A Hercules in the Cradle
War, Money, and the American State, 1783-1867
A Hercules in the Cradle
War, Money, and the American State, 1783-1867
In A Hercules in the Cradle, Max M. Edling argues that the federal government’s abilities to tax and to borrow money, developed in the early years of the republic, were critical to the young nation’s ability to wage war and expand its territory. He traces the growth of this capacity from the time of the founding to the aftermath of the Civil War, including the funding of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. Edling maintains that the Founding Fathers clearly understood the connection between public finance and power: a well-managed public debt was a key part of every modern state. Creating a debt would always be a delicate and contentious matter in the American context, however, and statesmen of all persuasions tried to pay down the national debt in times of peace. A Hercules in the Cradle explores the origin and evolution of American public finance and shows how the nation’s rise to great-power status in the nineteenth century rested on its ability to go into debt.
336 pages | 10 line drawings, 18 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2014
American Beginnings, 1500-1900
Economics and Business: Economics--History
History: American History, Military History
Reviews
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: War, Money, and American History
1. A More Effectual Mode of Administration: The Constitution and the Origins of American Public Finance
2. The Soul of Government: Creating an American Fiscal Regime
3. So Immense a Power in the Affairs of War: The Restoration of Public Credit
4. Equal to the Severest Trials: Mr. Madison’s War
5. The Two Most Powerful Republics in the World: Mr. Polk’s War
6. A Rank among the Very First of Military Powers: Mr. Lincoln’s War
Conclusion: The Ideology, Structure, and Significance of the First American Fiscal Regime
Notes
Index
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