History 166/Economics 245--History of American Enterprise
Fall 2008

Note: This syllabus is from Fall 2008; it is mounted for informational purposes only. The actual syllabus for Fall 2009 may differ--although basic course requirements will remain the same.

Meets MW, 11:10 AM-12:00 Noon, 101 Buttrick Hall
Professor David L. Carlton; for other contact information, click here.

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Discussion Sections

Section Leaders Buttrick Carrell Office HoursMailboxPhone (H)
Rose Beth Grossman 4-53

F 12:10-1:00, and by appointment

 Graduate Student Lounge, Benson Hall N.A.
William F. Hardin 3-39 MW, Noon-1:00 PM Graduate Student Lounge, Benson Hall N.A.
Shawn Mosher 4-71 MW, Noon-1:00 PM, and by appointment Graduate Student Lounge, Benson Hall N.A.

Discussion Section Schedule

Section No.TimeLocationLeader
1Friday 11:10 AM-12:00 Noon Stevenson 1310 Grossman
2 Friday 1:10-2:00 PM Buttrick 308 Grossman
3 Thursday 4:10-5:00 PM Buttrick 304 Hardin
4 Friday 2:10 PM-3:00 PM Furman 109 Hardin
5Friday 11:10 AM-12:00 Noon Stevenson 1313 Mosher
6 Thursday 4:10-5:00 PMButtrick 112 Mosher

Schedule of Classes and Assignments

Week
Topic
Readings
1

Aug. 25--FIRST CLASS

Aug 27--Prologue: The European Origins of American Business

Blasczyk and Scranton, Ch. 1;
Livesay, American Made, Ch. 2.

2

The Origins of American Business

Sep. 1--The First American Business Enterprise–The Virginia Company

Sep. 3--America's First Business–Agriculture

 Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 2;
Richard Hakluyt the Younger, Discourse Concerning Western Planting [handout];
Sigmund Diamond, "From Organization to Society: Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 63, No. 5. (Mar., 1958), pp. 457-475.
3
 Colonial Business and the Coming of the Revolution

Sep. 8--Colonial Commerce and Mercantilism

Sep. 10--The Revolution and Its Fruits

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 3;
The Navigation Acts [handout]

4

A New Nation and a New Business Environment

Sep. 15--Defining American Business Culture I : The Constitution and the Federalists

Sep. 17--Defining American Business Culture II: The Federalists and the Jeffersonian Revolution

Alexander Hamilton, Report on Public Credit (On the Web);
Dalzell, Chaps. 1-4;
Livesay, Ch. 2

5

The Westward Explosion

Sep. 22--The Westward Explosion

Sep 24--The Commercial West

Dalzell, Chaps. 5-6 and Epilogue;
Jesup Scott, "The Western Railroad Movement" Hunt's Merchants' Magazine 12 (1845): 323-330 (handout);
Anon., "Commercial Delusions--Speculations" The American Review 2 (1845): 345-357 (handout)

6

The Transportation Revolution

Sep. 29--The Transportation/Communications Revolution

Oct. 1--The Industrial Revolution

DALZELL PAPER DUE IN DISCUSSION SECTIONS{NEW DATE!!}

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 6;
Livesay, Ch. 3;
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIX (1780)(handout);
William D. Kelley, "Introduction," in Speeches, Addresses, and Letters on Industrial and Financial Questions (Philadelphia: H. C. Baird, 1872), v-xx (handout);
Joseph Whitworth, "Special Report"(1854)(handout).

7

The Making of Industrial America

Oct. 6--Law and the American Economy [William Hardin, Guest Lecturer]

Oct. 8--MIDTERM EXAM

NO DISCUSSION SECTIONS THIS WEEK!

8

Southern Business--The Beginnings of Big Business

Oct. 13--Business Culture in the Old South

Oct. 15--The Rise of Big Business I--The Railroads

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Chs. 4 and 5:
David L. Carlton, "Antebellum Southern Urbanization," in David L. Carlton and Peter A. Coclanis, The South, the Nation, and the World (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003), 35-48 (handout).


