History
History can teach many lessons about starting and running a small business. In many ways, the history of civilization is interwoven with the history of small farms, tradesmen and merchants.
Featured Resources for History
How Ben Franklin Used a 21st Century Approach to Create His 18th Century Business Success
Benjamin Franklin’s key to business success was a strategy that can look familiar to a 21st century business owner.
Lessons From Two Failed Small Businessmen Who Won the Civil War
150 years later, we remember two men who failed at business, but who guided the Union Army to victory in the Civil War–and what we can learn from them.
Thomas Jefferson’s Views on Patents and Intellectual Property Rights
A SmallBusiness.com flashback for April 13, Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday
Benjamin Franklin Never Sought a Patent or Copyright
Benjamin Franklin never sought a patent or copyright. “As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously,” he wrote in his autobiography.