prevalent in today’s society. It was also interesting to learn about the introduction of technology in the United States and how it influenced and brought about a whole new era in American Economy and Business.

This course provided good insight in seeing American History from an economic perspective. I’ve learnt the different policies they had at different times in history and the challenges and solutions that came about as the United States rose to become a global economic powerhouse. I believe it is important to learn about the History of America from a Business and Economic perspective as it helps one understand why America is the way it is now, and how it came to be. Decisions made by business leaders, government leaders, and people at the time play a significant role in shaping the US to what it is today, and this can help us make sense of policies and laws set today, and the ones to come.

In the opening of Judith Stein’s “How the United States Traded Factories for Finance in the seventies” we get a glimpse of what life was like at the time. A period in American history that was already filled with political cynicism was only fueled by the Watergate scandal. The cultural and political events of the day set the scene for what would become the only decade other than the 1930s where Americans ended up poorer than they began.

In 1945 Americans were prosperous when compared to people of other nations, as time went on and we moved further and further from the great depression life improved for the majority of Americans. In 1970 only about 10% of the population was below the poverty line, while back in 1945 more than 40% of Americans lived below the poverty line. The lower and middle class was able to take great financial strides during this time whereas the income of the lowest 5^th increased by 116% and the income of the 5^th gained about 85%. This is what became known as the ‘Great Compression’. The middle class became real.

In Europe and Japan, they had learned similar lessons during the economic hardship of the 1930s. However, they viewed that the state should have more of a hand in the economic process while the US took a more hands-off approach. The economic boom that can be seen in both Europe and Japan during this time is in part due to the Bretton Woods conference and what came out of it. America had realized that it needed other counties economies to be strong or else it would not be able to thrive on its own. This led to an increase promotion of global trade and expansion which then turned out to be an inevitable reality and a pivotal decision that allowed the United States to prosper.

In his excerpt “Introduction”, Richard Whites dives into the evolution of railroad corporations of the nineteenth century, their failures and successes, and how the people at the time held negative feelings towards these corporations. His belief is these transcontinental railroads of the 19^th century caused great political and social clashes that could have been avoided if it didn’t come into being at the time, but at the same time Richard White acknowledges how these transcontinental railroads shaped what it is today and it is the failures that led to today’s systems.

It’s these railroad connections that connected the East to the West, North to the South, creating plenty of business and investment opportunities for people to get rich, and the rich to get richer, but it came with more negatives than positive at the time according to White. The world at the time just wasn’t ready for such innovation and it also greatly harmed the environment. This is due to there being an excess of railroads, a lot that he saw as unnecessary, and were not efficiently built or controlled, this cost the corporations and the government more than they saw in profits. He saw it more of an “execution” fault, than a fault in the idea of a transcontinental railroad system itself.

White mention’s that Railroaded emphasizes finance capitalism and he states ­– “It was not “capital” that built the railroads but credit, and the capital was ultimately at risk in the railroads did not belong to the men who controlled them.” (pg. 5) At the same time he goes on to mention Thomas Scott, Henry Vallard and others who were entrepreneurs that helped the railroads to proceed by buying bonds. He then mentions that the market at the time was not set apart from particular state policies, institutions, or social and cultural practices.

Perhaps my favourite part of his introduction is “…although many readers will find such a claim astonishing. It is about the utter uprooting of older ways of life and older ways of communication and travel by a new technology in the hands of new men with a new form of corporate organization.” (pg. 5) He believed that the investments that fed these “new technologies” would have been better spent on other more “current” issues, and not let technological advancement try to get ahead of its time, but looking at it from a view of the world two centuries later from when they were built, those technological advancements were necessary and it is for them that we have this part of the world shaped and as connected as it is today.

In Walter A. Friedman’s American Business History: A Short Introduction  he traces the rise of business in the United States from the time of the arrival of the European Merchants in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries all the way to today’s large enterprises and businesses. Not only does Friedman talk about America’s rise to power through business, but he also writes about its culture and societies.

He starts off with the late 15^th Century and talks about the European Settlers’ desires to mine more and more from the land of the Americas and this jumpstarts capitalism in the New World. Friedman mentions the different settlements trading different goods, for example the French on the North found their land to be valuable in animal fur while Virginia colony was exposed to Tobacco by John Rolfe and began exporting it. These trades along with Companies such as the Virginia Company (1606), East India Company (1600) and Massachusetts Bay Company (1628) etc. began a new surge of commerce and trade.

The Way to Wealth (Friedman 13) stood out to me the most since I wasn’t aware that’s where the “American Dream” stemmed from. It is said that Benjamin Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth” (1758) says the way to achieve prosperity and wealth is by mastering in a trade and by working hard in it, and that this is the way out of poverty, and something that is still relevant, and applicable to this day. “Wastefulness and sloth” is still something that is considered today to be a root cause of poverty and lack of success, and his famous “time is money” is a phrase still used routinely today. It also made me think how even though Americans were against inherited aristocracy, it’s still a human desire to want to pass on your wealth and accomplishments on to your next generations.

Throughout these Chapters, Friedman stresses on the exports and imports of the United States and how it began to shape the economy to become what it is today. Regardless of the challenges at the time, capitalism helped carve America into the Global Powerhouse it is today.  From Farmers in the South to the merchants in the East, all had one goal, establishing themselves and their families in the New World.