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US Economics
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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
Robert Morris used a loan to set up the private Bank of North America in order to finance the war. -
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, 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
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
Congress passed a law regulating railroads. Preventing the industry from taking all of control and becoming too powerful -
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
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
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
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
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
This was created and put into action by the government to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. -
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
