An Economic History of the United States: Conquest, Conflict, and Struggles for Equality
Language: English
Pages: 302
ISBN: 1442257237
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The economy of the United States is constantly evolving in response to wars, technological innovations, cultural revolutions, and political maneuverings. Tracing the economic machine of the United States from its first experiments in the colonies to the post–Great Recession era of today, Frederick S. Weaver creates a dynamic narrative of this country’s progression through times of feast and times of famine. Weaver explores diverse areas of the market beyond the financial sector, examining historical fluctuations in distribution of income, how the ebb and flow of specific industries have influenced the shape of the market, and, ultimately, how the economy of the United States has made America the nation we know today. Conquest, Conflict, and Struggles for Equality: An Economic History of the United States is a thoughtful and accessible introduction to the subject of American economic history, suitable for undergraduate courses in US political and economic history.
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“cottages” in Newport, Rhode Island, magnificent yachts, racehorses, splendid art and book collections, large, manicured gardens, and elaborate balls defined a lifestyle aptly labelled by Thorstein Veblen in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) as conspicuous consumption. Also in response to the opulent lifestyles of the very rich, Mark Twain christened the three post–Civil War decades the Gilded Age, and the name stuck. But the rich and their families also engaged in large-scale
Samoa agreement resolved a conflict that had festered for a decade and almost led to war. And in 1917, the United States bought the largest of the Virgin Islands from the Danes. The United States was now a growing colonial power, and at the turn of the twentieth century, there were reasons to believe that its improved military and administrative capabilities would propel additional expansion in the new century. McKinley’s reelection in 1900 seemed to be an affirmation of expansion, but soon
communism.” The resulting development program underwrote an elaborate and interlocked development establishment of U.S. government agencies, universities, and foundations, as well as some international and foreign agencies, all of which dispensed foreign aid, loans, expert advice, and sponsored research. The principal intellectual paradigms that informed U.S. thought about economic development framed the issues in terms of “poor nations” and “rich nations” rather than of poor peoples and rich
field”) became important in chicken and lettuce production. The competitiveness of agricultural product markets, however, prevented agricultural capital from controlling its markets and from constructing Core-type accords with labor. But in the name of the increasingly scarce family farm and despite declining rural populations, big agricultural capital still wielded enough political clout to ensure government price supports, acreage limits, tariffs, and subsidized research, credit, and crop