Sovereign of the Market: The Money Question in Early America (American Beginnings, 1500-1900)

What should serve as money, who should control its creation and circulation, and according to what rules? For more than two hundred years, the “money question” shaped American social thought, becoming a central subject of political debate and class conflict. __Sovereign of the Market__ reveals how and why this happened. Jeffrey Sklansky’s wide-ranging study comprises three chronological parts devoted to major episodes in the career of the money question. First, the fight over the innovation of paper money in colonial New England. Second, the battle over the development of commercial banking in the new United States. And third, the struggle over the national banking system and the international gold standard in the late nineteenth century. Each section explores a broader problem of power that framed each conflict in successive phases of capitalist development: circulation, representation, and association. The three parts also encompass intellectual biographies of opposing reformers for each period, shedding new light on the connections between economic thought and other aspects of early American culture. The result is a fascinating, insightful, and deeply considered contribution to the history of capitalism. What should serve as money, who should control its creation and circulation, and according to what rules? For more than two hundred years, the "money question" shaped American social thought. This book explores how and why the means of payment became a central subject of political debate and class conflict over market relations in early America. The book comprises three parts devoted to major episodes in the career of the money question. Part I focuses on the political economy of paper money in colonial New England, Part II turns to the battle over commercial banking in the new United States, and Part III concerns the struggle over the national banking system and the international gold standard in the late nineteenth century. Each section explores a broader problem of power that framed the conflict over currency, considering the money question as a question of circulation raised by the growth of commerce in the colonial British Atlantic, a question of representation arising from the emergence of popular democracy along with industrial capitalism in the Jacksonian era, and a question of association tied to the ascendance of big business in the Gilded Age. More concretely, each part consists of intellectual biographies of two leading reformers who staked out opposite sides of the issue in their respective periods. These paired essays pursue the connections between the money question and other aspects of early American culture including natural law and natural history, melodramatic literature and neoclassical architecture, and Christian fellowship and fiduciary trust Introduction : the elusive sovereign Part I. Paper money and the problem of circulation in the colonial era. John Wise and the natural law of commerce William Douglass and the natural history of credit Part II. Commercial banking and the problem of representation in the Jacksonian era. William Leggett and the melodrama of the market Nicholas Biddle and the beauty of banking Part III. Big business and the problem of association in the Gilded Age and progressive era. Charles Macune and the currency of cooperation Charles Conant and the fund of trust Conclusion : the magician's glass. What should serve as money, who should control its creation and circulation, and according to what rules? For more than two hundred years, the 'money question' shaped American social thought. This text explores how and why the means of payment became a central subject of political debate and class conflict over market relations in early America