The founders and finance : how Hamilton, Gallatin, and other immigrants forged a new economy /
McCraw, Thomas K.
The founders and finance : how Hamilton, Gallatin, and other immigrants forged a new economy / Thomas K. McCraw. - Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012. - viii, 485 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
St. Croix and trauma -- New York and promise -- War and heroism -- Love and social status -- The roots of his thinking -- Robert Morris, Hamilton, and finance -- The Constitution -- New government, old debt -- The fight over the debt -- The bank of the United States -- Diversifying the economy -- Tensions and political parties -- The decline -- The duel -- Choosing the new world -- Moving to the west -- Entering politics -- Becoming Jeffersonian -- The climb to power -- Debt, armaments, and Louisiana -- Developing the west -- Embargo and frustration -- Dispiriting diplomacy -- The fate of the bank -- Financing the wayward war -- Winning the peace -- His long and useful life -- Immigrant exceptionalism? -- Comparisons and contingencies -- Capitalism and credit -- The political economy of Hamilton and Gallatin.
"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."--Jacket.
9780674066922 0674066928
9780674066922
Harvard Univ Pr, C/O Triliteral Llc 100 Maple Ridge Dr, Cumbreland, RI, USA, 02864-1769, (401)6584226 SAN 631-8126
2012014006
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
Gallatin, Albert 1761-1849
Hamilton, Alexander 1712-1756
United States. Department of the Treasury --History.
United States. Department of the Treasury.
Bitterfeld
American Revolution (1775-1783)
1783-1865
Finance, Public--History.--United States
Monetary policy--History.--United States
Economic policy.
Finance, Public.
Monetary policy.
Politics and government.
Founding fathers
Finanzwirtschaft
United States--Economic policy.
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.
United States--History--1783-1865.
United States--Politics and government--1783-1865.
United States.
History.
HJ261 / .M37 2012
330.973/04
330.973 M17f
The founders and finance : how Hamilton, Gallatin, and other immigrants forged a new economy / Thomas K. McCraw. - Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012. - viii, 485 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
St. Croix and trauma -- New York and promise -- War and heroism -- Love and social status -- The roots of his thinking -- Robert Morris, Hamilton, and finance -- The Constitution -- New government, old debt -- The fight over the debt -- The bank of the United States -- Diversifying the economy -- Tensions and political parties -- The decline -- The duel -- Choosing the new world -- Moving to the west -- Entering politics -- Becoming Jeffersonian -- The climb to power -- Debt, armaments, and Louisiana -- Developing the west -- Embargo and frustration -- Dispiriting diplomacy -- The fate of the bank -- Financing the wayward war -- Winning the peace -- His long and useful life -- Immigrant exceptionalism? -- Comparisons and contingencies -- Capitalism and credit -- The political economy of Hamilton and Gallatin.
"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."--Jacket.
9780674066922 0674066928
9780674066922
Harvard Univ Pr, C/O Triliteral Llc 100 Maple Ridge Dr, Cumbreland, RI, USA, 02864-1769, (401)6584226 SAN 631-8126
2012014006
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
Gallatin, Albert 1761-1849
Hamilton, Alexander 1712-1756
United States. Department of the Treasury --History.
United States. Department of the Treasury.
Bitterfeld
American Revolution (1775-1783)
1783-1865
Finance, Public--History.--United States
Monetary policy--History.--United States
Economic policy.
Finance, Public.
Monetary policy.
Politics and government.
Founding fathers
Finanzwirtschaft
United States--Economic policy.
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.
United States--History--1783-1865.
United States--Politics and government--1783-1865.
United States.
History.
HJ261 / .M37 2012
330.973/04
330.973 M17f