Major Problems in American Business History: Documents and Essays (Major Problems in American History)
1. Business and Us ESSAYS Philip B. Scranton, Why Study Business History? Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., What Is a Firm? Mary A. Yeager, Considering Businesswomen David Vogel, Do Business and Government Get Along? Christine Meisner Rosen and C. Christopher Sellers, Business and the Environment 2. Capitalism in Early America DOCUMENTS 1. Benjamin Franklin Coaches an Ambitious Tradesman, 1748 2. John Woolman's Christian Conscience Impels Him to Leave Retailing, 1756 3. Farmers Ask the Rhode Island Assembly to Regulate Commercial Fishing, 1766 4. Iron Masters Petition Rhode Island Lawmakers for Water Rights, 1769 5. Promoter Alexander Cluny Extols Florida's Virtues, 1770 6. Merchant-Planter Henry Laurens Reflects on Florida's Challenges, 1766 ESSAYS Edwin J. Perkins, The Entrepreneurial Spirit in Colonial America Gary Kulik, Farmers and the Anticommercial Impulse in New England David Hancock, Planting East Florida: The Harsh Reality of Mosquito's Bite Plantation 3. Merchants and Commercial Networks in the Atlantic World, 1680-1790 DOCUMENTS 1. Virginia Merchant-Planter William Fitzhugh Describes His Tobacco Plantation, 1686 2. Boston Merchant Thomas Hancock Launches a Covert Voyage to Amsterdam, 1742 3. New York Merchant Gerard G. Beekman Insures Slave Cargo from Africa, 1749 4. A Hudson's Bay Factor Orders Merchandise for His Indian Customers, 1739 5. Boston Shopkeeper Lewis Deblois Advertises the Latest London Goods, 1757 6. Revolutionary Era Merchants Explain the Causes of Inflation, 1779 7. Tench Coxe Proposes a Chamber of Commerce, 1784 8. Antifederalist George Bryan Attacks the Merchant Junto, 1788 9. A Merchant-Speculator Encourages Europeans to Invest in Western Land, 1788 ESSAYS Kenneth Morgan, British Merchants, the Slave Trade, and the Transatlantic Economy Ann M. Carlos and Frank D. Lewis, Fur Trading on the Frontier: The Hudson's Bay Company and Indian Consumers Thomas M. Doerflinger, Philadelphia Merchants and the Rise of Federalist Power in the New Nation 4. Public and Private Interests in the Transition to Industrialization, 1790-1860 DOCUMENTS 1. The Corporation as an Artificial Being, 1809 2. Corporations and Contracts, 1819 3. Corporations and Bankruptcy, 1840 4. The Corporation Becomes an Artificial Citizen, 1844 5. Nathan Appleton Explains How Banks Benefit Everyone, 1831 6. William W. Gouge Decries Banks as Corporations, 1833 7. Baltimore Patriot Supports Government Regulation of Telegraphy, 1845 8. New York Journal of Commerce Presses for Privatization of Telegraphy, 1846 ESSAYS Naomi R. Lamoreaux, The Shape of the Firm: Partnerships and Corporations Cathy Matson, Financial Innovation in the New Nation Richard R. John, Building the First Information Highway: The Deregulation of Telegraphy 5. Doing Business in the Slave South, 1800-1860 DOCUMENTS 1. A Georgia Planter Instructs His Overseer, 1832 2. A Carolina Industrialist Explains Why Factories Are Good for the South, 1845 3. Frederick Douglass Remembers the Slave Trade, 1852 4. Louisiana's Slave Laws Simplified, 1853 5. A Virginia Iron Master Hires a Slave Workforce, 1856 6. Senator James Henry Hammond Declares "Cotton Is King," 1858 ESSAYS Walter Johnson, The Slave Traders of New Orleans Charles B. Dew, Running Buffalo Forge: Master, Slaves, and the Overwork System Drew Gilpin Faust, James Henry Hammond and the Plantation as