After the Revolutionary War, despite political independence, the United States still relied on other countries for manufactured goods. Francis Cabot Lowell was one of the principal investors in building the India Wharf and the shops and warehouses close to Boston harbor. His work was instrumental in establishing domestic industry for the United States and brought the Industrial Revolution to the United States. From 1810 to the start of the War of 1812, he traveled through Great Britain, where he saw the tremendous changes caused by the Industrial Revolution, starting with cotton textiles. On his return to the United States he focused on establishing a domestic textile industry to replace imported goods. With his brother-in-law, Patrick Tracy Jackson, he built the Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham-America's first integrated mill. With his star mechanic, Paul Moody, he developed a power loom and other machines suitable for local conditions. The Life and Times of Francis Cabot Lowell, 1775-1817 tells the story of this amazing man and the great success of the Boston Manufacturing Company, which spurred the American industrial revolution. Francis Cabot Lowell's method-a detailed investment plan, cheap raw materials and power, a motivated labor force, a sound marketing plan, and, above all, modern technology-became the standard for the American factory of the nineteenth century. When Francis Cabot Lowell died, his associates established America's first industrial city, and named it Lowell in his honor.

The Lowells of Massachusetts were a remarkable family. They were settlers in the New World in the 1600s, revolutionaries creating a new nation in the 1700s, merchants and manufacturers building prosperity in the 1800s, and scientists and artists flourishing in the 1900s. For the first time, Nina Sankovitch tells the story of this fascinating and powerful dynasty in The Lowells of Massachusetts. Though not without scoundrels and certainly no strangers to controversy , the family boasted some of the most astonishing individuals in America’s history: Percival Lowle, the patriarch who arrived in America in the seventeenth to plant the roots of the family tree; Reverend John Lowell, the preacher; Judge John Lowell, a member of the Continental Congress; Francis Cabot Lowell, manufacturer and, some say, founder of the Industrial Revolution in the US; James Russell Lowell, American Romantic poet; Lawrence Lowell, one of Harvard’s longest-serving and most controversial presidents; and Amy Lowell, the twentieth century poet who lived openly in a Boston Marriage with the actress Ada Dwyer Russell. The Lowells realized the promise of America as the land of opportunity by uniting Puritan values of hard work, community service, and individual responsibility with a deep-seated optimism that became a well-known family trait. Long before the Kennedys put their stamp on Massachusetts, the Lowells claimed the bedrock.

This book examines the life and legacy of John Lowell Jr (1799–1836) through the establishment of the Lowell Institute, still active in Boston, which offers free education.

This work is the most comprehensive reference work on the War of 1812 yet published, offering a multidisciplinary treatment of course, causes, effects, and specific details of the War that provides both quick reference and in-depth analysis for readers from the high school level to scholars in the field. The Encyclopedia of the War of 1812: A Political, Social, and Military History dedicates 872 entries—totaling some 600,000 words—to this important American war. It is the most comprehensive and significant reference work available on the subject. Its entries spotlight the key battles, standout individuals, essential weapons, and social, political, and economic developments, and examine the wider, concurrent European developments which directly affected this conflict in North America. A volume of primary documents provides more avenues for research. This three-volume work offers comprehensive, in-depth information in a format that lends itself to quick and easy use, making it ideal for high school, college, and university-level learners as well as general learning annexes and military libraries. Scholars of the period and students of American military history will find it essential reading.

A riveting look at the financial cycles in American economic history from colonial times to the present day, with an eye on the similarities and differences between past and present conditions as analyzed by leading economic historians. The United States has emerged from the financial chaos of its last economic crisis, yet still very few sources place the events of the modern era within the context of financial downturns of the past. An examination of the trends and patterns of previous depressions and recessions may allow us to recognize—and avoid—the behaviors and practices that prolonged the fiscal problems of previous generations. This thought-provoking encyclopedia presents an overview of notable economic events, their causes and cures, and their social and political impact on the nation. Encyclopedia of American Recessions and Depressions offers a comprehensive survey on the topic from the years 1783 to 1789 under the Articles of Confederation through the panics of the 19th century and the Great Depression of the 1930s to the Great Recession of 2008. Written in an accessible, engaging style, the volumes contain 14 detailed essays covering each economic event and 140 entries covering various related individuals, issues, court cases, legislation, and significant events. Primary source documents, including the Specie Circular, the Embargo Act, and the National Labor Relations Act, provide relevancy to the real world and a context for key events.

