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9852_26 | On 14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the battle of Agnadello, in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded in order to come to terms with Spain, and Pope Julius II soon recognized the danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans). |
9852_27 | The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France, also. After seven years of ruinous war, the Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda River. Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion.
In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula, pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539, the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol. Fearing the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta, Nicosia, and Kyrenia, but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people. |
9852_28 | In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again, but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570, and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on the day that the city fell – 9 September 1570 – 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571. |
9852_29 | The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later, the naval forces of the Holy League, composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish, and papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria, defeated the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto. Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76 dropped to 124,000 people by 1581. |
9852_30 | 17th century
According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the spice trade, a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing due to a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of the Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice. |
9852_31 | In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused of petty crimes, and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law, and demanded that they be repealed. When this was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict which forbade clergymen from excersing almost all priestly duties. The Republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of excommunication, and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite monk Paolo Sarpi, a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law. |
9852_32 | Rivalry with Hapsburg Spain and the Holy Roman Empire led to Venice's last significant wars in Italy and the northern Adriatic. Between 1615 and 1618 Venice fought Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in the Uskok war in the northern Adriatic and on the Republic's eastern border, while in Lombardy, to the west, Venetian troops skirmished with the forces of Don Pedro de Toledo Osorio, Spanish governor of Milan, around Crema in 1617 and in the countryside of Romano di Lombardia in 1618. A fragile peace did not last, and in 1629 the Most Serene Republic returned to war with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the War of the Mantuan succession. During the brief war a Venetian army led by provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo and reinforced by French allies was disastrously routed by Imperial forces at the battle of Villabuona and Venice's closest ally Mantua was sacked, but reversals elsewhere for the Holy Roman empire and Spain ensured the Republic suffered no territorial loss and the duchy of Mantua |
9852_33 | was restored to the candidate backed by Venice and France, Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers. |
9852_34 | The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in the Cretan War (1645–1669), after a heroic siege that lasted 24 years, Venice lost its major overseas possession, the island of Crete, while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the Great Turkish War, the republic initiated the Morean War, which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the Morea peninsula in southern Greece.
18th century: decline
These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last Turkish–Venetian War, when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea". |
9852_35 | The Turks took the islands of Tinos and Aegina, crossed the isthmus, and took Corinth. Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone, and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands, and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete, which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfu, but its defenders managed to throw them back. |
9852_36 | In the meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309 merchantmen.
Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the Po Valley, extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century.
Fall |
9852_37 | By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only four galleys and seven galliots. In spring 1796, Piedmont fell, and the Austrians were beaten from Montenotte to Lodi. The army under Bonaparte crossed the frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the Adige. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the Alps. In the preliminaries to the Peace of Leoben, the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take the Venetian possessions in the Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797) while France acquired the Lombard part of the State. |
9852_38 | After Napoleon's ultimatum, Doge Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May, and abdicated, while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, agreeing to share all the territory of the ancient republic, with a new border just west of the Adige River. Italian democrats, especially young poet Ugo Foscolo, viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of Venetian Province (Provincia Veneta in Italian, Provinz Venedig in German). |
9852_39 | Legacy
Though the economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century due to the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the enlightenment.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hired in July 1743 as Secretary by comte de Montaigu, who had been named Ambassador of the French in Venice. This short experience, nevertheless, awakened the interest of Rousseau to the policy, which led him to design a large book of political philosophy. After the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), he published The Social Contract (1762). |
9852_40 | Government
In the early years of the republic, the doge of Venice ruled Venice in an autocratic fashion, but later his powers were limited by the promissione ducale, a pledge he had to take when elected. As a result, powers were shared with the Maggior Consiglio or Great Council, composed of 480 members taken from patrician families, so that in the words of Marin Sanudo, "[The doge] could do nothing without the Great Council and the Great Council could do nothing without him".
Venice followed a mixed government model, combining monarchy in the doge, aristocracy in the senate, republic of Rialto families in the major council, and a democracy in the concio. Machiavelli considered it "excellent among modern republics" (unlike his native Florence). |
9852_41 | In the 12th century, the aristocratic families of Rialto further diminished the doge's powers by establishing the Minor Council (1175), composed of the six ducal councillors, and the Council of Forty or Quarantia (1179) as a supreme tribunal. In 1223, these institutions were combined into the Signoria, which consisted of the doge, the Minor Council, and the three leaders of the Quarantia. The Signoria was the central body of government, representing the continuity of the republic as shown in the expression: "si è morto il Doge, no la Signoria" ("If the Doge is dead, the Signoria is not"). |
9852_42 | During the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Signoria was supplemented by a number of boards of savii ("wise men"): the six savii del consiglio, who formulated and executed government policy; the five savii di terraferma, responsible for military affairs and the defence of the Terraferma; and the five savii ai ordini, responsible for the navy, commerce, and the overseas territories. Together, the Signoria and the savii formed the Full College (Pien Collegio), the de facto executive body of the Republic.
In 1229, the Consiglio dei Pregadi or Senate, was formed, being 60 members elected by the major council. These developments left the doge with little personal power and put actual authority in the hands of the Great Council. |
9852_43 | In 1310, a Council of Ten was established, becoming the central political body whose members operated in secret. Around 1600, its dominance over the major council was considered a threat and efforts were made in the council and elsewhere to reduce its powers, with limited success.
In 1454, the Supreme Tribunal of the three state inquisitors was established to guard the security of the republic. By means of espionage, counterespionage, internal surveillance, and a network of informers, they ensured that Venice did not come under the rule of a single "signore", as many other Italian cities did at the time. One of the inquisitors – popularly known as Il Rosso ("the red one") because of his scarlet robe – was chosen from the doge's councillors, two – popularly known as I negri ("the black ones") because of their black robes – were chosen from the Council of Ten. The Supreme Tribunal gradually assumed some of the powers of the Council of Ten. |
9852_44 | In 1556, the provveditori ai beni inculti were also created for the improvement of agriculture by increasing the area under cultivation and encouraging private investment in agricultural improvement. The consistent rise in the price of grain during the 16th century encouraged the transfer of capital from trade to the land.
Military
During the Medieval period, the republic's military was composed of the following elements:
Forza ordinaria (ordinary force), the oarsmen drafted from the citizens of the City of Venice; everyone from the age of 20–70 was obligated to serve in it. However, generally only a twelfth was active.
Forza sussidiaria (subsidiary force), the military force drawn from Venice's overseas possessions.
