Recommendations from our site
“Drew McCoy is a brilliant writer, and this is a period that is absolutely essential to understand if you want to grasp the Jeffersonian tradition, which continues to shape our values on everything from aid to farms, to support for housing and small businesses today. You really cannot understand the thought of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and the other opponents of Hamilton and his successors, in these early years of the republic, without realising they did not understand that the industrial revolution would radically transform everything.” Read more...
The best books on American Economic History
Michael Lind, Political Scientist
The subtitle of this book is ‘Political Economy in Jeffersonian America’. Jefferson was wary of industry. He thought farmers were best suited to fulfilling the role of free citizens of a republic. His vision for the American future was a continental power of small farmers. Hamilton did not share this vision. He wanted to see Commerce, industry and banking flourishing in America and thought that it was through them that America would grow strong and prosper. He did not think they would compromise the character of the citizen or the Republic overall. Ultimately, it was Hamilton’s vision that won out over Jefferson’s although the latter remained influential. This debate in the early years of the Republic is crucial in understanding the political and economic debates about the development of the country after independence and Hamilton’s influence on them.
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