a Business Enterprise 6. Inventing American Industry, 1810-1890 DOCUMENTS 1. Industrialist Kirk Boott Chronicles the Great Achievements at Lowell, 1827 2. A Factory Girl Leads a Tour of the Lowell Mills, 1845 3. George S. White, The Moral Influence of Industry, 1836 4. New York Times Discusses the Morrill Tariff and American Industry, 1861 5. Atlantic Monthly Visits Pittsburgh, the Workshop of the West, 1868 6. Freeman Hunt, The Ups and Downs of Business, 1856 7. Andrew Carnegie, How Young Men Can Succeed, 1885 8. Picturing Progress: An Estey Organ Company Advertising Poster, ca. 1890 ESSAYS John N. Ingham, Clash of the Titans: Andrew Carnegie and Pittsburgh's Old Iron Masters Pamela Walker Laird, Progress and the Double Meaning of Industry Sven Beckert, New York Business Elites and the Civil War 7. Technology in the Age of Big Business, 1870-1920 DOCUMENTS 1. Technology Enshrined at the World's Fair, 1876 2. Duplicating Before Xerox: The Rapid Roller Copier, 1897 3. An Office Supply Company Advertises the Globe Routing System, 1897 4. A Vice President at the New York Central Railroad Describes Railroad Management as a Manly Profession, 1903 5. Male and Female Telegraph Operators Go on Strike, 1907 6. AT&T; President Theodore N. Vail Celebrates the Bell System, 1909 ESSAYS JoAnne Yates, How the Business World Adopted the Typewriter Steven W. Usselman, Mastering Technology, Channeling Change: The Testing Laboratory at the Pennsylvania Railroad Kenneth J. Lipartito, Switchboard Operators or Girl-free Automation? Gender Stereotypes and Managerial Choice in the Bell Telephone System 8. The Age of the Octopus: Business and the Reform Impulse, 1876-1920 DOCUMENTS 1. Unionized Workers in the Knights of Labor Demand a Fair Share of American Wealth, 1878 2. Journalist Henry Demarest Lloyd Exposes the Standard Oil Monopoly, 1881 3. Sweatshop Conditions Horrify a Factory Inspector, 1893 4. Industrialist George M. Pullman Explains the Strike at Pullman Palace Car Works, 1894 5. Sugar King Henry O. Havermeyer Declares the Customs Tariff as the Mother of All Trusts, 1899 6. President Theodore Roosevelt Advocates Regulation, 1901 7. "People's Attorney" Louis D. Brandeis Lashes Out Against the Money Trust, 1913 8. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Applies Human Engineering to the Labor-Capital Problem, 1920 ESSAYS Colleen A. Dunlavy, Why Did Some American Businesses Get So Big? Stanford M. Jacoby, Welfare Capitalism at Kodak 9. The Many Faces of Entrepreneurship, 1840-1930 DOCUMENTS 1. Jewish Immigrant Abraham Kohn Laments His Wanderings as a Peddler, 1842-1843 2. A Credit Agency Monitors Businesses Nationwide, 1850s-1880s 3. A Cleveland Newspaper Heralds the People's Drug Store as an Achievement for the Negro Race, 1906 4. Mrs. M. L. Rayne Highlights Proper Business Ventures for Victorian Women, 1893 5. Christine Frederick Advises Retailers on Selling to Women, 1920 ESSAYS Rowena Olegario, Jewish Merchants, Creditworthiness, and Business Culture Angel Kwolek-Folland, Women's Businesses, New and Old 10. Satisfaction Guaranteed? American Business and the Rise of Consumer Society, 1900-1940 DOCUMENTS 1. John Wanamaker, The Four Cardinal Principles of the Department Store, 1911 2. Victor Talking Machine Company Advertises the Victrola, 1913 3. Du Pont's Advertising Director Describes the Impact of World War I, 1918 4. Paul T. Cherington, Putting American Consumers Under the Microscope, 1924 5. Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., How GM Gets the Facts on Car Buyers and Competes with Ford, 1927 6. Herbert Hoover Explains How World Trade and Protective Tariffs Ensure American Prosperity, 1928 7. J. C. Penney, How Chain Stores Benefit Farmers, 1930 8. National Wholesale Grocers' Association, Why Chain Stores Threaten the Nation's Welfare, 1930 ESSAYS Andre Millard, The International Industry of Recorded Sound Regina Lee Blaszczyk, Marketing Pyrex Ovenware Jonathan J. Bean, Mass Marketing Meets Main Street: Department Stores, Mail Order, and the Chain Store Menace 11. Times of Crisis: From the Stock Market Crash Through World War II, 1929-1945 DOCUMENTS 1. A Wall Street Broker Remembers 1929 2. NRA's Blue Eagle Displayed in a Restaurant Window, 1934 3. American Liberty League Vigorously Opposes the New Deal, 1936 4. CIO Leader John L. Lewis Issues a Forceful Warning to Industry, 1936 5. GM Managers Work Behind Closed Doors on a Collective Bargaining Policy, 1936 6. Magazine of Wall Street Assesses Corporate Performance for Investors, 1929-1938 7. St. Louis Banker Heads the Defense Plant Corporation, 1940-1944 8. Life Celebrates Henry J. Kaiser and the U.S. Wartime Shipbuilding Program, 1942 9. Mill and Factory Explains How the Aircraft Industry Recruits Women, 1942 ESSAYS Michael A. Bernstein, Why the Great Depression Was Great Howell John Harris, GM, Chrysler, and Unionization Joel Davidson, World War II and the Birth of the Military-Industrial Complex 12. Postwar Challenges and Opportunities: The Culture of Affluence and the Cold War, 1945-1980 DOCUMENTS 1. National Association of Manufacturers Outlines a Plan for Postwar Prosperity, 1944 2. Real Estate Developers Lure Business to the Suburbs, 1948 3. A Concerned Consumer Asks a Big Businessman about the Price of a Nylon Shirt, 1950 4. U.S. News and World Report Explains What the Baby Boom Means to the Economy, 1957 5. Fortune Credits Federal Policies for the Explosion of Motels, 1959 6. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey Compares R&D; Expenditures at Home and Abroad, 1962 7. Vietnam War Raises Business Hackles, 1971 ESSAYS Lizabeth Cohen, From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Marketplaces in Postwar America Bruce J. Schulman, Fortress Dixie: Defense Spending and the Rise of the Sunbelt 13. Business and the Public Interest: Corporate Responsibility for Environment, Health, and Safety, 1945-2005 DOCUMENTS 1. A Prominent Zoologist Speaks about the Threat of the Modern Economy, 1949 2. Weyerhauser Explains the Forest Industry's Practices, 1949 3. Ralph Nader Blames Detroit Carmakers for Automotive Accidents, 1965 4. Alcoa CEO Explains the Public Responsibility of Private Enterprise, 1967 5. Economist Milton Friedman Urges Business to Focus on Profits, 1970 6. Sun Oil Executives Outlines the Nation's Energy Dilemmas, 1973 7. A Lawmaker Explains the Necessity for Superfund, 1981 8. CIGNA Doctor Critiques Tobacco Advertising, 1987 9. Hawaiians Debate Airport Expansion on Maui, 1996 ESSAYS David B. Sicilia, The Corporation Under Siege Mansel G. Blackford, The Controversy over the Kahului Airport 14. The Great Transition from Manufacturing to Services, 1945-2005 DOCUMENTS 1. Economist Victor R. Fuchs Highlights the Growth of Services, 1965 2. Investment Bankers Association Predicts a Computer Boom, 1963 3. Bill Veeck Assesses Baseball's Marketing, 1963 4. Ray Kroc Explains How He Built the McDonald's Empire, 1968 5. Journalists Probe Transpor...