Syllabus:
American Business History: History 363
Instructor:
Daniel Pope: 331 McKenzie Hall, 346-4015, dapope@uoregon.edu
Office Hours: Mondays
2:00-3:30 or Thursdays: 11:30-1:00 or by appointment
GTF:
Keith Reed: reed5@uoregon.edu 340R
McKenzie Hall
Office Hours: Tues. and
Wed. 3:30-4:30 or by appointment
President Calvin Coolidge once said that the "chief business of the American people is business." That doesn't necessarily mean that the history of the American people is the history of American business, but it does say that we will be examining topics that are central to the American past. Also, since the modern business corporation is certainly a dominant institution in our lives, a historical perspective on it should be useful for those who want to understand contemporary American society.
This is a one-term course, designed for students in History, Business and other programs who want to get some historical perspective on American business. No prior classes in either History or Business are assumed or required here, but such courses might prove relevant if you've taken them.
Books: I’ve ordered the following books at the UO
Bookstore. Used copies may be available there or elsewhere.
REQUIRED:
Glenn Porter, The Rise of Big Business 1860-1920. (I’ve ordered the third edition, published 2006. If you can save a significant amount of money by getting the second edition, published 1992, that’s OK. The first edition, published back in 1973, is ancient history by now and should not be used.)
Jefferson
Cowie, Capital
Moves: RCA’s Seventy-Year Quest for Cheap Labor
NEW Here are some notes and questions on
Cowie, Capital
Moves.
Michael Lewis, The Big Short
Frederick W. Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management. (This is also available online through Google Books, here, and another version here.)
OPTIONAL: Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt. (This novel about an American businessman in the 1920s is for one of the short paper options. Look at the forthcoming description of the paper topic options before you decide whether to buy it.)
Requirements:
1. Participation in Blackboard discussion board: NEW: Instructions posted on Blackboard. (Go to Discussion Board option, under Tools in left-hand menu.) About 10% of the course grade.
2. Midterm exam: Thursday, May 3. About 25% of course grade. NEW: ESSAY PROMPTS AND INSTRUCTIONS NOW ONLINE!
3. Short paper due at class time Tuesday, May 29. About 25% of course grade. NEW: Instructions here!
4. Final exam: Wed., June 13, 13:00-15:00. About 40% of
course grade. The final exam will be comprehensive, covering the entire term’s
material, but it will emphasize the second half of the term.
Class Sessions:
Note: This course will feature biographical lectures and videos--a “Tycoon of the Week” designed to introduce you to some of the most interesting figures in American business history and to raise the question of how much impact individuals have had on the course of historical change.
April 3: Introduction and Tycoon #1: Robert Keayne
April
5: Colonial Merchants and an (almost) Global
Economy
By this date, read Benjamin Franklin, “The Way to Wealth,”
(1757); the first seven pages contain the document. The rest is a commentary
which is not required. Also, watch Part 1 and Part 3 of an audiovisual series
on the business of the slave trade in Rhode Island: http://cache.projo.com/extra/2006/slavery/
April
10: Independence and the Constitution and
Tycoon #2: John Jacob Astor
By this date, read James Madison, Federalist Paper 10.
(1787)
April
12: A Constitutional and Legal Infrastructure for Business Growth
By this date, read two excerpts from Alexander Hamilton, “Report on Manufactures,”
1791. Excerpt
One
Excerpt
Two
April
17: The Legal “Release of Energy,” Pre-Civil
War Growth and the Transportation Revolution
April
19: Tycoon #3: a video on P.T. Barnum
By this date, read Barnum, “The
Road to Riches”, chapter 9, pp.133-155 of his memoirs, Struggles and
Triumphs (1875). The link goes to the Google version of the book. Click on
the link to chapter 9 to go to page 133. Using the arrows at the top of pages,
you can move forward from there.
April 24: The Railroads as America’s First Big Business
April
26: Mass Production and Mass Distribution
. NEW: ESSAY
PROMPTS AND INSTRUCTIONS NOW ONLINE!
By this date, read Porter, The Rise of
Big Business, chapters 1 and 2. Also read Andrew Carnegie’s 1889 essay, “Wealth.”
Also, browse the online Sears,
Roebuck catalogue of 1897
May 3: MIDTERM EXAM
By the midterm, read Porter, The Rise of Big Business, chapter 3
(Bibliographical essay is not required); Jefferson Cowie,
Capital Moves, Introduction and
chapter 1 (pp.1-40)
May 8: Finance and Control of Big Business and Tycoon #5:
J. Pierpont Morgan
By this date, start reading Taylor, The
Principles of Scientific Management (an online version here). Keep reading Cowie, Capital Moves.
Some notes and questions on Taylor and Scientific Management are here.
May
10: Frederick W. Taylor and Scientific
Management (You can think of Taylor as a bonus tycoon.)
By this date, finish Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management (an
online version here);
Some notes and questions on Taylor and Scientific
Management are here.
NOW
OPTIONAL Thorstein Veblen, “On the Nature and
Uses of Sabotage” (chapter one, pp.4-18, of Veblen, The Engineers and
the Price System, 1921).
May
15: Making a Consumer Society and Tycoon #6:
Bruce Barton
By this date,
read brief
excerpts from Barton’s 1924 bestseller, The
Man Nobody Knows.
May
17: Stakeholders and
Big Business and Tycoon #6: Bruce Barton
NEW Here are some notes and questions on
Cowie, Capital
Moves.
May 22: Working for Big Business
By
this date, finish Cowie, Capital Moves. NEW:
In Capital Moves, read introduction
and chapters 1-4 and chapter 6. Chapters 5 and 7 and the epilogue are now
OPTIONAL
May 24: Women and People of Color in American Business and Tycoon #7: Madame C.J. Walker
May 29: The World of Wal-Mart
SHORT PAPER DUE— Instructions here!
By this date, start reading
Michael Lewis, The Big Short,
chapters tba
May 31: The World of Finance and the Great Recession, Part I and Tycoon(s) #8: George Soros/Charles and David Koch
June 5: Finance and the Great Recession, Part II
By this date, finish Lewis, The Big Short,
chapters tba
June 7: The Future of Capitalism--The Vision of
Joseph Schumpeter, a Pessimistic Supporter
By this date, read brief excerpts from Joseph Schumpeter, to be posted.
Final Exam: Wednesday, June 13, 13:00-15:00
History 363
Spring 2012