On October 19, 1781, British general Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolutionary War and conceding the independence of the United States of America. Britain soon overcame the humiliation of defeat by expanding its empire elsewhere. Five years after Yorktown, Cornwallis was installed as governor and commander of the army in India, determined to make the subcontinent the brightest jewel in the British crown. Officers who served under him during the War rose to high positions in the British army and navy. Emulating Cornwallis's deep sense of duty to king and country, they vigorously pursued the conquest of India, put down the 1798 Irish Rebellion, defended Canada, defeated the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope, occupied Ceylon and battled Napoleon. Prominent among them was General Sir James Henry Craig, governor of Canada, whose clumsy attempt to spy on the U.S. was a factor in setting off the War of 1812.

Unassuming but formidable, American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation. The international information they gathered and the capital they generated enabled them to play central roles in state building and economic development. During the Revolution, they helped the U.S. negotiate foreign loans, sell state debts, and establish a single national bank. Afterward, they increased their influence by lending money to the federal government and to its citizens. Even as federal and state governments began to encroach on their domain, maritime insurers adapted, preserving their autonomy and authority through extensive involvement in the formation of commercial law. Leveraging their claims to unmatched expertise, they operated free from government interference while simultaneously embedding themselves into the nation's institutional fabric. By the early nineteenth century, insurers were no longer just risk assessors. They were nation builders and market makers. Deeply and imaginatively researched, Underwriters of the United States uses marine insurers to reveal a startlingly original story of risk, money, and power in the founding era.

New England, the most clearly defined region in the United States, includes the six states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. First colonized by the French in 1604 and the British in 1607, the New England colonies were the first to secede from the British Empire and were among the first states admitted to the union. No region has claimed more presidents as native sons (seven) or produced more men and women of exceptional accomplishment and fame. Many Americans see New England as a touchstone for the founding ideas of the nation, and the region served as a source of inspiration for many artists and writers. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of New England contains a chronology, an introduction, appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, places, institutions, and events. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about New England.

Manufacturing Catastrophe tracks the history of industrialization, deindustrialization, and globalization in Massachusetts over the past two centuries. It a history of wrenching economic transformation as told from the perspective of everyday people: European peasants traveling the oceans in search of industrial work, runaway factory owners venturing out in search of cheaper labor abroad, and harried local policymakers trying to recover from repeated bouts of economic cataclysm. For those concerned about the future of American industry in the face of global competition, it provides critical lessons on how some of America's pioneering industrial cities have weathered the tempests of economic upheaval and industrial rebirth.

The story of how Daniel Webster popularized the ideals of American nationalism that helped forge our nation’s identity and inspire Abraham Lincoln to preserve the Union When the United States was founded in 1776, its citizens didn’t think of themselves as “Americans.” They were New Yorkers or Virginians or Pennsylvanians. It was decades later that the seeds of American nationalism—identifying with one’s own nation and supporting its broader interests—began to take root. But what kind of nationalism should Americans embrace? The state-focused and racist nationalism of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson? Or the belief that the U.S. Constitution made all Americans one nation, indivisible, which Daniel Webster and others espoused? In Indivisible, historian and law professor Joel Richard Paul tells the fascinating story of how Webster, a young New Hampshire attorney turned politician, rose to national prominence through his powerful oratory and unwavering belief in the United States and captured the national imagination. In his speeches, on the floors of the House and Senate, in court, and as Secretary of State, Webster argued that the Constitution was not a compact made by states but an expression of the will of all Americans. As the greatest orator of his age, Webster saw his speeches and writings published widely, and his stirring rhetoric convinced Americans to see themselves differently, as a nation bound together by a government of laws, not parochial interests. As these ideas took root, they influenced future leaders, among them Abraham Lincoln, who drew on them to hold the nation together during the Civil War. As he did in Without Precedent and Unlikely Allies, Joel Richard Paul has written in Indivisible both a compelling history and a fascinating account of one of the founders of our national perspective.