By Nancy Spannaus Nov. 21, 2020—When FDR’s relief expert Harry Hopkins told FDR about the looming emergency for tens of millions of Americans in the winter of 1933-34, FDR authorized action. If nothing were done, Hopkins had said, people would starve en masse. Immediate action was needed, because, as he […]
New Economic History Book Reveals Hidden Struggle Behind the Industrial Revolution Nationalist Statesmen Battle Wall Street and Southern Slaveholders in Fight to Create Canals, Railroads, and Modern Society November 20, 2020–What motivated the key people who created the industrial revolution? In this ground-breaking new book on economic history, author Anton […]
A Review of Thomas Frank’s The People, NO! A Brief History of Anti-Populism By Nancy Spannaus Nov. 7, 2020—As the current brawl over the presidential election results should make clear, the people of the United States are dangerously divided, almost split down the middle. In my view, the question before […]
by Edward Spannaus John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court, a film written by Richard Brookhiser and Leo Eaton, and directed by Leo Eaton. Eaton Creative, Inc., 2020. Running time: 2 hours, 26 minutes. Available on Amazon Prime. Richard Brookhiser, John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme […]
By Nancy Spannaus Sept. 14, 2020—As I am preparing for a class series on my book Hamilton Versus Wall Street, as well as a presentation at the Treasury Historical Association on Sept. 23, I have been struck once again with the importance of Mathew Carey in carrying forward the Hamiltonian […]
Sept. 2, 2020—My reaction to watching most of the Democratic and Republican conventions can be summed up in one phrase: Wall Street is the winner. Neither party has taken on the reality of the economic and social collapse which the predatory Wall Street financial system has wrought, nor has it […]
Increasing Productivity, Expanding Farm Output, Eliminating Poverty By Stuart Rosenblatt July 5, 2020–As the nation confronts the expanding COVID-19 crisis and the collateral economic damage caused by the pandemic—the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression—a consensus is emerging that any recovery effort include a commitment to employ millions […]
by Nancy Spannaus July 3, 2020—On the occasion of this Fourth of July, which is bound to be fraught with virulent attacks on the Declaration of Independence, I was tempted to simply repeat Abraham Lincoln’s stirring refutation (which I featured last year). But there was a deeper philosophical point to […]
The Growth and Collapse of One American Nation, The Early Republic 1790-1861 By Donald J. Fraser Fraser & Associates, Roseville, California, 2020, 605 pp. A Book Review by Nancy Spannaus June 21, 2020—In examining the question of what defines an American identity, author Donald Fraser has chosen one of […]
By Nancy Spannaus Oct. 9, 2021—All four classes in my series on Why American Slavery Persisted are now available on americansystemnow’s You Tube channel. In them, I present the evidence to support my thesis that the success of the abolition movement depended on the implementation of Alexander Hamilton’s principles of […]
Sept. 26, 2021—While Congress continues deadlocked in a battle over inadequate infrastructure spending bills, support is growing for establishing a Hamiltonian Infrastructure Bank. A campaign by local officials determined to meet the full needs of the nation is spreading across the country. The focus of their efforts is H.R. 3339 […]
Giving Thanks for a Nation
By Nancy Spannaus November 26, 2020—Contrary to popular culture, Thanksgiving Day in the United States was never just about family. From the time of the Pilgrims, to George Washington, to Abraham Lincoln, it was about humbly expressing our gratitude for surviving as a nation (or a community), and committing ourselves […]