Forza straordinaria (extraordinary force), the mercenary part of the army; Venetian galleys tended to employ thirty mercenary crossbowmen. With the rise of scutage, it became the dominant element of the Venetian military. |
9852_45 | In the early modern period, the Republic's military strength was well out of proportion with its demographic weight. In the late 16th century, it ruled over a population of about 2 million people throughout its empire. In 1571, while preparing for war against the Ottomans, the Republic had 37,000 soldiers and 140 galleys (manned by tens of thousands of sailors and oarsmen), excluding urban militias. The Venetian peacetime army strength of 9,000 was able to quadruple in the course of a few months by drawing upon professional hired soldiers and territorial militias simultaneously. These troops generally showed marked technical superiority over their primarily Turkish opponents, as demonstrated in battles such as the 18-month Siege of Famagusta, in which the Venetians inflicted outsized casualties and only were defeated when they exhausted their gunpowder. Like other states of the period, the Republic's military strength peaked during wars, only to quickly go back to peacetime levels due |
9852_46 | to costs. The level of garrisons stabilized after 1577 at 9,000, with 7,000 infantry and the rest cavalry. In 1581 there were 146 galleys and 18 galleasses in the navy, requiring a third of the Republic's revenue.Gregory Hanlon. "The Twilight Of A Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats And European Conflicts, 1560-1800." Routledge: 1997. Pages 19-20, 25, 87. During the Cretan War (1645-1669), the Republic fought mostly alone against the undivided attention of the Ottoman Empire, and though it lost, managed to keep fighting after losing 62,000 troops in the attrition, while inflicting about 240,000 losses on the Ottoman army and sinking hundreds of Ottoman ships. The cost of the war was ruinous, but the Republic was eventually able to cover it. The Morean War further confirmed the Republic's position as a military power well into the late 17th century. |
9852_47 | Venetian military strength underwent a terminal decline in the 18th century. The combined effect of prolonged peace and the abandonment of military careers by patricians meant that Venetian military culture ossified. Its army in that period was poorly maintained. The troops, serving under non-martial officers, were not regularly drilled and worked various odd jobs to supplement their salaries. Its navy did not decline to as drastic a degree, but still never came close to its relative power in the 16th and 17th centuries. In a normal 18th century year there were about 20 ships of the line (each of 64 or 70 cannons), 10 frigates, 20 galleys, and 100 small craft, which mostly participated in patrols and punitive expeditions against Barbary corsairs. When Napoleon invaded in 1796, the Republic surrendered without a fight.Hanlon, p. 176-177.
Economy |
9852_48 | The republic of Venice was active in the production and trading of salt, salted products, and other products along trade routes established by the salt trade. Venice produced its own salt at Chioggia by the seventh century for trade, but eventually moved on to buying and establishing salt production throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Venetian merchants bought salt and acquired salt production from Egypt, Algeria, the Crimean peninsula, Sardinia, Ibiza, Crete, and Cyprus. The establishment of these trade routes also allow Venetian merchants to pick up other valuable cargo, such as Indian spices, from these ports for trade. They then sold or supplied salt and other goods to cities in the Po Valley - Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, Bologna, among others - in exchange for salami, prosciutto, cheese, soft wheat, and other goods. |
9852_49 | The Golden Bull of 1082, issued by Alexios I Komnenos in return for their defense of the Adriatic Sea against the Normans, granted Venetian merchants with duty-free trading rights, exempt from tax, throughout the Byzantine Empire in 23 of the most important Byzantine ports, guaranteed them property-right protections from Byzantine administrators, and given them buildings and wharfs within Constantinople. These concessions greatly expanded Venetian trading activity throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.
Heraldry
The winged Lion of St. Mark, which had appeared on the Republic's flag and coat of arms, is still featured in the red-yellow flag of the city of Venice (which has six tails, one for each sestier of the city), in the coat of arms of the city and in the yellow-red-blue flag of Veneto (which has seven tails representing the seven provinces of the region). |
9852_50 | The winged lion also appears in the naval ensign of the Italian Republic, alongside the coat of arms of three other medieval Italian maritime republics (Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi).
See also
References
Citations
Sources
Primary sources
Contarini, Gasparo (1599). The Commonwealth and Government of Venice. Lewes Lewkenor, translator. London: "Imprinted by I. Windet for E. Mattes". The most important contemporary account of Venice's governance during the time of its blossoming; numerous reprint editions; online facsimile.
Secondary sources |
9852_51 | Brown, Patricia Fortini (2004). Private Lives in Renaissance Venice: art, architecture, and the family.
Chambers, D. S. (1970). The Imperial Age of Venice, 1380–1580. London: Thames & Hudson. The best brief introduction in English, still completely reliable.
Drechsler, Wolfgang (2002). Venice Misappropriated. Trames 6(2):192–201. A scathing review of Martin & Romano 2000; also a good summary on the most recent economic and political thought on Venice.
Garrett, Martin (2006). Venice: a Cultural History. Revised edition of Venice: a Cultural and Literary Companion (2001).
Grubb, James S. (1986). When Myths Lose Power: Four Decades of Venetian Historiography. Journal of Modern History 58, pp. 43–94. The classic "muckraking" essay on the myths of Venice.
Howard, Deborah, and Sarah Quill (2004). The Architectural History of Venice.
Hale, John Rigby (1974). Renaissance Venice. . |
9852_52 | Lane, Frederic Chapin (1973). Venice: Maritime Republic. . A standard scholarly history with an emphasis on economic, political and diplomatic history.
Laven, Mary (2002). Virgins of Venice: Enclosed Lives and Broken Vows in the Renaissance Convent. The most important study of the life of Renaissance nuns, with much on aristocratic family networks and the life of women more generally.
Mallett, M. E. and Hale, J. R. (1984). The Military Organisation of a Renaissance State, Venice c. 1400 to 1617. .
Martin, John Jeffries and Dennis Romano (eds.) (2002). Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297–1797. Johns Hopkins UP. The most recent collection on essays, many by prominent scholars, on Venice. |
9852_53 | Melisseides Ioannes A. (2010), E epibiose:odoiporiko se chronus meta ten Alose tes Basileusas (1453–1605 peripu), (in Greek), epim.Pulcheria Sabolea-Melisseide, Ekd.Vergina Athens, (Worldcat, Greek National Bibliography 9217/10, Regesta Imperii, etc.), p. 91–108,
Muir, Edward (1981). Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice. Princeton UP. The classic of Venetian cultural studies, highly sophisticated.
