The Emergence of Capitalism in Early America (eBook)

Christopher W. Calvo (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023
308 Seiten
University Press of Florida (Verlag)
978-0-8130-7303-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Contesting the assumption that early American economists were committed to Adam Smith’s ideas of free trade and small government, this book provides a comprehensive history of the nation’s economic thought from 1790 to 1860, tracing the development of a uniquely American understanding of capitalism.

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Due to the enormous influence of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations on Western liberal economics, a tradition closely linked to the United States, many scholars assume that early American economists were committed to Smith’s ideas of free trade and small government. Debunking this belief, Christopher W. Calvo provides a comprehensive history of the nation’s economic thought from 1790 to 1860, tracing the development of a uniquely American understanding of capitalism.















The Emergence of Capitalism in Early America shows how American economists challenged, adjusted, and adopted the ideas of European thinkers such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Thomas Malthus to suit their particular interests. Calvo not only explains the divisions between American free trade and the version put forward by Smith, but he also discusses the sharp differences between northern and southern liberal economists. Emergent capitalism fostered a dynamic discourse in early America, including a homegrown version of socialism burgeoning in antebellum industrial quarters, as well as a reactionary brand of conservative economic thought circulating on slave plantations across the Old South. This volume also traces the origins and rise of nineteenth-century protectionism, a system that Calvo views as the most authentic expression of American political economy. Finally, Calvo examines early Americans’ awkward relationship with capitalism’s most complex institution—finance.















Grounded in the economic debates, Atlantic conversations, political milieu, and material realities of the antebellum era, this book demonstrates that American thinkers fused different economic models, assumptions, and interests into a unique hybrid-capitalist system that shaped the trajectory of the nation’s economy.

Autor

Christopher W. Calvo teaches American history at Florida International University and Gulliver Preparatory in Miami, Florida.

Inhalt

Contents



Acknowledgments 000

1. Introduction: Capitalism and Antebellum Thought 000

2. Laissez-Faire in the American Tradition 000

3. Progress and Poverty: Malthus and Ricardo in America 000

4. The Crisis of Free Society: The Southern

and Northern Reactionaries 000

5. An American Political Economy 000

6. Henry Carey, Nature, and the Destiny of Man 000

7. Liberalism, Republicanism, and Finance 000

8. Conclusion: The Old and the New in American Economics 000

Index 000

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.10.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Schlagworte: Adam Smith • American political economists • Antebellum America • Capitalism • Economic History • free-trade standards • international markets • Nineteenth century • Political Economy • protectionism • Social conditions • United States • US domestic economy • Wealth of Nations
• ISBN-10: 0-8130-7303-0 / 0813073030
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8130-7303-3 / 9780813073033