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. - 1 online resource (x, 485 pages) : illustrations -
OldControl:harvard. 9780674067660.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Alexander Hamilton, 1757-1804 -- Albert Gallatin, 1761-1849 -- The legacies.
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.
In English.
Made available online by De Gruyter.
9780674067660 0674067665 0674071352 9780674071353 (alk. paper) (alk. paper)
10.4159/harvard.9780674067660 doi
2012014006
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
1775-1865
Finance, Public--History.--United States
Monetary policy--History.--United States
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Economic Conditions.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Economic History.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Economics--Comparative.
POLITICAL SCIENCE--Economic Conditions.
HISTORY--United States--19th Century.
Economic policy.
Finance, Public.
Monetary policy.
Politics and government.
Finances publiques--Histoire.--États-Unis
Politique monétaire--Histoire.--États-Unis
United States--Economic policy.
United States--History--1783-1865.
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.
United States--Politics and government--1783-1865.
United States.
États-Unis--Politique économique.
États-Unis--Histoire--1775-1783 (Révolution)
États-Unis--Histoire--1783-1865.
États-Unis--Politique et gouvernement--1783-1865.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
History.
HJ261 / .M37 2012eb
330.973/04
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. - 1 online resource (x, 485 pages) : illustrations -
OldControl:harvard. 9780674067660.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Alexander Hamilton, 1757-1804 -- Albert Gallatin, 1761-1849 -- The legacies.
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.
In English.
Made available online by De Gruyter.
9780674067660 0674067665 0674071352 9780674071353 (alk. paper) (alk. paper)
10.4159/harvard.9780674067660 doi
2012014006
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849.
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804.
1775-1865
Finance, Public--History.--United States
Monetary policy--History.--United States
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Economic Conditions.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Economic History.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Economics--Comparative.
POLITICAL SCIENCE--Economic Conditions.
HISTORY--United States--19th Century.
Economic policy.
Finance, Public.
Monetary policy.
Politics and government.
Finances publiques--Histoire.--États-Unis
Politique monétaire--Histoire.--États-Unis
United States--Economic policy.
United States--History--1783-1865.
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.
United States--Politics and government--1783-1865.
United States.
États-Unis--Politique économique.
États-Unis--Histoire--1775-1783 (Révolution)
États-Unis--Histoire--1783-1865.
États-Unis--Politique et gouvernement--1783-1865.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
History.
HJ261 / .M37 2012eb
330.973/04