Prelli, Alberto. Sotto le bandiere di San Marco, le armate della Serenissima nel '600, Itinera Progetti, Bassano del Grappa, 2012
Rosand, David (2001). Myths of Venice: The Figuration of a State. How foreign writers have understood Venice and its art.
Tafuri, Manfredo (1995). Venice and the Renaissance. On Venetian architecture.
Tafel, Gottlieb Lukas Friedrich, and Georg Martin Thomas (1856). Urkunden zur älteren Handels- und Staatsgeschichte der Republik Venedig.
Tomaz, Luigi (2007). Il confine d'Italia in Istria e Dalmazia. Foreword by Arnaldo Mauri. Conselve: Think ADV. |
9852_54 | Tomaz, Luigi. In Adriatico nel secondo millennio. Foreword by Arnaldo Mauri.
Tomaz, Luigi (2001). In Adriatico nell'antichità e nell'alto medioevo. Foreword by Arnaldo Mauri. Conselve: Think ADV. |
9852_55 | External links
Geschichte Venedigs. Politik
Sources for the history of the Republic of Venice
Interactive map of venetian fortresses & fortified villages in Greece and Aegean sea
Former republics
Maritime republics
Republic of Venice
History of the Adriatic Sea
History of the Mediterranean
History of the Balkans
1st millennium in Italy
States and territories established in 697
Venice
Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
Italian city-states
Italian states
Christian states |
9853_0 | Business class is a travel class available on many commercial airlines and rail lines, known by brand names which vary, by airline or rail company. In the airline industry, it was originally intended as an intermediate level of service between economy class and first class, but many airlines now offer business class as the highest level of service, having eliminated first-class seating. Business class is distinguished from other travel classes by the quality of seating, food, drinks, ground service and other amenities. In commercial aviation, full business class is usually denoted 'J' or 'C' with schedule flexibility, but can be many other letters depending on circumstances.
Airlines |
9853_1 | History
Airlines began separating full-fare and discounted economy-class passengers in the late 1970s. In 1976, KLM introduced a Full Fare Facilities (FFF) service for its full fare economy-class passengers, which allowed them to sit at the front of the economy cabin immediately behind first class, and this concept was quickly copied by several other airlines including Air Canada. Both United Airlines and Trans World Airlines experimented with a similar three-class concept in 1978, but abandoned it due to negative reactions from discount economy-class travelers who felt that amenities were being taken away from them. United also cited the difficulty of tracking which passengers should be seated in which section of the economy cabin on connecting flights. American Airlines also began separating full-fare economy passengers from discounted economy passengers in 1978, and offered open middle seats for full-fare passengers. |
9853_2 | Around this time, there was speculation in the airline industry that supersonic aircraft would corner the market for the highest-paying premium passengers, and that a three-class market would emerge consisting of supersonic first class and subsonic business and economy classes. In 1977, El Al announced plans to reconfigure its aircraft with a small first-class cabin and larger business-class cabin on the assumption that most transatlantic first-class passengers would shift their business to the Concorde.
British Airways introduced "Club World", a separate premium cabin with numerous amenities, in October 1978 under CEO Colin Marshall as a means of further distinguishing full-fare business travelers from tourists flying on discounted fares. Pan Am announced that it would introduce "Clipper Class" in July 1978, and both Air France and Pan Am introduced business class in November 1978. Qantas claims to have launched the world's first Business Class in 1979. |
9853_3 | On November 1, 1981, Scandinavian Airlines System introduced EuroClass with a separate cabin, dedicated check-in counters and lounges for full-fare passengers. Simultaneously, first class disappeared from their European fleet.
Domestic and regional
Australia and New Zealand
Both Qantas and Virgin Australia offer business class on their domestic networks as well as on trans-Tasman flights to New Zealand. Flights between Perth and Sydney typically feature lie-flat seats, with deep recline cradle seats on other routes.
On the other hand, Air New Zealand does not offer business class on its domestic network. Business Class is available on flights between New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands when operated by Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 family aircraft, both of which have lie-flat seats.
North America |
9853_4 | Canada
On short-haul flights Air Canada offers recliner seats, which are similar to what is offered on regional business class in the United States. However, on some high-capacity routes, such as Vancouver–Toronto, Air Canada utilizes its long-haul fleet, such as the Boeing 777, Boeing 787, Boeing 767, and the Airbus A330. On flights using internationally configured aircraft such as these, the business-class product is a lie-flat product. However, on discount carriers, such as Air Transat, business class is "euro-style", an economy-class seat with a blocked middle seat for added comfort.
With the introduction of their Boeing 787’s on select domestic and international routes, WestJet Airlines offers 16 lay-flat business seats on each of their 787-9’s. |
9853_5 | United States
American Airlines and Delta Air Lines both exclusively use fully lie-flat Business Class seats with direct aisle access on their widebody aircraft. United Airlines is in the process of retrofitting their older lie-flat seats to a new design with aisle access for all passengers and increased privacy. A multiple course meal is served on china after takeoff, and depending on the flight length a chilled snack or light meal will be served before landing. International Business Class passengers have access to priority check-in and security, along with lounge access. United and American both also offer premium lounges with enhanced food service in their hubs for these passengers. |
9853_6 | Select routes between the East and West coasts are deemed "premium transcontinental" and offer a comparable experience to long haul international Business Class. However, it is uncommon for all seats to have direct aisle access. American uses a dedicated sub-fleet of 3-cabin A321T planes with 20 lie-flat Flagship Business seats in a 2-2 configuration for these flights. JetBlue also has a sub-fleet of A321s featuring their Mint Business Class, which alternates between a 2-2 lie flat seats and 1-1 suites with a closing door. United and Delta use a combination of wide and narrow body aircraft for these routes, with a variety of lie-flat seat designs. |
9853_7 | Nearly all other flights in the US (as well as to Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean) on American, United, Delta, and Alaska use 2-cabin narrowbody aircraft. The forward cabin is marketed as "First Class" on domestic routes but regardless uses a Business Class fare basis. These fares include a larger "recliner" seat, priority check-in/security/boarding, and increased service. Only Alaska Airlines allows lounge access for customers in "First Class" without further international travel. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included, and are served in glassware or ceramic mugs. Meal service is highly variable depending on the airline, departure time, and route. Flights between hub airports during daytime hours are usually catered with a full warm meal regardless of the flight time. Regional jets do not have ovens, and all entrees are served chilled. At the very least, a flight attendant will pass around a basket containing premium snacks. |
9853_8 | Europe
European carriers generally offer a business class consisting of enhanced economy seating with better service. There may be a curtain to separate business from economy class, based on demand, but the seats are in the same cabin. Some airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa use convertible seats that seat three people across in economy, or adjust with a lever to become two seats with a half seat length between them for business-class use. |
9853_9 | Business class has started to disappear from some short/medium haul routes, to be replaced with full fare economy and discount economy (KLM and SAS). On these routes, the seats are the same for all passengers, only the flexibility of the ticket and the food and beverage service differs. On shorter routes (typically less than one hour) many airlines have removed business class entirely (e.g. BMI on many routes) and offer only one class of service. British Airways used to offer "Business UK" on their domestic system, offering the same service as economy class, with the addition of expedited check-in, baggage reclaim, lounge access and priority boarding. In flight, until January 11, 2017, drink, tea or coffee and a snack were served to all customers, with a hot breakfast on flights prior to 9.29am.
