Details

Subject(s)

• Industrial policy—United States—History [Browse]
• Defense industries—United States—History [Browse]
• Textile industry—United States—History [Browse]
• United States—Politics and government—1783-1865 [Browse]

Series

Studies in early American economy and society from the Library Company of Philadelphia [More in this series]

Summary note

• "The Revolutionary War has been won, and the newly independent nation is fraught with anxieties--threatened by enemies at home and abroad. In Manufacturing Advantage, Lindsay Schakenbach Regele shows how the government (especially the Departments of State and War) promoted industrial development--of textiles and weapons--to defend the new country from hostile armies and hostile imports. As it moves from the Revolutionary War through the Mexican-American War, Manufacturing Advantage examines the interconnected nature of arms and textile industries and how each developed to become a powerhouse of American industry. Regele calls the development of these industries "national security capitalism"--A mixed-enterprise system in which government agents and private producers brokered solutions to the problems of international economic disparities and war. In Regele's telling, War and State Department officials emerge as key players in the emergence of domestic industry, facilitating rifle makers and power-loom weavers in the quest to develop national industrial resources. It was this defensive strategy, she argues, that eventually evolved to promote westward expansion as well as America's growing commercial and territorial empire"-- Provided by publisher.
• In 1783, the Revolutionary War drew to a close, but America was still threatened by enemies at home and abroad. The emerging nation faced tax rebellions, Indian warfare, and hostilities with France and England. Its arsenal "a collection of hand-me-down and beat-up firearms" was woefully inadequate, and its manufacturing sector was weak. In an era when armies literally froze in the field, military preparedness depended on blankets and jackets, the importation of which the British Empire had coordinated for over 200 years. Without a ready supply of guns, the new nation could not defend itself; without its own textiles, it was at the economic mercy of the British. Domestic industry offered the best solution for true economic and military independence. In Manufacturing Advantage, Lindsay Schakenbach Regele shows how the US government promoted the industrial development of textiles and weapons to defend the country from hostile armies and hostile imports. Moving from the late 1700s through the Mexican-American War, Schakenbach Regele argues that both industries developed as a result of what she calls "national security capitalism": a mixed enterprise system in which government agents and private producers brokered solutions to the problems of war and international economic disparities. War and State Department officials played particularly key roles in the emergence of American industry, facilitating arms makers and power loom weavers in the quest to develop industrial resources. And this defensive strategy, Schakenbach Regele reveals, eventually evolved to promote westward expansion, as well as America's growing commercial and territorial empire. Examining these issues through the lens of geopolitics, Manufacturing Advantage places the rise of industry in the United States in the context of territorial expansion, diplomacy, and warfare. Ultimately, the book reveals the complex link between government intervention and private initiative in a country struggling to create a political economy that balanced military competence with commercial needs.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-254) and index.

Source of description

Print version record.

Contents

• Introduction
• "Our naked troops"
• The political economy of guns and textiles
• Embargo and war
• Financing industry through Florida
• Managing new markets
• Industrial manifest destiny
• Conclusion.

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ISBN

• 9781421425276 ((electronic book))
• 1421425270 ((electronic book))

OCLC

1083763168

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