INT 200: Global Capitalism and its Discontents American Capitalism

American Capitalism “the chief business of the American people is business” Colonial Period – Virginia Charters – Exclusionary policy – Taxes – Mercantile Capitalism United States – Thomas Paine in 1776 and 1791 – Formerly Indian-owned land served as capital – Indentured servants and slavery

American Capitalism The Industrial Revolution in the USA – Government involvement: Capital and land – Slavery – Two Working Classes African American and enslaved White and free – Poverty and Industrial Expansion – Steam-driven machinery, increased production, and profits Civil War to World War I – Between 1865 and 1920, the USA became the world's leading industrial capitalist nation 2 obstacles: a growing working class & competition Solutions: price-cutting to monopolies

American Capitalism The Gilded Age and the Robber Barons (monopoly capitalism) – Era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West – But also of poverty and inequality – Labor unions and the Panic of 1873 and Panic of 1893 – Robber Barons: the 24 men who held great industrial monopolies and unprecedented wealth denounced regulators in the name of the free market but created monopolies – Governments’ roles

American Capitalism 1920s to WWII – 1920s: Sharp increases occurred in productivity and profit; employer- managed racism; tear gas and bullets; etc. – Great Depression: b 1933, nearly ¼ of the workforce was unemployed (½ of black workers) Productivity rose, goaded by fear of unemployment Strikers were attacked by police and hired anti-labor forces – WWII Management of the economic side of the war was left in the hands of large-scale industry National labor policy increasingly penalized unions for striking Presidentially-appointed boards and the armed forces high command controlled economic aspects of the war Summary