Discount carriers |
9853_10 | Most low-cost carriers, such as Ryanair and EasyJet in Europe, Tigerair in Australia, Southwest Airlines in the United States, and even some national carriers such as Aer Lingus and Air New Zealand on their domestic and regional networks do not offer any premium classes of service. Some, however, have options above a standard coach seat: |
9853_11 | AirAsia charges a premium for passengers to sit in front of the aircraft or the exit seats which also offer more legroom as well as board first (these are called Hot Seats).
On their domestic and trans-Tasman networks, Air New Zealand has Space + seats available complimentary for Koru Club elite members and for a small charge at check-in for others. Other than a few more inches of legroom the seats are identical to normal economy seats.
JetBlue offers Even More Space (the first 9 rows on the A320 and the bulkhead and emergency row on the E-190) for between $20 and $90 extra per segment. EML includes priority boarding and priority security screening but no other benefits.
Spirit Airlines has Big Front Seats in the first row of all their aircraft. The seats were part of Spirit's former First Class offering, Spirit Plus, but now offer no benefits other than bigger seat pitch and a 2 by 2, rather than 3 by 3 arrangement.
Long haul |
9853_12 | Business class is a much more significant upgrade from economy class for long-haul flights, in contrast to a regional or domestic flight where business class offers few relative advantages over economy class. The innovations in business-class seating, incorporating features previously only found in first class (see below), has narrowed the comfort and amenities gap with traditional first-class seats. These advances and added features to business class, as well as the late 2000s recession, have caused some airlines to remove or not install first-class seating in their aircraft (as first-class seats are usually double the price of business class but can take up more than twice the room) which leaves business class as the most expensive seats on such planes, while other airlines have reintroduced first-class sections as suites to stay upmarket over contemporary business class. |
9853_13 | As with first class, all alcoholic beverages are complimentary and meals are of higher quality than economy class. Economy-class passengers are usually not permitted in the business-class cabin though first-class passengers are generally allowed to cross the curtain between business and first class.
Seating
Long-haul business-class seats are substantially different from economy-class seats, and many airlines have installed "lie-flat" seats into business class, whereas previously seats with such a recline were only available in international first class. There are essentially three types of long-haul business-class seats today. These are listed in ascending order of perceived "quality". |
9853_14 | Cradle/recliner seats are seats with around 150-160 degrees of recline and substantially more leg room compared to the economy section. The seat pitch of business-class seats range from (usually ), and the seat size of business-class seats range from (usually ). Although many airlines have upgraded their long-haul business-class cabins to angled lie-flat or fully flat seats, cradle/recliner seats are still common in business class on shorter routes.
Angled lie-flat seats recline 170 degrees (or slightly less) to provide a flat sleeping surface, but are not parallel to the floor of the aircraft when reclined, making them less comfortable than a bed. Seat pitch typically ranges from , and seat width usually varies between . These seats first appeared on Northwest, Continental, JAL, Qantas and several other airlines in 2002 and 2003. |
9853_15 | Fully flat seats recline into a flat sleeping surface which is parallel to the floor. Many airlines offer such seats in international first class but retain inferior seating in business class to differentiate the two products and fares. British Airways, which introduced flat beds in first class in 1995, was among the first airlines to introduce fully flat business-class seats with its Club World product in 1999.
Herringbone seating, in which seats are positioned at an angle to the direction of travel, is used in some widebody cabins to allow direct aisle access for each seat and to allow a large number of fully flat seats to occupy a small cabin space. The concept was first developed by Virgin Atlantic for its Upper Class cabin and has since been used by Delta, Cathay Pacific, Air Canada and other airlines. |
9853_16 | Cabin seat, These seats are designed to give the business-class traveler the most privacy they can attain while in flight. These seats are typically positioned in a 1–2–1 arrangement on a wide-body jet. On each side of the seat is a privacy panel about four feet in height. Aircraft such as these offer the best ergonomic comfort on long-haul business-class flights. These were first introduced on US Airways. |
9853_17 | Recaro claims its CL6710 business-class seat is one of the lightest at 80 kg (176 lb) while other can be beyond , adding up to a for 60 seats. |
9853_18 | Menus
While flying on a long-haul business-class flight, airlines such as Swiss, Lufthansa, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and many others offer in-flight gourmet meals with a choice of entree. Upon seating in their seats, business-class passengers are presented with a choice of champagne, orange juice, or water (called pre-flight service), with a 3-5 course meal (typically including a salad, soup, entree (typically up to 3 choices), and a choice of dessert) to follow during the flight. Depending on the time of arrival, the flight may offer either a breakfast with a variety of choices or a light snack approximately 90 minutes prior to landing. Some airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, allow travelers to request specific meals not on the regular menu prior to the flight. The alcoholic beverage choices for business-class cabins are generous, with airlines offering different premium wines, and an assortment of beers and liqueurs.
Branding |
9853_19 | The exact name for business class may vary between operators.
Bold text indicates airlines for which business class is the highest class of service offered.
Trains
Business class is the highest class of service in China high-speed rail, while first class and second class are the more affordable options. Business class passenger have the access to a pre-departure lounge if available. Train seats of business class is arranged in 1-1 or 2-1 configuration with fully enclosed seats. Free meals, unlimited snacks, and beverages are provided for the business class passenger throughout the journey. |
9853_20 | Select Amtrak trains in the United States offer a Business Class service. On Acela trains, Business Class is the primary class of service, and does not include any additional benefits onboard. On other routes, Business Class includes a refundable fare, and seating in a reserved area. Depending on the specific route, lounge access, wider seats with legrests, newspapers, or complimentary non-alcoholic beverages may be included.
