The Communications Revolution

The Communications Revolution

• the US post office
  • massive organization
  • bigger than peacetime military and rest of federal bureaucracy combined
  • mostly transported newspapers (discounted rates)
  • a national information network
• print media industry grew massively, helped buy new technology
• telegraph invented 1845, eastern cities linked by 1860s

Banking and Finance

• first bank of the US expired 1811
• second bank of the US started in 1816, 20 year charter
  • backed hundreds of state-chartered banks
  • widespread access to credit
• western farmers/planters linked to creditors in NY, London, and beyond
• first modern business corporations
  • previously, only for “public good” projects
  • incorporation limited investors’ and operators’ personal liability for company debt which meant lower risk

Financial “Panics”

• new finance system was unstable: boom and bust cycles
• over speculation on commodities, led to “Panics” and economic depressions
  • panic of 1819, land
  • panic of 1837, land and slaves
  • panic of 1857, railroad bonds
• emerging nation of “the economy”