The Founders and Finance : How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy

Başlık:

Yazar:

McCraw, Thomas K., author.

ISBN:

9780674067660

Ek Yazar:

McCraw, Thomas K., author.

Fiziksel Tanım:

1 online resource(496p.) : illustrations.

Contents:

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. St. Croix and Trauma -- Chapter 2. New York and Promise -- Chapter 3. War and Heroism -- Chapter 4. Love and Social Status -- Chapter 5. The Roots of His Thinking -- Chapter 6. Robert Morris, Hamilton, and Finance -- Chapter 7. The Constitution -- Chapter 8. New Government, Old Debt -- Chapter 9. The Fight over the Debt -- Chapter 10. The Bank of the United States -- Chapter 11. Diversifying the Economy -- Chapter 12. Tensions and Political Parties -- Chapter 13. The Decline -- Chapter 14. The Duel -- Chapter 15. Choosing the New World -- Chapter 16. Moving to the West -- Chapter 17. Entering Politics -- Chapter 18. Becoming Jeffersonian -- Chapter 19. The Climb to Power -- Chapter 20. Debt, Armaments, and Louisiana -- Chapter 21. Developing the West -- Chapter 22. Embargo and Frustration -- Chapter 23. Dispiriting Diplomacy -- Chapter 24. The Fate of the Bank -- Chapter 25. Financing the Wayward War -- Chapter 26. Winning the Peace -- Chapter 27. His Long and Useful Life -- Chapter 28. Immigrant Exceptionalism? -- Chapter 29. Comparisons and Contingencies -- Chapter 30. Capitalism and Credit -- Chapter 31. The Political Economy of Hamilton and Gallatin -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Credits -- Index.

Abstract:

In 1776 the U.S. owed huge sums to foreign creditors and its own citizens but, lacking the power to tax, had no means to repay them. This is the first book to tell the story of how foreign-born financial specialists—the immigrant founders Hamilton and Gallatin—solved the fiscal crisis and set the nation on a path to long-term economic prosperity.

In 1776 the United States government started out on a shoestring and quickly went bankrupt fighting its War of Independence against Britain. At the war’s end, the national government owed tremendous sums to foreign creditors and its own citizens. But lacking the power to tax, it had no means to repay them. The Founders and Finance is the first book to tell the story of how foreign-born financial specialists—immigrants—solved the fiscal crisis and set the United States on a path to long-term economic success. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Thomas K. McCraw analyzes the skills and worldliness of Alexander Hamilton (from the Danish Virgin Islands), Albert Gallatin (from the Republic of Geneva), and other immigrant founders who guided the nation to prosperity. Their expertise with liquid capital far exceeded that of native-born plantation owners Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, who well understood the management of land and slaves but had only a vague knowledge of financial instruments—currencies, stocks, and bonds. The very rootlessness of America’s immigrant leaders gave them a better understanding of money, credit, and banks, and the way each could be made to serve the public good. The remarkable financial innovations designed by Hamilton, Gallatin, and other immigrants enabled the United States to control its debts, to pay for the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and—barely—to fight the War of 1812, which preserved the nation’s hard-won independence from Britain.

Konu Terimleri:

Finance, Public -- United States -- History.

Monetary policy -- United States -- History.

Social Sciences, Economics.

Social Sciences.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economic Conditions.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economic History.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economics -- Comparative.

HISTORY -- United States -- 19th Century.

POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Economic Conditions.

Electronic Access:

http://dx.doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674067660
Cover http://www.degruyter.com/doc/cover/9780674067660.jpg

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Özet

In 1776 the United States government started out on a shoestring and quickly went bankrupt fighting its War of Independence against Britain. At the war's end, the national government owed tremendous sums to foreign creditors and its own citizens. But lacking the power to tax, it had no means to repay them. The Founders and Finance is the first book to tell the story of how foreign-born financial specialists--immigrants--solved the fiscal crisis and set the United States on a path to long-term economic success.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas K. McCraw analyzes the skills and worldliness of Alexander Hamilton (from the Danish Virgin Islands), Albert Gallatin (from the Republic of Geneva), and other immigrant founders who guided the nation to prosperity. Their expertise with liquid capital far exceeded that of native-born plantation owners Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, who well understood the management of land and slaves but had only a vague knowledge of financial instruments--currencies, stocks, and bonds. The very rootlessness of America's immigrant leaders gave them a better understanding of money, credit, and banks, and the way each could be made to serve the public good.

The remarkable financial innovations designed by Hamilton, Gallatin, and other immigrants enabled the United States to control its debts, to pay for the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and--barely--to fight the War of 1812, which preserved the nation's hard-won independence from Britain.

