"Founded in 1895, the National Association of Manufacturers--NAM--helped make manufacturing the basis of the US economy and a major source of jobs in the twentieth century. The Industrialists traces the history of the advocacy group from its origins to today, examining its role in shaping modern...

"Men of talents" : the tariff of 1816 -- "More than a mere manufacturing question" : the Baldwin bill of 1820 & the tariff of 1824 -- "An engine of party purposes" : the Woollens bill of 1827 & the tariff of 1828 -- "Calculate the value of the union" : the tariffs of 1832 & 1833 -- "Trembling...

Introduction -- The rise of the American corporate elite -- The state and the economy -- Labor as uneasy partner -- The banks as mediators -- The breakdown of the postwar consensus -- Winning the war, but losing the battle: the fragmentation of the American corporate elite -- The aftermath --...

Introduction: Imagining a Confederate economy -- Shifting cultivation, slavery, and economic development -- Agricultural reform and state activism -- Explaining Lieber's paradox : railroads, state building, and slavery -- Redefining free trade to modernize the South -- Economic nationalism and...