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

The importance of Alexander Hamilton’s magnum opus, his 1791 Report on the Subject of Manufactures, is often dismissed. After all, Congress hardly debated it, much less adopted it as policy. Yet a thorough understanding of its ideas, and how they have been put into effect through history, shows that document to be of world-historical importance, not only for the United States, but for the world as a whole.

In her upcoming lecture, author Nancy Spannaus will highlight the leading features of Hamilton’s Report, as well as how those principles influenced political economy far beyond his lifetime. As it ranges from economic theory, to government policy, to specific economic proposals, the Report on Manufactures provided a foundation for defending the liberties won in the Revolutionary War and fulfilling the goals outlined in the Preamble of our Constitution.

Spannaus has studied Alexander Hamilton since the 1970s, and has authored two books dealing with his economic thinking: The Political Economy of the American Revolution (1977; 1996) and Hamilton Versus
Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics. (2019) She also blogs on Hamilton and related themes at americansystemnow.com.