By the end of the nineteenth century, when it had become the world's leading industrial nation, the United States was home to many of the biggest and most successful business enterprises in the world. Although the Civil War did not directly cause the rise of big business in America, it did change the fortunes of many firms and industries, including some of those that became especially important during the late nineteenth century. The Civil War had a more direct impact on American banking and finance and transformed the ways in which Americans debated the politics of money.

American Business Before and During the Civil War

Before and during the Civil War, there were few industrial corporations in America. Although the nation was home to hundreds of mechanized factories by 1860, only a few of these factories employed more than 1,000 people. Most businesses were owned and...