Until June 2009, Via Rail in Canada premium-class service was called "Via 1", on short-range routes oriented towards business travel. The premium service on the transcontinental route (The Canadian) is called "Silver & Blue". In June 2009, "Via 1" was renamed "Business Class" and "Silver & Blue" (The Canadian) and "Easterly" (The Ocean) were renamed "Sleeper Touring Class" and "Totem" (The Skeena) was renamed "Touring Class". |
9853_21 | Eurostar also offers business-class accommodation on their rail services – named "Business Premier", the seats are similar to the premium economy "Standard Premier" offering (wider seats with more legroom and greater recline compared to economy "standard class") but include faster check-in, boarding and a full meal service, among other features. Chiltern Railways offers a business zone on selected services.
Queensland Rail in Australia also offers business class on its Electric Tilt Train.
Austrian federal railway service ÖBB also offers a business class in their high-speed trains "Railjet".
See also
Aircraft cabin
Airline seat
Economy class
Hypermobility (travel)
First class
IATA class codes
Premium economy
References
External links
Qantas History including business class history
Business Class Community with pictures
https://www.executivetraveller.com/did-qantas-invent-business-class
Airline tickets
Passenger rail transport
Travel classes |
9854_0 | This article is about the history of the United States Federal Reserve System from its creation to the present. |
9854_1 | Central banking prior to the Federal Reserve |
9854_2 | The Federal Reserve System is the third central banking system in United States history. The First Bank of the United States (1791–1811) and the Second Bank of the United States (1817–1836) each had a 20-year charter. Both banks issued currency, made commercial loans, accepted deposits, purchased securities, maintained multiple branches and acted as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury. The U.S. Federal Government was required to purchase 20% of the bank capital stock shares and to appoint 20% of the board members (directors) of each of those first two banks "of the United States." Therefore, each bank's majority control was placed squarely in the hands of wealthy investors who purchased the remaining 80% of the stock. These banks were opposed by state-chartered banks, who saw them as very large competitors, and by many who insisted that they were in reality banking cartels compelling the common man to maintain and support them. President Andrew Jackson vetoed legislation to renew the |
9854_3 | Second Bank of the United States, starting a period of free banking. Jackson staked the legislative success of his second presidential term on the issue of central banking. "Every monopoly and all exclusive privileges are granted at the expense of the public, which ought to receive a fair equivalent. The many millions which this act proposes to bestow on the stockholders of the existing bank must come directly or indirectly out of the earnings of the American people," Jackson said in 1832. Jackson's second term in office ended in March 1837 without the Second Bank of the United States's charter being renewed. |
9854_4 | In 1863, as a means to help finance the Civil War, a system of national banks was instituted by the National Currency Act. The banks each had the power to issue standardized national bank notes based on United States bonds held by the bank. The Act was totally revised in 1864 and later named as the National-Bank Act, or National Banking Act, as it is popularly known. The administration of the new national banking system was vested in the newly created Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and its chief administrator, the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office, which still exists today, examines and supervises all banks chartered nationally and is a part of the U.S. Treasury Department.
The Federal Reserve Act, 1913 |
9854_5 | National bank currency was considered inelastic because it was based on the fluctuating value of U.S. Treasury bonds. If Treasury bond prices declined, a national bank had to reduce the amount of currency it had in circulation by either refusing to make new loans or by calling in loans it had made already. The related liquidity problem was largely caused by an immobile, pyramidal reserve system, in which nationally chartered rural/agriculture-based banks were required to set aside their reserves in federal reserve city banks, which in turn were required to have reserves in central city banks. During the planting seasons, rural banks would exploit their reserves to finance full plantings, and during the harvest seasons they would use profits from loan interest payments to restore and grow their reserves. A national bank whose reserves were being drained would replace its reserves by selling stocks and bonds, by borrowing from a clearing house or by calling in loans. As there was little |
9854_6 | in the way of deposit insurance, if a bank was rumored to be having liquidity problems then this might cause many people to remove their funds from the bank. Because of the crescendo effect of banks which lent more than their assets could cover, during the last quarter of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the United States economy went through a series of financial panics. |
9854_7 | The National Monetary Commission, 1907-1913
Prior to a particularly severe panic in 1907, there was a motivation for renewed demands for banking and currency reform. The following year, Congress enacted the Aldrich–Vreeland Act which provided for an emergency currency and established the National Monetary Commission to study banking and currency reform.
