"Edwin Perkins's examination of the development of financial services in North America is the first study to focus on the colonial, confederation, and early national eras, highlighting both the continuities of the colonial past and the sweeping institutional innovations after American independence." "Perkins analyzes virtually every major financial service - the issuance of paper monies, the rise of capital markets to support the trading of stocks and bonds, the emergence of insurance underwriters to cover fire damage on domestic structures and marine losses, and other related activities. He also examines the major political controversies surrounding the American financial system, including the contest between Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians. Perkins argues that the financial services sector was quite sophisticated well before the revolutionary advances in transportation and industry that occurred between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Moreover, he contends that the maturation of the financial services sector came early, laying a solid base for advancement in other economic sectors after 1815." "An essential work for business and economic historians, as well as specialists in the colonial and early national eras, American Public Finance and Financial Services will enlighten all those interested in better understanding the development of the American economy."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Here is the American corporation from every angle - its postwar history, its relation to the law, its financing, its impact on technological innovation, its role as employer and as political force, and much more. The contributors - all of whom are recognized experts in their fields - not only tackle many of the same key areas that the contributors to Mason's classic study looked at, but they also illuminate issues that have only arisen in recent years.

A history of the law governing the earliest stock markets in England and the United States.

What were the intentions of the Founders? Was the American constitution designed to protect individual rights? To limit the powers of government? To curb the excesses of democracy? Or to create a robust democratic nation-state? These questions echo through today's most heated legal and political debates. In this powerful new interpretation of America's origins, Max Edling argues that the Federalists were primarily concerned with building a government that could act vigorously in defense of American interests. The Constitution transferred the powers of war making and resource extraction from the states to the national government thereby creating a nation-state invested with all the important powers of Europe's eighteenth-century "fiscal-military states." A strong centralized government, however, challenged the American people's deeply ingrained distrust of unduly concentrated authority. To secure the Constitution's adoption the Federalists had to accommodate the formation of a powerful national government to the strong current of anti-statism in the American political tradition. They did so by designing a government that would be powerful in times of crisis, but which would make only limited demands on the citizenry and have a sharply restricted presence in society. The Constitution promised the American people the benefit of government without its costs. Taking advantage of a newly published letterpress edition of the constitutional debates, A Revolution in Favor of Government recovers a neglected strand of the Federalist argument, making a persuasive case for rethinking the formation of the federal American state.

This book presents the lifelong and ongoing research of Lawrence H. Officer in a systematic way. The result is an authoritative treatment of such issues as market structure and economic efficiency where more than one characteristic of a commodity is priced, both in general and in application to shipping conferences; financing of the United Nations and International Monetary Fund; monetary history of the UK and US; and central-bank preferences between gold and dollars, The book first examines multidimensional pricing, defined as pricing when a commodity or service has several characteristics that are priced. The second part is concerned with country-group conflicts in the United Nations and International Monetary Fund. The book then takes a fresh look at historical experiences of monetary-standard upheavals and the final part considers a crucial time (1958-67), during which central-bank gold-dollar decisions were power-politically determined.

George Washington had Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson had Albert Gallatin. From internationally known tax expert and former Supreme Court law clerk Gregory May comes this long overdue biography of the remarkable immigrant who launched the fiscal policies that shaped the early Republic and the future of American politics. Not Alexander Hamilton---Albert Gallatin. To this day, the fight over fiscal policy lies at the center of American politics. Jefferson's champion in that fight was Albert Gallatin---a Swiss immigrant who served as Treasury Secretary for twelve years because he was the only man in Jefferson's party who understood finance well enough to reform Alexander Hamilton's system. A look at Gallatin's work---repealing internal taxes, restraining government spending, and repaying public debt---puts our current federal fiscal problems in perspective. The Jefferson Administration's enduring achievement was to contain the federal government by restraining its fiscal power. This was Gallatin's work. It set the pattern for federal finance until the Civil War, and it created a culture of fiscal responsibility that survived well into the twentieth century.

