The Emergence of a National Economy:

The United States from Independence to the Civil War

Series Editors: William J Barber, Malcolm Rutherford,
Steven G Medema, Marianne Johnson and Warren J Samuels


Early American Economic Thought
6 Volume Set: 2232pp: 2004
978 1 85196 750 6: 234x156mm: £550.00/$935.00

This edition covers the period between the American Revolution and the American Civil War. This era is characterized, on one hand, by important policy debates on nation building, and on the other, by a tendency within American economics towards greater sophistication and independence from European thinking.

In the immediate post-colonial period, one of the first issues of contention that arose concerned that of industrialization, or the respective roles of agriculture and manufacturing, and the parallel debate over the division of economic powers between states and the federal government. These disagreements expressed themselves in the political division between Republicans and Federalists. The individuals representing the extremes of this argument were Thomas Jefferson and George Logan on the side of agriculture and republicanism, and Alexander Hamilton on the side of industrialization and federalism. Writers such as William Barton and Tench Coxe occupied a middle ground by advocating a ‘balanced economy’.

During the 1820s and up to the Civil War, a specific American and nationalist perspective on political economy developed. Models from the Old World were regarded to be out of touch with the realities of America’s resource endowment and territorial expanse that would guarantee economic growth. Optimism prevailed culminating in the view that America, unlike Europe, was a classless society, a society that would provide for wider income distribution and greater access to education than its European counterparts.

While the aboriginal population hardly figured in American writings on political economy in the first half of the nineteenth century, the slave population in the southern states received considerable attention. Views on slavery varied widely. Some argued that slavery was justified because the soil and climate of the deep South incapacitated white labour in the summer months. In contrast, lone voices stood out from the pack when predicting the natural death of slavery within a century, because real wages would ultimately fall to the point that slave masters would find it unprofitable to feed slaves.

Contents

Volume 1: Organization of the National Economy

General Introduction, From Independence to the Civil War; Note on Copy-Texts; Thomas Jefferson, ‘The Present State of Manufactures, Commerce, Interior and Exterior Trade’ (1785); Tench Coxe, An Enquiry into the Principles on Which a Commercial System for the United States of America Should be Founded (1787); Tench Coxe, An Address to the Assembly of Friends of American Manufactures (1787); Alexander Hamilton, Report on Manufactures (1791); Tench Coxe, Reflections on the State of the Union (1795); George Logan, An Address on the Natural and Social Order of the World, as Intended to Produce Universal Good (1798); George Logan, A Letter to the Citizens of Pennsylvania on the Necessity of Promoting Agriculture, Manufactures, and the Useful Arts (1800); Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Benjamin Austin ([1816] 1903)

Volume 2: Creating a National System of Taxation

John Jay, A Circular Letter from the Congress of the United States of America to Their Constituents (1779); Pelatiah Webster, A Sixth Essay on Free Trade and Finance (1783); Samuel Wales, The Dangers of Our National Prosperity (1785); Fisher Ames, Letter to George Richards Minot, ([1789] 1854); Excerpt of a Letter to George Richards Minot, ([1790] 1854); Letter to Christopher Gore, ([1797] 1854); ‘Speech on Mr Madison’s Resolutions’ ([1794] 1854); all from The Works of Fisher Ames: With a Selection from His Speeches and Correspondence (1854); George Logan, Fourteen Experiments on Agriculture (1791); James Thomson Callender, A Short History of the Nature and Consequences of Excise Laws (1795); James Swan, National Arithmetick (1786); John Woolman, ‘A Plea for the Poor’ ([1793] 1922); Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice Opposed to Agrarian Law and to Agrarian Monopoly (1797); Page Conversions

Volume 3: The National Bank, Money, Credit and Debt 1776–1820

Pelatiah Webster, Essays on Free Trade and Finance (1779–85); Pelatiah Webster, An Essay on Credit (1786); Robert Morris, Plan for Establishing a National Bank (1781); Robert Morris, Propositions Respecting the Coinage of Gold, Silver, and Copper (1785); William Barton, Observations on the Nature and Use of Paper-Credit (1781); William Barton, The True Interest of the United States Considered (1786); Samuel Gale, On the Nature and Principles of Public Credit (1784); John Witherspoon, Essay on Money as a Medium of Commerce (1786); Tench Coxe, Thoughts Concerning the Bank of North America (1787)

Volume 4: The National Bank, Money, Credit and Debt 1776–1820

Alexander Hamilton, First Report on Public Credit (1790); Alexander Hamilton, Report on a National Bank (1790); Thomas Jefferson, Opinion Against the Constitutionality of a National Bank ([1791] 1903); Alexander Hamilton, Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States (1791); Pelatiah Webster, An Address to the Stock-Holders of the Bank of North-America (1791); James Sullivan, The Path to Riches (1792); George Logan, Letters Addressed to the Yeomanry of the United States, Containing Some Observations on Funding and Bank System (1793); John Taylor, A Definition of Parties; or the Political Effects of the Paper System Considered (1794); Alexander Hamilton, Second Report on Public Credit ([1795] 1904); Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John W Eppes ([1813] 1903)

Volume 5: Nationalism and Applied Issues: 1820 to the Civil War

Part I: Asserting American Intellectual Independence

Daniel Raymond, Thoughts on Political Economy (1820); Mathew Carey, Addresses on Political Economy ([1822] 1968); Alexander H Everett, New Ideas on Population with Remarks on the Theories of Malthus and Godwin (1823); Jacob N Cardozo, Notes on Political Economy ([1826] 1960); Willard Phillips, A Manual of Political Economy ([1828] 1968)

Part II: A Special Case of Analytic Ingenuity

John Rae, Statement of Some New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy (1834)

Part III: Divergent Perspectives on Contemporary Issues

Albert Gallatin, Considerations on the Currency and Banking System of the United States (1831); William M Gouge, A Short History of Paper Money and Banking (1833); George Tucker, The Theory of Money and Banks Investigated (1839); John C Calhoun, Original Draft of the South Carolina Exposition (1855); Henry Clay (Speeches), ‘On Nullification, Etc.’, speech delivered at Cincinnati, 3 August 1830, and ‘On the Reduction in Duties on Imports’, speech delivered in the Senate of the United States, 11 January 1832 (1855); Condy Raguet, The Principles of Free Trade (1835); Page Conversions

Volume 6: Sectionalism: 1820 to the Civil War

Part I: Sectionalism in Instructional Materials
Francis Wayland, The Elements of Political Economy ([1837] 1860); Henry Vethake, Introductory Lecture on Political Economy (1831); Thomas Cooper, Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy ([1829] 1791); Thomas R Dew, Lectures on the Restrictive System (1829)

Part II: Sectionalism in the 1840s and 1850s
Nathaniel A Ware, Notes on Political Economy ([1844] 1967); Henry C Carey, The Harmony of Interests ([1851] 1868); J D B De Bow, The Industrial Resources ([1854] 1966); George Tucker, Political Economy For the People ([1859] 1970); Calvin Colton, Public Economy For the United States ([1848] 1969); Stephen Colwell, The Claims of Labor (1861); Index

Reviews

'This set reproduces in facsimile the texts of early American economic writers, and the editors did an excellent job in their selection of materials to include. Some works, such as Hamilton's "Report on Manufacturers" are readily available, but most are not. ... this set is an important resource for well-endowed libraries that can afford the price. Highly recommended. Upper division undergraduate through research collections.'
– CHOICE

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