The chief of the bipartisan National Monetary Commission was financial expert and Senate Republican leader Nelson Aldrich. Aldrich set up two commissions – one to study the American monetary system in depth and the other, headed by Aldrich, to study the European central-banking systems and report on them. |
9854_8 | Aldrich went to Europe opposed to centralized banking but, after viewing Germany's banking system, he came away believing that a centralized bank was better than the government-issued bond system that he had previously supported. Centralized banking was met with much opposition from politicians, who were suspicious of a central bank and who charged that Aldrich was biased due to his close ties to wealthy bankers such as J.P. Morgan and his daughter's marriage to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. |
9854_9 | In 1910, Aldrich and executives representing the banks of J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller, and Kuhn, Loeb & Co., secluded themselves for ten days at Jekyll Island, Georgia. The executives included Frank A. Vanderlip, president of the National City Bank of New York, associated with the Rockefellers; Henry Davison, senior partner of J.P. Morgan Company; Charles D. Norton, president of the First National Bank of New York; and Col. Edward M. House, who would later become President Woodrow Wilson's closest adviser and founder of the Council on Foreign Relations. There, Paul Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb, & Co. directed the proceedings and wrote the primary features of what would be called the Aldrich Plan. Warburg would later write that "The matter of a uniform discount rate (interest rate) was discussed and settled at Jekyll Island." Vanderlip wrote in his 1935 autobiography From Farmboy to Financier: |
9854_10 | Despite my views about the value to society of greater publicity for the affairs of corporations, there was an occasion, near the close of 1910, when I was as secretive, indeed, as furtive as any conspirator. None of us who participated felt that we were conspirators; on the contrary we felt we were engaged in a patriotic work. We were trying to plan a mechanism that would correct the weaknesses of our banking system as revealed under the strains and pressures of the panic of 1907. I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyl Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System. ... Discovery, we knew, simply must not happen, or else all our time and effort would be wasted. If it were to be exposed publicly that our particular group had gotten together and written a banking bill, that bill would have no chance whatever of passage by Congress. Yet, who was there in Congress who might have drafted a sound |
9854_11 | piece of legislation dealing with the purely banking problem with which we were concerned? |
9854_12 | Despite meeting in secret, from both the public and the government, the importance of the Jekyll Island meeting was revealed three years after the Federal Reserve Act was passed, when journalist Bertie Charles Forbes in 1916 wrote an article about the "hunting trip". |
9854_13 | The 1911–12 Republican plan was proposed by Aldrich to solve the banking dilemma, a goal which was supported by the American Bankers' Association. The plan provided for one great central bank, the National Reserve Association, with a capital of at least $100 million and with 15 branches in various sections. The branches were to be controlled by the member banks on a basis of their capitalization. The National Reserve Association would issue currency, based on gold and commercial paper, that would be the liability of the bank and not of the government. The Association would also carry a portion of member banks' reserves, determine discount reserves, buy and sell on the open market, and hold the deposits of the federal government. The branches and businessmen of each of the 15 districts would elect thirty out of the 39 members of the board of directors of the National Reserve Association. |
9854_14 | Aldrich fought for a private monopoly with little government influence, but conceded that the government should be represented on the board of directors. Aldrich then presented what was commonly called the "Aldrich Plan" – which called for establishment of a "National Reserve Association" – to the National Monetary Commission. Most Republicans and Wall Street bankers favored the Aldrich Plan, but it lacked enough support in the bipartisan Congress to pass. |
9854_15 | Because the bill was introduced by Aldrich, who was considered the epitome of the "Eastern establishment", the bill received little support. It was derided by southerners and westerners who believed that wealthy families and large corporations ran the country and would thus run the proposed National Reserve Association. The National Board of Trade appointed Warburg as head of a committee to persuade Americans to support the plan. The committee set up offices in the then-45 states and distributed printed materials about the proposed central bank. The Nebraskan populist and frequent Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan said of the plan: "Big financiers are back of the Aldrich currency scheme." He asserted that if it passed, big bankers would "then be in complete control of everything through the control of our national finances." |
9854_16 | There was also Republican opposition to the Aldrich Plan. Republican Sen. Robert M. La Follette and Rep. Charles Lindbergh Sr. both spoke out against the favoritism that they contended the bill granted to Wall Street. "The Aldrich Plan is the Wall Street Plan ... I have alleged that there is a 'Money Trust'", said Lindbergh. "The Aldrich plan is a scheme plainly in the interest of the Trust". In response, Rep. Arsène Pujo, a Democrat from Louisiana, obtained congressional authorization to form and chair a subcommittee (the Pujo Committee) within the House Committee Banking Committee, to conduct investigative hearings on the alleged "Money Trust". The hearings continued for a full year and were led by the subcommittee's counsel, Democratic lawyer Samuel Untermyer, who later also assisted in drafting the Federal Reserve Act. The "Pujo hearings" convinced much of the populace that America's money largely rested in the hands of a select few on Wall Street. The Subcommittee issued a |
9854_17 | report saying: |
9854_18 | If by a 'money trust' is meant an established and well-defined identity and community of interest between a few leaders of finance ... which has resulted in a vast and growing concentration of control of money and credit in the hands of a comparatively few men ... the condition thus described exists in this country today ... To us the peril is manifest ... When we find ... the same man a director in a half dozen or more banks and trust companies all located in the same section of the same city, doing the same class of business and with a like set of associates similarly situated all belonging to the same group and representing the same class of interests, all further pretense of competition is useless. ... |
9854_19 | Seen as a "Money Trust" plan, the Aldrich Plan was opposed by the Democratic Party as was stated in its 1912 campaign platform, but the platform also supported a revision of banking laws intended to protect the public from financial panics and "the domination of what is known as the "Money Trust." During the 1912 election, the Democratic Party took control of the presidency and both chambers of Congress. The newly elected president, Woodrow Wilson, was committed to banking and currency reform, but it took a great deal of his political influence to get an acceptable plan passed as the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. Wilson thought the Aldrich plan was perhaps "60–70% correct". When Virginia Rep. Carter Glass, chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, presented his bill to President-elect Wilson, Wilson said that the plan must be amended to contain a Federal Reserve Board appointed by the executive branch to maintain control over the bankers. |
9854_20 | After Wilson presented the bill to Congress, a group of Democratic congressmen revolted. The group, led by Representative Robert Henry of Texas, demanded that the "Money Trust" be destroyed before it could undertake major currency reforms. The opponents particularly objected to the idea of regional banks having to operate without the implicit government protections that large, so-called money-center banks would enjoy. The group almost succeeded in killing the bill, but were mollified by Wilson's promises to propose antitrust legislation after the bill had passed, and by Bryan's support of the bill.
Enactment of the Federal Reserve Act (1913) |
9854_21 | After months of hearings, amendments, and debates the Federal Reserve Act passed Congress in December, 1913. The bill passed the House by an overwhelming majority of 298 to 60 on December
22, 1913 and passed the Senate the next day by a vote of 43 to 25.
An earlier version of the bill had passed the Senate 54 to 34, but almost 30 senators had left for Christmas vacation by the time the final bill came to a vote.
Most every Democrat was in support of and most Republicans were against it. As noted in a paper by the American Institute of Economic Research: |
9854_22 | In its final form, the Federal Reserve Act represented a compromise among three political groups. Most Republicans (and the Wall Street bankers) favored the Aldrich Plan that came out of Jekyll Island. Progressive Democrats demanded a reserve system and currency supply owned and controlled by the Government in order to counter the "money trust" and destroy the existing concentration of credit resources in Wall Street. Conservative Democrats proposed a decentralized reserve system, owned and controlled privately but free of Wall Street domination. No group got exactly what it wanted. But the Aldrich plan more nearly represented the compromise position between the two Democrat extremes, and it was closest to the final legislation passed.
Frank Vanderlip, one of the Jekyll Island attendees and the president of National City Bank, wrote in his autobiography: |
9854_23 | Although the Aldrich Federal Reserve Plan was defeated when it bore the name Aldrich, nevertheless its essential points were all contained in the plan that was finally adopted.
