Maxfield 1

Shanda Maxfield
Dr. KT Magnusson
Economics 1740-401
August 1, 2014

Great Impacts on America


I choose to write about great men that impacted America. We have all benefited
from the decisions these great men made. And I for one am grateful for the bravery and
courage these men faced to help create our economy. They all had a passion for learning,
reading and were highly influential due to their wisdom, intelligence and passion.
Jefferson drafted the words by which more than 200 years later, America is based
upon those written principles. He was vice-president as well as president, and formed a
Democratic-Republican Party to oppose views of others. He believed in the power of
states rights over federal and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Luckily his vision
of a land of a farming utopia never took effect or our great nation would not have been
what it is today. His greatest achievement was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which
doubled the size of America.
Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Ford were some of the most successful
entrepreneurs in American history. Andrew changed the steel industry by finding a
cheaper way to mass-produce steel and helped the U.S. economy by trading worldwide.
At the end of his career he built thousands of libraries, church organs and Carnegie Hall
in New York City. He believed a child should not inherit too much and gave away most
of his fortune at the end of his life.
J.P. Morgan saved the U.S. economy twice in 1895 when they ran out of gold and
1907 with John D. Rockefeller to bail out banks. He consolidated competing railroads,
Maxfield 2
sold railroad stock and merged companies like General Electric and U.S. Steel. He was
viewed as a ruthless capitalist because he would combine companies to stabilize the
economy. He also was an art collector and a large portion of his art is in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York City.
Henry Ford changed America forever making it cost effective for many to be able
to get around in the Model T. Allowing the option to move to rural areas instead of the
overpopulated cities. His business practices of the assembly line, mass-production and
high wages for his workers revolutionized the industry. His high wage offer reduced
turnover and brought the best workers to him expanding the middle class Americans.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt held the office of presidency longer than anyone in
American history and created the New Deal, which were federal programs to rebuild the
economy and help the suffering of people in the Great Depression. The Social Security
Act is part of that Deal that is still in effect today for unemployment and Medicare. He
brought entertainment and policies to the American public through his fireside chats
and the people liked and trusted him. His leadership during WWII to go to war against
Germany and Japan helped the economy out of the depression as well.
From a new nation with no internal tariffs, federal and state power struggles, the
creation and crisis of our banking systems are a few examples that helped create our
American system we have today. These great leaders and many others have helped create
these systems and our economy. We will always have ups and downs in our economy and
may we always have brave and courageous leadership to guide us. It is important to be
able to adapt to changing conditions and as individuals, We the people, keep investing
in the American economy.
Maxfield 3
Works Cited

"New Deal." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 July 2014. Web. 29 July 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal>.

"New Deal." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 29 July 2014.
<http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal>.

"Franklin D. Roosevelt." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 July 2014. Web. 29 July
2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt>.

"." . N.p., n.d. Web. . <ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie>.

"J.P. Morgan." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 26 July 2014.
<http://www.history.com/topics/john-pierpont-morgan>.

"Digital History." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 July 2014.
<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3164>.

"Henry Ford." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 July 2014. Web. 26 July 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford>.

"Jefferson's Influence on the United States - Program No. 35." VOA. N.p., n.d. Web. 26
July 2014. <http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/jefferson-monticello-
university/1670223.html>.

"." . N.p., n.d. Web. 26 July 2014.
<http://www.monticello.org/library/pdfs/Elon2001Bostian.pdf>.


"." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 26 July 2014.
<http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-jefferson-9353715#drafting-the-declaration-
of-independence>.


"Thomas Jefferson and education." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 July 2014.
Web. 26 July 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson_and_education>.