The Shaping: Americana A 400-Year History of American Capitalism by Bhu Srinivasan

Welcome back to The Professional Student. Today, I’ll be posting a few different entries to catch up on the reading I’ve been doing over the weeks, as I’ve enjoyed engulfing myself in the pages of the book.

Moving past the colonization of America, the book progresses from the popularity and successful farming of tobacco to The American Revolution, the cotton industry, and the slave labor that was used to make those two industries successful.

The Thirteen Colonies won their independence from Great Britain and, ironically enough, used African slave labor to reap the economic benefits produced by tobacco and cotton farming. It is no surprise, considering how the indigenous people of America were slaughtered in genocide.

The past of America is not pretty or pleasant. Still, we must continue to study it, learn from it, acknowledge it and privilege, and move forward if a genuinely equal society is ever going to emerge where all people, regardless of race, religion, culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, are treated the same. It’s ironic how minorities can be discriminated against so openly in the United States, but that discrimination ends when it comes to paying Uncle Sam his tax money. Taxes are what we pay to live in this free country, yet so many are still not afforded the simple freedoms offered here. Tonight, reflect on yourself. Take a deep dive into your upbringing, daily life, personal biases, and reflect. What can you do to become better?

The steam engine was invented in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. Steam power, usually fueled by burning coal, became the source for machines, boats, and different vehicles that allowed commodities to be mass-produced at a reduced cost. More importantly, thanks to John Fitch, steam engines could now power boats.

Thinking about the early stages of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s makes me realize how fast technology has progressed over the past couple of hundred years. I would say even more so now, as the rate at which technology can advance and evolve is staggering and will only continue getting faster. Can we keep up, however? The technological landscape is constantly changing, and businesses must keep adapting, learning, and adjusting to be successful. They must also find people who are technological experts to aid in pursuing whatever each organization defines success as.

It is fascinating to revisit how the traditional family model that involved raising a large family to work the farm and ensure survival transformed into an urbanized landscape with large cities taking full advantage of capitalism to fund business thanks to technology and modern farming techniques. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Following the steam engine came canals, the railroads, the telegraph, the gold rush, and the American Civil War, which was sparked over slavery ending. I also want to acknowledge the industrial fathers of America, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Ford. All these names should be recognizable on some level as they truly encompassed innovation, capitalism, and the overall “American Dream.”

Vanderbilt started with steamships and ended with railroads. Carnegie owned the steel industry. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil and ruthlessly destroyed competition to create a monopoly in the oil industry. Morgan bought and reorganized businesses to make them profitable and stable. Maybe he was the first venture capitalist? Random food for thought. And we all know what Henry Ford did. Though he did not invent the assembly line, he streamlined the process with Model T production and enabled other businesses to do the same.

References

Srinivasan, B. (2018). Americana: A 400-year history of American capitalism. Penguin Press.