Ironically, in October 1913, two months before the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, Frank Vanderlip proposed before the Senate Banking Committee his own competing plan to the Federal Reserve System, one with a single central bank controlled by the Federal government, which almost derailed the legislation then being considered and already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Even Aldrich stated strong opposition to the currency plan passed by the House.
However, the former point was also made by Republican Representative Charles Lindbergh Sr. of Minnesota, one of the most vocal opponents of the bill, who on the day the House agreed to the Federal Reserve Act told his colleagues: |
9854_24 | But the Federal reserve board have no power whatever to regulate the rates of interest that bankers may charge borrowers of money. This is the Aldrich bill in disguise, the difference being that by this bill the Government issues the money, whereas by the Aldrich bill the issue was controlled by the banks ... Wall Street will control the money as easily through this bill as they have heretofore.(Congressional Record, v. 51, page 1447, Dec. 22, 1913)
Republican Congressman Victor Murdock of Kansas, who voted for the bill, told Congress on that same day: |
9854_25 | I do not blind myself to the fact that this measure will not be effectual as a remedy for a great national evil – the concentrated control of credit ... The Money Trust has not passed [died] ... You rejected the specific remedies of the Pujo committee, chief among them, the prohibition of interlocking directorates. He [your enemy] will not cease fighting ... at some half-baked enactment ... You struck a weak half-blow, and time will show that you have lost. You could have struck a full blow and you would have won. |
9854_26 | In order to get the Federal Reserve Act passed, Wilson needed the support of populist William Jennings Bryan, who was credited with ensuring Wilson's nomination by dramatically throwing his support Wilson's way at the 1912 Democratic convention. Wilson appointed Bryan as his Secretary of State. Bryan served as leader of the agrarian wing of the party and had argued for unlimited coinage of silver in his "Cross of Gold Speech" at the 1896 Democratic convention. Bryan and the agrarians wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted, and thought the plan gave bankers too much power to print the government's currency. Wilson sought the advice of prominent lawyer Louis Brandeis to make the plan more amenable to the agrarian wing of the party; Brandeis agreed with Bryan. Wilson convinced them that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government and because the president would appoint the members of the Federal Reserve Board, |
9854_27 | the plan fit their demands. However, Bryan soon became disillusioned with the system. In the November 1923 issue of "Hearst's Magazine" Bryan wrote that "The Federal Reserve Bank that should have been the farmer's greatest protection has become his greatest foe." |
9854_28 | Southerners and westerners learned from Wilson that the system was decentralized into 12 districts and surely would weaken New York and strengthen the hinterlands. Sen. Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma eventually relented to speak in favor of the bill, arguing that the nation's currency was already under too much control by New York elites, who he alleged had singlehandedly conspired to cause the 1907 Panic.
Large bankers thought the legislation gave the government too much control over markets and private business dealings. The New York Times called the Act the "Oklahoma idea, the Nebraska idea" – referring to Owen and Bryan's involvement.
However, several Congressmen, including Owen, Lindbergh, La Follette, and Murdock claimed that the New York bankers feigned their disapproval of the bill in hopes of inducing Congress to pass it. The day before the bill was passed, Murdock told Congress: |
9854_29 | You allowed the special interests by pretended dissatisfaction with the measure to bring about a sham battle, and the sham battle was for the purpose of diverting you people from the real remedy, and they diverted you. The Wall Street bluff has worked.
When Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913, he said he felt grateful for having had a part "in completing a work ... of lasting benefit for the country," knowing that it took a great deal of compromise and expenditure of his own political capital to get it enacted. This was in keeping with the general plan of action he made in his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1913, in which he stated: |
9854_30 | We shall deal with our economic system as it is and as it may be modified, not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper to write upon; and step-by-step we shall make it what it should be, in the spirit of those who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and knowledge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement of excursions we can not tell. |
9854_31 | While a system of 12 regional banks was designed so as not to give eastern bankers too much influence over the new bank, in practice, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York became "first among equals". The New York Fed, for example, is solely responsible for conducting open market operations, at the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee. Democratic Congressman Carter Glass sponsored and wrote the eventual legislation, and his home state capital of Richmond, Virginia, was made a district headquarters. Democratic Senator James A. Reed of Missouri obtained two districts for his state. However, the 1914 report of the Federal Reserve Organization Committee, which clearly laid out the rationale for their decisions on establishing Reserve Bank districts in 1914, showed that it was based almost entirely upon current correspondent banking relationships. To quell Elihu Root's objections to possible inflation, the passed bill included provisions that the bank must hold at least 40% of |
9854_32 | its outstanding loans in gold. (In later years, to stimulate short-term economic activity, Congress would amend the act to allow more discretion in the amount of gold that must be redeemed by the Bank.) Critics of the time (later joined by economist Milton Friedman) suggested that Glass's legislation was almost entirely based on the Aldrich Plan that had been derided as giving too much power to elite bankers. Glass denied copying Aldrich's plan. In 1922, he told Congress, "no greater misconception was ever projected in this Senate Chamber." |
9854_33 | Operations, 1915-1951
Wilson named Warburg and other prominent experts to direct the new system, which began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Warburg at first refused the appointment, citing America's opposition to a "Wall Street man", but when World War I broke out he accepted. He was the only appointee asked to appear before the Senate, whose members questioned him about his interests in the central bank and his ties to Kuhn, Loeb, & Co.'s "money trusts".
Accord of 1951 between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department
The 1951 Accord, also known simply as the Accord, was an agreement between the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve that restored independence to the Fed. |
9854_34 | During World War II, the Federal Reserve pledged to keep the interest rate on Treasury bills fixed at 0.375 percent. It continued to support government borrowing after the war ended, despite the fact that the Consumer Price Index rose 14% in 1947 and 8% in 1948, and the economy was in recession. President Harry S. Truman in 1948 replaced the then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Marriner Eccles with Thomas B. McCabe for opposing this policy, although Eccles's term on the board continued for three more years. The reluctance of the Federal Reserve to continue monetizing the deficit became so great that, in 1951, President Truman invited the entire Federal Open Market Committee to the White House to resolve their differences. Eccles's memoir, Beckoning Frontiers, presents a detailed eyewitness account of this meeting and surrounding events, including verbatim transcripts of pertinent documents. William McChesney Martin, then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, was the principal mediator. |
9854_35 | Three weeks later, he was named Chairman of the Federal Reserve, replacing McCabe. |
9854_36 | Post Bretton-Woods era
In July 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board amid roaring inflation. Volcker tightened the money supply, and by 1986 inflation had fallen sharply. In October 1979 the Federal Reserve announced a policy of "targeting" money aggregates and bank reserves in its struggle with double-digit inflation.
