Reminder: Hamilton Zoom Event Tomorrow!

Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures: The Ideas That Shaped Our World

In December of 1791, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton issued one of the most important state papers in U.S. history, his Report on the Subject of Manufactures. That paper defined principles of political economy which were the foundation for defending the liberties won in the Revolutionary War, and fulfilling the goals outlined in the Preamble of our Constitution.

At the same time, however, Hamilton was initiating what could be called a pilot project for his manufacturing perspective, the creation of the Society for Useful Manufactures at Passaic Falls and the city of Paterson! The history of Paterson’s success as a manufacturing center and Hamilton’s ideas are inextricably linked.

On September 12, Nancy Bradeen Spannaus, author of the book Hamilton Versus Wall Street, will discuss Hamilton’s economic perspective and its long-lasting impact on U.S. and world history. As Leonard Zax, founder and president emeritus of the Partnership for Paterson put it in his review of Spannaus’ book, “Nancy Spannaus properly lifts Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures to a place of supreme importance in the annals of American economic history.”

In her talk, Spannaus will also take on a number of the myths which have prevented Americans from implementing his approach today.

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Nancy Spannaus is a public historian who has studied Alexander Hamilton since the 1970s. She co-edited a book of writings on The Political Economy of the American Revolution in 1977 (reprinted in 1996), and self-published Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics in 2019. She blogs on American history at americansystemnow.com. Her book is available on Amazon or at the publisher.