When studying accounting standards, it is unlikely to put the American accounting standards aside. In the 20th century, generally accepted accounting principles first appeared in America. In order to better understand the generally accepted accounting principles, it is necessary to review the evolution of American accounting system. This paper aims to explore the changes of American accounting system by using the research of accounting history and remind accountants and benchmark setters not to forget the experience and lessons brought by history. From the perspective of major economic crises in the American history, literature concerning the Great Depression, the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s, the Enron Incident and the 2008 financial crisis are collected and analyzed using the literature research and the accounting history research method. It can be concluded that the development of American accounting standards does not evolve naturally with the achievements of accounting theory, but change with the intervention of federal government and stakeholders for the needs of economic stability.