In January 1987, with retail inflation at only 1%, the Federal Reserve announced it was no longer going to use money-supply aggregates, such as M2, as guidelines for controlling inflation, even though this method had been in use from 1979, apparently with great success. Before 1980, interest rates were used as guidelines; inflation was severe. The Fed complained that the aggregates were confusing. Volcker was chairman until August 1987, whereupon Alan Greenspan assumed the mantle, seven months after monetary aggregate policy had changed.
2001 recession to present |
9854_37 | From early 2001 to mid-2003 the Federal Reserve lowered its interest rates 13 times, from 6.25% to 1.00%, to fight recession. In November 2002, rates were cut to 1.75%, and many rates went below the inflation rate. On June 25, 2003, the federal funds rate was lowered to 1.00%, its lowest nominal rate since July 1958, when the overnight rate averaged 0.68%. Starting at the end of June 2004, the Federal Reserve System raised the target interest rate then continued to do so 17 more times.
In February 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Ben Bernanke as the chairman of the Federal Reserve. |
9854_38 | In March 2006, the Federal Reserve ceased to make public M3, because the costs of collecting this data outweighed the benefits. M3 includes all of M2 (which includes M1) plus large-denomination ($100,000 +) time deposits, balances in institutional money funds, repurchase liabilities issued by depository institutions, and Eurodollars held by U.S. residents at foreign branches of U.S. banks as well as at all banks in the United Kingdom and Canada.
2008 subprime mortgage crisis |
9854_39 | Due to a credit crunch caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in September 2007, the Federal Reserve began cutting the federal funds rate. The Fed cut rates by 0.25% after its December 11, 2007, meeting, disappointing many investors who had expected a bigger cut; the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 300 points that day. The Fed slashed the rate by 0.75% in an emergency action on January 22, 2008, to assist in reversing a significant market slide influenced by weakening international markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially fell nearly 4% (465 points) at the start of trading and then rebounded to a 1.06% (128-point) loss. On January 30, 2008, eight days after the 0.75% decrease, the Fed lowered its rate again, this time by 0.50%.
On August 25, 2009, President Barack Obama announced he would nominate Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. In October 2013, he nominated Janet Yellen to succeed Bernanke. |
9854_40 | In December 2015, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25% and 0.50%, after nine years without changing them.
Key laws affecting the Federal Reserve
Key laws affecting the Federal Reserve have been:
Banking Act of 1935
Employment Act of 1946
Federal Reserve-Treasury Department Accord of 1951
Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 and the amendments of 1970
Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977
International Banking Act of 1978
Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (1978)
Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (1980)
Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999)
References |
9854_41 | External links
Records of the Federal Reserve System, Record Group 82, materials held at the National Archives and Records Center, digitized and made available on FRASER
Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System materials, collected for the 50th anniversary of the Federal Reserve System, are available on FRASER
Federal Reserve System
Financial history of the United States
History of finance |
9855_0 | Birds of Canada is the fifth series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada and was first circulated in 1986 to replace the 1969 Scenes of Canada series. Each note features a bird indigenous to Canada in its design. The banknotes weigh 1 gram with dimensions of . It was succeeded by the 2001 Canadian Journey series.
This was the first series to omit the $1 banknote; it was replaced by the $1 coin, which became known as the loonie, in 1987, although the $1 bill from the previous series would continue to be produced concurrently with the $1 coin for a 21-month long period until 1989. It was the last series to include the $2 and $1,000 banknotes. The $2 note was withdrawn in 1996 and replaced by the $2 coin now known as the toonie. The $1,000 note was withdrawn by the Bank of Canada in 2000 as part of a program to mitigate money laundering and organized crime. |
9855_1 | The portraits on the front of the note were made larger than those of previous series. The $20, $50, $100, and $1000 banknotes had a colour-shifting metallic foil security patch on the upper left corner, an optical security device that was difficult to reproduce with the commercial reproduction equipment of the time. This was the last Canadian banknote series to include planchettes as a security feature.
This series was the first to include a bar code with the serial number. This allows the visually impaired to determine the denomination of a banknote using a hand-held device distributed by the bank of Canada for free via the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. |
9855_2 | Design
The Bank of Canada began preparations for design of this series in 1974. A 1981 Parliamentary committee recommending design features enabling visually impaired individuals to determine the denomination of a banknote influenced the design process for the banknotes. In 1983, the Bank of Canada chose to use "clear, uncluttered images" of Canadian birds for the reverse. This imparted on the banknotes additional security against counterfeiting, as the design had a "single, large focal point" that enabled easier detection of counterfeits compared to the complex designs of earlier banknote series. |
9855_3 | The banknote design contains distinct colours for each denomination, and large numerals on the obverse and reverse of each denomination, both of which facilitate quick identification. A patch of about width at the edge of the central banner enables blind people to determine the denomination of a banknote using an electronic device and emit an audible output to indicate it, except for the $1000 banknote. On the reverse, vertical bars adjacent to the serial number are used by banknote sorting machines for quick identification to enable high-speed sorting. |
9855_4 | Production
In 1984, the Bank of Canada announced that production of banknotes would be revised to require 100% cotton fibre, eliminating the 25% flax content requirement. Domestic flax producers in the Prairie provinces were upset by the change, which would result in a loss of revenue of about . A Bank of Canada spokesman stated the change was necessary to satisfy pollution control standards, as raw flax processing uses chemicals eventually released as effluent.
The printing process required three lithographic plates and one intaglio plate for the obverse, and three lithographic plates for the reverse. |
9855_5 | Banknotes
The obverse of four banknotes feature a Prime Minister of Canada, whereas the others feature Elizabeth II. The design on the reverse of each note features a bird indigenous to Canada with a background representing the typical landscape for that bird. The birds represented in the series are found throughout Canada, and their colouring complements the dominant colour of the denomination on which they appear. In a Toronto Star article in 1990, Christopher Hume stated that having a bird on each denomination "adds an element of consistency to the series". Each banknote weighs with dimensions of .
As of November 2013, all banknotes in this series are considered unfit for circulation by the Bank of Canada, as none of the banknotes contain modern security features like that of a metallic stripe. Financial institutions must return the banknotes to the Bank of Canada, which will destroy them. Individuals may keep the banknotes indefinitely.
$2 note |
Subsets and Splits