The United States has long epitomized capitalism. From its enterprising shopkeepers, wildcat banks, violent slave plantations, and raucous commodities trade to its world-spanning multinationals, its massive factories, and the centripetal power of New York in the world of finance, America has...

Introduction: war, money, and American history -- A more effectual mode of administration: the constitution and the origins of American public finance -- The soul of government: creating an American fiscal regime -- So immense a power in the affairs of war: the restoration of public credit --...