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Writing in 1899, David A. Wells, a noted economist and former official in me United States Treasury, observed, "It is clear that an almost total revolution has taken place, and is yet in progress, in every branch and in every relation of the world's industrial and commercial system"(r). He was correct, as an industrial revolution - or really a series of industrial revolutions - swept across western Europe and the United States. The industrial revolutions were part of a larger process of historical change: the development of modern capitalism since about 1600, spurred on by business entrepreneurship and innovation. In capitalism, transactions in markets of all sorts - ones in which goods and services were sold and bought, labor markets, and capital markets - replaced traditional ways of doing things, which had emphasized tradition, custom, and nonprice decision making (2).
Especially in the nineteenth century, the development of modern capitalism and industrialization marked a major watershed in American and world history. Big businesses and large cities grew greatly in significance, and small towns and small businesses became less important. In general, organizations such as large companies, labor unions, farmers' cooperatives, and professional organizations (such as the American Medical Association and the American Bankers' Association) developed, replacing an earlier, more personal, way of life for many Americans (3).
The study of business history offers a key means through which to understand the alterations that occurred in the United States and abroad - changes in business and economic systems, surely, but also alterations in politics, societies, cultures, and the lived experience of millions of ordinary people (4). Business history examines the evolution of the business firm in relationship to the environment within which business has developed (5). Business historians look at business firms as large as Microsoft and as small as card stores in malls, but are especially interested in the rise of modern forms of business worldwide. The external environment - politics, culture, social norms, and law - in which businesses operate constitutes the palette of business history. For instance, the passage by Congress of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 set up the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which came to regulate railroad, bus, and truck service in the United States - telling companies in those...