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Bank of the United States
Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of State, proposed the idea of a Bank of the United States (BUS) as a way ot reshaping America's economy. This central bank would make the nation's economy more stable through the creation of paper money that all states would use. This idea had much opposition because people feared it would fall under the influence of wealthy, upper-class people who would use it to their advantage. The bank would exist for 20 years and have to be "renewed". -
Excise Tax on Unecessary Items
One of Hamilton's policies, developed and put into place when he was the Secretary of State, was a tax on spirits, coffee, etc. to pay off America's debts from the aftermath of war. This, along with a tariff on imports, helped stimulate a purchase of American-made products, rather than giving money to European nations. -
Second Bank of United States Issue
The second charter for the Second Bank of the United States spanned from 1816-1836. The BUS forclosed on many farms and concentrated money in the east, so it was "out of touch" with the common farmer. Since the bank was run by a corrupt man, Nicholas Biddle, President Andrew Jackson vetoed the charter in 1832, putting the federal reserves into "pet banks" to ensure the BUS's extinction. His actions led o the Panic of 1897. -
Tariff of 1832
This tariff, onlly slightly lower that the 1828 tariff, acted as a remedy for the conflict created by the Tariff of 1828 (45%), which had "sidelined" the South by favoring and focusing on the North. Opposite of the great things expected to happen because of the 1832 tariff, the South was angered even further and South Carolina held a special convention, formally nullifying the tariff. Jackson spoke out against nullification and eventually sent military units to SC to enforce the tariff. -
Tariff of 1833
The Tariff of 1833, also known as the Compromise Tariff, was proposed by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. It was adopted to gradually decrease the rates, over the span of 8 years, which had angered Southerners regarding the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832, which had caused South Carolina to threaten secession. This tariff, like the ones in the past, was put in place to make buying European products less appealing and cause a spike in the purchase of American-made goods. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act was signed by Lincoln offering 150 acres of land free to anyone willing to farm the land for five years. Unfortunately for small farmers, the government treated large coreperations as people and granted them tons of land which made making a profit difficult for family farmers. -
The Pendleton Civil Service Act
The Pendleton Civil Service Act decided government employees should be tested and selected because they are the most qualified for the position rather than being chosen because they were politically afilliated. This Act was put into place to prevent presidents awarding unqualified men positions in order to repay them for tasks such as help campaigning. -
Interstate Commerce Commission
This committe, much like the Anti-Trust Act was created in order to put an end to corruption, as well as stop fraud and regulate railroad prices. However, the people on the committe were corrupt and used the committee's power for personal gain. There was no real change seen in the economy or prices. -
Dawes Severalty Act
The Dawes Act was authorized to help Americans assimilate the Native Americans. The government divided up the Indians' land and made them private landholsers. They then took the "left-over" land and sold it to settlers -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
This act was approved in July 2, 1890 and was meant to stop monopolies and obstacles restraining trade. In reality, it was used to break up strikes and unions. This was bad because the economy was still being controlled by wealthy business owners and even though the government attempted to help the unions that had formed, they actually supported and were given favors by big businesses. -
McKinley Tariff
The McKinley Tariff became law on October 1, 1890 and was an extremely high tariff on foreign goods and was greatly supported by Republicans. Creating this tariff would convince American consumers to buy more manufactured goods from America, so her economy would improve. -
Panic of 1893
Since there were so many technological advances with machines and and factory/harvesting processes at the time, businesses were producing their products at rates too high for the current market. This was known as overproduction and led to many businesses going bankrupt or losing money. This economic contraction began in January of 1893. The economy grew slightly in December, but was hit with a second recession that lasted until June, 1897. -
The Food Amninistration
The Food Administration run by Herbert Hoover was another time that the government wa involving themselves directly in the lives of the public. Hoover worked to gain volunteers that would conserve food so that more food could be sent to the starving Ally soldiers. Although the people were not forced this was the first time that the government presented the idea of restriction of supplies on the homefront. -
