Economic Developments
Industrialization and regulation
Organize economic history around transformation and response. Post-Civil War industrialization rested on railroads, steel, oil, and finance, with vertical integration (controlling supply chains) and horizontal consolidation (mergers into trusts). The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) banned restraints of trade but was weakly enforced at first; the Clayton Act and Federal Trade Commission (1914) strengthened regulation. The Federal Reserve System (1913) created a central bank to manage credit and currency. Populists demanded railroad regulation and free silver; Progressives pursued consumer protection and conservation.
Depression, growth, and inflation
The New Deal mixed relief, recovery, and reform: Social Security (1935), the Wagner Act (1935) protecting union organizing, and the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) setting minimum wages and hours. World War II mobilization ended mass unemployment. Postwar prosperity rested on the GI Bill, consumer credit, interstate highways, and defense spending. The 1970s brought stagflation-high inflation with weak growth-undermining Keynesian demand management; the 1980s emphasized tax cuts and deregulation, and the 1990s NAFTA and technology reshaped trade and work.
Traps and a rule of thumb
Do not equate antitrust legislation with immediate breakup of trusts, and do not confuse cause with consequence (railroads enabled markets; they did not merely follow them). Distinguish the New Deal's social insurance from direct cash relief. Rule of thumb: for any economic policy question, ask whether it targets supply, demand, or regulation before choosing.
Worked example: "Which New Deal law protected workers' right to organize?" Social Security addressed old age; the Wagner Act addressed collective bargaining. Choose the Wagner Act.