The Founding Fortunes: How the Wealthy Paid for and Profited from America’s Revolution
Author Shachtman (How the French Saved America) dispels more myths of the Revolutionary and early Federal period in this study of finances and patriots. It seems yeoman soldiers picking up their muskets are not those who fought the long battle. The poor and immigrants fought, financed by wealthy men who extended personal credit to supply and sustain the war effort. They also prospered from the conflict’s success, as did many returning Loyalists. Wealthy traders, plantation owners, and businessmen, along with the creative solutions of Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin got our country on its financial feet and managed to wed democracy with a vibrant capitalism. That unbridled capitalism, privateers being rewarded, and merchants benefitting over poor soldiers contrasts with Jefferson’s 1780s plan for settling the U. S. territories with small parcels, forbidden slave ownership and free schools, which became part of a culture that favored the average-income family.
The modern dangers of the lobbying of the wealthy, shady self-dealing, power-sharing between states and federal governments, and struggles with international trading partners all ring with present-day resonance. This is a thought-provoking and insightful look at the (mostly) men who shaped our country and its wealth.