Espionage Act
The Espionage Act of 1917 was passed by the government to limit free speech while America was at war. When the homefront does not support a war the soldiers lose motivation. The government had invested too much money into the Allied Powers to lose the war. The act made it illegal for people to interfere with the military, promote enemy success, or convey false information about the military. -
The War Industries Board
The War Industries Board was the first time in history that the government was seen regulating production. The WIB created a standard for the parts of weaponry so that the parts could be interchangeable. The also created quotas and regulated prices as well as materials. -
Dawes Plan of 1924
The Dawes Plan of 1924 was a financial plan put in place to relieve some of the debt Germany was responsible to pay as a result of World War I. The United States would loan money to Germany. Then, as a result of the negotiations established in the Treaty of Versailles, Germany would pay that money to the Allies. Lastly, the Allies would pay off their loans to the United States. It was just a big cycle of money starting and ending with the United States. -
Butler Act
The Bulter Act, passed in Tennessee, said that if a school accepted any money from the state, it was prohibited from teaching evolution. As a result of this controversial law, John Scopes was paid by the ACLU to teach evolution so the law could be taken to court and nullified. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
This pact was agreed with by 70 coutries. All who took part in this pact renounced war and said it was illegal. This was done in the hopes of preventing another war as devastating and destructive as World War I. -
The New Deal
The New Deal was FDR's plan to stabalize the American economy after the stock market crash at the end of the 1920s. FDR created many programs within the New Deal that were seen as controversial because of how involved the government became in the lives of the public. The SSA gave money to single mothers and the CCC provided jobs for men which many conservatives saw as dangerous because they believed people would begin to rely on the government for jobs and money in the future. -
The Revenue Act of 1935
The Revenue Act of 1935 or the Wealth Tax raised the federal income tax on the wealthy. The money collected from the Wealth Tax went to funding the New Deal programs. The Wealth Tax was a progressive tax and some of the highest incomes were being taxed 75%. -
Roosevelt Recession
The Roosevelt Recession was a slight downturn in the United States economy at the end of the 1930s. At this time the unemployment rates increased causing panic because the public did not want to head back into another depression. Some historians say the New Deal caused the recession because its socialistic programs caused the public to rely on the government for their income. -
Cash and Carry
FDR persuaded Congress in November to amend these acts so that belligerants could buy weapons from the US if they paid in cash and transported them on their own ships. This was important as governmental intervention because it was supposed to make a way to safely allow the US to make money and provide the allies with weapons. Although the US didn't remain neutral, this was done in order to continue trade and improve US economy by bringing in money. -
Smith-Connally Act
This act stated that the federal government was allowed to seize and control businesses that were threatened by or under strikes that would stop or slow poduction. This was important to US economy because during WWII, everything was circled around the war effort and anything that could be done to disrupt or take away from that was prohibited by the federal government. -
GI Bill
Soldiers who returned home from WWII received multiple benefits from the government including educational assistance and money reimbersment for their time overseas. This had a negative impact on the economy for the general public. The soldiers who returned took jobs away from people or bumped people to lower jobs once they became educated and caused an increase in unemployment and poverty. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan provided money to countries in Europe to prevent them from falling to Communism. The debt that the Marshall Plan casued negatively impacted the economy and with the addition of welfare later on caused the government to need to intervene further and push Americans to the conservativism that comes about in the 1970s. -
Sputnik
The Cold War space race had a large impact on the American Economy because when the USSR successfully launced Sputnik into orbit the government began pouring millions of dollars into space exploration and nuclear development instead of spending money on national security and protecting the American public. -
The Great Society
LBJ created the Great Society after the Korean war because the US economy slowed in the post-war period as production decreased. He created many programs that helped provide better education and more jobs. It greatly resembles the New Deal because the government stepped in to control the unemployment rates and the economy through the creation of jobas and welfare.
