HIST 3027: History of American Capitalism: American Economy and Society

The History of American Capitalism will cover all economic activity in the United States from about 1600 to the present.

We will examine the global economic context in which America was explored and settled by Europeans; how both vigorous trade and agriculture emerged in the colonies; the impact of the American Revolution on both state formation and economic policy; the market revolution in the early 1800s; the industrial and transportation revolutions as drivers of economic activity and the emergence of new markets and social classes; the impact of the Civil War and emancipation especially in the South; settlement and mining of the West; the impact of WWI and the subsequent Great Depression; the war economy in the 1940s; Cold War and global economic policy; stagflation in the 1970s and Reaganomics in the 1980s; and the electronic and digital revolution and their influence on economic booms, busts, and bubbles of the early 21st century.