Author Notes

Thomas K. McCraw is Straus Professor of Business History Emeritus at Harvard Business School and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

A Pulitzer Prize winner and Harvard Business School emeritus professor, McCraw sheds light on personalities and policies in this overview of the development of early American finance. The newly independent United States "had long been bankrupt"; both the fledgling national government and the states were in hock for the War of Independence. According to McCraw (Prophets of Regulation), brilliant immigrants, such as Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin, lacked the parochial vision common to their peers, who saw the basis of wealth mostly in land. With at least 50 "coinages and currencies... in circulation" in 1789, banking was in turmoil. The main economic resource for the federal government was tariffs on imports, mostly from Britain. Hamilton's decisive advocacy of a national bank and assumption of state war debts laid the basis for economic expansion and cemented the dominance of federal power. McCraw then turns to Gallatin's ascendency in Congress, where in 1796 he denounced the growth in the national debt and decried high military spending. Starting with the still-resonant contrast between the "big government" Hamilton and "small government" Gallatin, McCraw's wealth of historical data should interest any lay historian, particularly when he presents the many "what if's." (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

The U.S. financial system was a creation of aliens--i.e., immigrants, who are numbered among the founding lights of the country. If you think the current system is a mess, consider the national economy after the American Revolution. The country was broke after fighting Britain, and it had what Pulitzer Prize winner McCraw (Business History Emeritus/Harvard Business School; Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction, 2007, etc.) notes was "the highest public debt it has ever experienced, measured against the income of its government." For reasons that are not readily apparent, the new Americans were not adept at financial matters. In the first 50 years of nationhood, only six of 60 Cabinet members were foreign-born, and five of them were secretaries of the treasury. Two were Albert Gallatin and Alexander Hamilton; statues of both, McCraw notes, anchor the present treasury, next door to the White House. Hamilton, from St. Nevis, was a firm believer in federal power and an advocate of strong central-state solutions to various problems, including putting down rebellions of the sort that had been raised against the British crown. Gallatin, from Switzerland, was better born than Hamilton but ventured across the ocean because he "seemed to believe that Rousseau's notions about the moral virtues of nature might be realized in the United States." Hamilton was an urbanite and Gallatin a Daniel Boone of sorts, settling far beyond the Appalachians, but both introduced practices of banking, taxing and borrowing that were foundational. Further, because they were philosophically so different, they also introduced tensions that continue to be with us today, including the idea of taxation in the first place. A welcome addition to business and financial history, illuminating little-known aspects of the early republic.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Choice Review

Many interpretations of America's primal struggle over government's proper role pit Federalist Alexander Hamilton, Washington's first treasury secretary, against Thomas Jefferson, leader of the anti-Federalist insurgency which culminated in 1800 with his election as president. In this rendition, Hamilton's policies, while still opposed rhetorically, were effectively affirmed by Albert Gallatin during his long tenure as treasury secretary under both Jefferson and Madison. Nineteenth-century American prosperity, argues McCraw (emer., Harvard Business School), arose from the synthesis of Hamilton's and Gallatin's initiatives. Hamilton's consolidation of America's public debt, his establishment of an embryonic central bank, and his advocacy for tariff-based economic development were complemented by Gallatin's infrastructure initiatives promoting the nation's westward development, including the vast Louisiana Purchase he helped finance. Though significant differences remained over taxation, debt, and military expenditures, they were united in support of banking and public credit. By promoting credit markets--"the key" to economic growth, in the author's opinion--Hamilton and Gallatin laid the financial foundations for America's economic development. Moreover, coming from energetic immigrant outsiders without strong ties to a particular region or tradition, their policies strengthened the Union as well. Summing Up: Recommended. Students at all levels as well as general readers. R. S. Hewett Drake University

Library Journal Review

Only two men are honored with statues outside the U.S. Treasury building: Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin. McCraw (business history, emeritus, Harvard Business Sch.), who won a Pulitzer Prize for Prophets of Regulation, explores their qualities, foibles, achievements, and failures in order to show why both deserve credit for laying the foundations of American governmental finance. Hamilton, McCraw explains, as the first Treasury secretary, contained the crushing national debt, made the country creditworthy, established a national bank, and sowed the seeds of rapid economic growth. Gallatin was an ardent Republican, but McCraw says he was also pragmatic in accepting much of Hamilton's system and, as Treasury secretary in the Jefferson and Madison administrations, cut government spending, reduced the national debt, eliminated taxes, expedited the Louisiana Purchase, formulated land policy, and favored internal improvements. In his concluding chapters, McCraw draws parallels between his subjects' immigrant backgrounds, national visions, and understanding of capital and credit. VERDICT McCraw is a talented storyteller. His highly readable and fascinating work portrays the brilliance of Hamilton and Gallatin against the difficulty of their time and is strongly recommended to all readers interested in American and financial history.-Lawrence Maxted, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.