Oct. 20-21--FALL BREAK
9

The Rise of Big Business

Oct. 22--The Rise of Big Business II--The National Market and a New Business Environment

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 7;
begin Gain
10

The Rise of Big Business (Cont'd)

Oct. 27--The Rise of Big Business III--New Business Strategies

Oct. 29--Labor in the Age of Big Business

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 9;
Livesay, Ch. 4;
finish Gain
11

A New Inequality

Nov. 3--Southern Business and Southern Poverty After the Civil War

Nov. 5--New Issues for Government

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 8;
Charles Francis Adams, "The Government and Railroad Corporations," North American Review (January 1871): 31-61 (on the Web)

12

Coping With Big Business--the Government Response

Nov. 10--Progressivism and the Regulatory State

Nov. 12--Progressivism and the Regulatory State (Cont'd)

GAIN PAPER DUE IN DISCUSSION SECTIONS {NEW DATE!!!}

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 10;
Livesay, Chs. 5-8
13

Consumerism and Collapse

Nov. 12--The Marketing Revolution

Nov. 19--The Great Depression and the Crisis of the Corporate Order

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Chs.10-11;
Livesay, Chs. 9-10


Week of Nov. 24--THANKSGIVING BREAK
14

The Postwar Years

Dec. 1--The Apogee of American Corporate Enterprise–The Postwar Years, 1945-1973

Dec. 3--The Second Crisis of the Corporate Economy–The 1970s and 1980s

Pop! Paper Due in Discussion Sections

Blaszczyk and Scranton, Ch. 15;
Livesay, Ch. 11;
Gross, Pop!

15

American Business Triumphant?

Dec.8--The New New Business Order?

NO DISCUSSION SECTIONS THIS WEEK!
 

Dec. 15(Monday)--PRIMARY FINAL EXAMINATION, 3:00 PM, Buttrick 101

Dec. 18 (Thursday)--ALTERNATE FINAL EXAMINATION, NOON, Buttrick 101

Nuts 'n'Bolts:

One midterm examination will be given in this course; the grade will count 20 per cent of the final grade. The final examination will count 30 per cent of the final grade. Participation in discussion sections will count for 20 per cent of the final grade; your section leaders will determine how that grading will be handled.

In addition, each student will complete two short papers (4-6 pp. each; 15 per cent each of final grade). In the course of the semester you will receive three assignments; each will consist of a question dealing with one of the following texts: Dalzell, Enterprising Elite; Powers, Gain; and Gross, Pop! You may choose two of the three; if you write all three, I will drop the lowest grade of the three. These assignments are due as indicated on the schedule above, and will be keyed to weekly discussions.

Papers will be due at the beginning of the discussion section for which the student is registered on the week due. Except in clear medical or family emergencies, extensions will be granted only if applied for at least one day in advance; past due short papers will lose a full Vanderbilt grade point for each day overdue.

The attention of the student is called to Chapter 2 of the Vanderbilt University Student Handbook, dealing with the honor system. Note in particular that it is the student's responsibility to understand the principles of intellectual honesty as they apply to this course (to say nothing of how they apply to life in general). Feel free to consult the instructor if issues of genuine moral ambiguity arise.


Assigned Books:

Regina Lee Blaszczyk and Philip B. Scranton, eds., Major Problems in American Business History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006).
Harold C. Livesay, American Made: Shapers of the American Economy, Second Edition (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007)
Robert F. Dalzell, Jr., Enterprising Elite: The Boston Associates and the World They Made (New York: W. W. Norton, 1994).
Richard Powers, Gain: A Novel (New York: Picador USA, 1998).
Daniel Gross, Pop! Why Bubbles Are Great for the Economy New York, Harper/Collins, 2007).

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Updated April 5, 2009

Questions? Comments? Contact david.l.carlton@vanderbilt.edu.