The year 2016 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Second Bank of the United States (1816-1836). This book is an economic history of an early central bank, the Second Bank of the United States (1816-36). After US President Andrew Jackson vetoed the re-chartering of the Bank in 1832, the US would go without a central bank for the rest of the nineteenth century, unlike Europe and England. This book takes a fresh look at the role and legacy of the Second Bank. The Second Bank of the United States shows how the Bank developed a business model that allowed it to make a competitive profit while providing integrating fiscal services to the national government for free. The model revolved around the strategic use of its unique ability to establish a nationwide system of branches. This book shows how the Bank used its branch network to establish dominance in select money markets: frontier money markets and markets for bills of exchange and specie. These lines of business created synergies with the Bank’s fiscal duties, and profits that helped cover their costs. The Bank’s branch in New Orleans, Louisiana, became its geographic centre of gravity, in contrast with the state-chartered banking system, which was already, by the 1820s, centred around New York. This book is of great interest to those who study banking and American history, as well as economic students who have a great interest in economic history.

In 1783, as the Revolutionary War came to a close, Alexander Hamilton resigned in disgust from the Continental Congress after it refused to consider a fundamental reform of the Articles of Confederation. Just four years later, that same government collapsed, and Congress grudgingly agreed to support the 1787 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, which altered the Articles beyond recognition. What occurred during this remarkably brief interval to cause the Confederation to lose public confidence and inspire Americans to replace it with a dramatically more flexible and powerful government? We Have Not a Government is the story of this contentious moment in American history. In George William Van Cleve’s book, we encounter a sharply divided America. The Confederation faced massive war debts with virtually no authority to compel its members to pay them. It experienced punishing trade restrictions and strong resistance to American territorial expansion from powerful European governments. Bitter sectional divisions that deadlocked the Continental Congress arose from exploding western settlement. And a deep, long-lasting recession led to sharp controversies and social unrest across the country amid roiling debates over greatly increased taxes, debt relief, and paper money. Van Cleve shows how these remarkable stresses transformed the Confederation into a stalemate government and eventually led previously conflicting states, sections, and interest groups to advocate for a union powerful enough to govern a continental empire. Touching on the stories of a wide-ranging cast of characters—including John Adams, Patrick Henry, Daniel Shays, George Washington, and Thayendanegea—Van Cleve makes clear that it was the Confederation’s failures that created a political crisis and led to the 1787 Constitution. Clearly argued and superbly written, We Have Not a Government is a must-read history of this crucial period in our nation’s early life.

The Handbook of Major Events in Economic History aims to introduce readers to the important macroeconomic events of the past two hundred years. The chapters endeavour to explain what went on and why during the most significant economic epochs of the nineteenth, twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and how where we are today fits in this historical timeline. Its short chapters reflect the most up-to-date research and are written by well-known economists who are authorities on their subjects. The Handbook of Major Events in Economic History was written with the intent of presenting the professional consensus in explaining the economics driving these historical events.

Guide to U.S. Economic Policy shows students and researchers how issues and actions are translated into public policies for resolving economic problems (like the Great Recession) or managing economic conflict (like the left-right ideological split over the role of government regulation in markets). Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the guide highlights decision-making cycles requiring the cooperation of government, business, and an informed citizenry to achieve a comprehensive approach to a successful, growth-oriented economic policy. Through 30 topical, operational, and relational essays, the book addresses the development of U.S. economic policies from the colonial period to today; the federal agencies and public and private organizations that influence and administer economic policies; the challenges of balancing economic development with environmental and social goals; and the role of the U.S. in international organizations such as the IMF and WTO. Key Features: 30 essays by experts in the field investigate the fundamental economic, political, social, and process initiatives that drive policy decisions affecting the nation’s economic stability and success. Essential themes traced throughout the chapters include scarcity, wealth creation, theories of economic growth and macroeconomic management, controlling inflation and unemployment, poverty, the role of government agencies and regulations to police markets, Congress vs. the president, investment policies, economic indicators, the balance of trade, and the immediate and long-term costs associated with economic policy alternatives. A glossary of key economic terms and events, a summary of bureaus and agencies charged with economic policy decisions, a master bibliography, and a thorough index appear at the back of the book. This must-have reference for students and researchers is suitable for academic, public, high school, government, and professional libraries.