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”