A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1792.

The Report on Manufactures is the third report, and magnum opus, of American Founding Father and 1st U.S. Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton to Congress on December 5th, 1791 recommending economic policies to stimulate the new republic's economy and ensure its independence won in 1783 with the completion of the Revolutionary War. Download high resolution version (868x1224, 303 KB) A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1792. ... Download high resolution version (868x1224, 303 KB) A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1792. ... For other uses, see Portrait (disambiguation). ... This article is about the American painter. ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera), from the Latin meaning great work,[1] refers to the best, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer, and most commonly one who has contributed a very large amount of material. ... Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy. ... The United States Secretary of the Treasury is the finance minister of the Federal Government of the United States. ... Alexander Hamilton (November 20, 1755 or 1757 - July 12, 1804) was the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, lawyer, Founding Father, American politician, leading statesman, political economist,] financier, and political theorist. ... Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives President of the Senate President pro tempore Dick Cheney, (R) since January 20, 2001 Robert C. Byrd, (D) since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political... Pre-Colonial America For details, see the main Pre-Colonial America article. ... The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was a war fought primarily between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen of her North American colonies. ...

Hamilton's "Report on Manufactures" laid forth economic principles, rooted in both the Mercantilist System of Elizabeth I's England and the practices of Jean-Baptiste Colbert of France. The principle ideas of the "Report" would later be incorporated into the "American System" program by Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and his Whig Party. Abraham Lincoln who called himself a "Henry Clay tariff Whig" during his early years would later make the principles outlined in the "Report" and furthered by Clay's "American System" program as cornerstones, together with opposition to the institution and expansion of slavery, of the fledgling Republican Party. A painting of a French seaport from 1638, at the height of mercantilism. ... Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603 ) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ... Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (August 29, 1619 — September 6, 1683) served as the French minister of finance from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. He was described by Mme de Sévigné as Le Nord as he was cold and unemotional. ... The Monkey System or Every One For Himself Henry Clay says Walk in and see the new improved original grand American System! The cages are labeled: Home, Consumption, Internal, Improv. This 1831 cartoon ridiculing Clays American System depicts monkeys, labeled as being different parts of a nations economy... Henry Clay, Sr. ... The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. ... For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation). ... Look up cornerstone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Slave redirects here. ... GOP redirects here. ...

Hamilton's ideas formed the basis for the American School of economics. The American School, also known as National System, represents three different yet related things in politics, policy and philosophy. ...

Economic plan

Hamilton reasoned that to secure American independence the United States needed to have a sound policy of encouraging the growth of manufacturing and secure its future as a permanent feature of the economic system of the nation. These he argued could be achieved through: bounties or subsidies to industry, regulation of trade with moderate tariffs not to discourage imports but to raise revenue to support American manufacturing through subsidy, and other government encouragement. These policies would not only promote the growth of manufacturing but provide diversified employment opportunities and promote immigration into the young United States, but it would also expand the applications of technology and science for all quarters including agriculture. A subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by government in support of an activity regarded as being in the public interest. ... This article is about economic exchange. ... Tax rates around the world Tax revenue as % of GDP Economic policy Monetary policy Central bank   Money supply Fiscal policy Spending   Deficit   Debt Trade policy Tariff   Trade agreement Finance Financial market Financial market participants Corporate   Personal Public   Banking   Regulation        For other uses of this word, see tariff (disambiguation). ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ...

The tariff

Hamilton reasoned that tariffs issued in moderation, would raise revenue to fund the nation and to encourage domestic (or national) manufacturing and growth of the economy by applying the funds raised in part towards subsidies (called bounties in his time) to manufacturers. The main purposes sought by Hamilton through the tariff were to:

• protect the infant American industry for a short term until it could compete;
• raise revenue to pay the expenses of government;
• raise revenue to directly support manufacturing through bounties (subsidies).

Subsidies to industry

Hamilton reasoned that bounties (subsidies) to industry, which would rely on funds raised by moderate tariffs, would be the best means of growing manufacturing without decreasing supply or increasing prices of goods. Such encouragement through direct support would make American enterprise competitive and independent along with the nation as a whole. In part subsidies would be used to: A subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by government in support of an activity regarded as being in the public interest. ...

• encourage the spirit of enterprise, innovation, and invention within the nation;
• support the building of roads and canals to encourage internal trade;
• grow the infant United States into a manufacturing power independent of control by foreign powers through reliance on their goods for domestic and especially defense supplies.

Adoption by Congress

Much of Hamilton's third report was eventually adopted by the United States Congress after its issuance despite strong opposition to the support of industry through subsidy. Both sides agreed that manufacturing independence was desirable and necessary but disagreed on how to obtain it. The Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican Party's main objection to subsidy was their fear that subsidy would lead to corruption and favortism of certain sections of the new nation over others; namely the north over the agragrian south. This divide (north vs. south) would come up again and again in issues of economic policy until the outbreak of the American Civil War.

In response Congress adopted the report's entire recommendation with the exception of subsidy to industry; favoring increasing tariff rates and import restrictions to encourage manufacturing (which incidently led many manufacturers to switch party allegiance from Federalist to Republican, being upset at Hamilton's moderate tariff policy).

Opposition to the Report

Leading opponents of Alexander Hamilton's economic plan were Thomas Jefferson (until later years) and James Madison who were opposed to the use of subsidy to industry along with most of their fledgling Democratic-Republican Party. Instead of bounties they reasoned in favor of high tariffs and restrictions on imports to increase manufacturing; which interestingly was favored by the manufacturers themselves who desired protection of their home market. Although the Jeffersonian stance originally favored an "agragrian" economy of farmers, this changed over time to encompass much of Hamilton's original ideas. The Democratic-Republican Party was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1792. ...

See also

• First Report on the Public Credit - Hamiton's report on public finance.
• Second Report on Public Credit - Hamilton's report on national banking.
• Federalist Party - Hamilton's political party.
• Political economy - Overview of economic theory research.
• Free Market - Opposing school of thought rooted in Adam Smith and British/French physiocrats with branches such as Austrian School.
• Socialism - Opposing School of thought based on the work of Karl Marx and Frederich Engles advocating government ownership of manufacturing or production.

The Report on Public Credit was a report that analyzed the financial standing of the United States of America and made recommendations for the retirement of the national debt. ... The Second Report on Public Credit was the second report of three major reports on economic policy issued by American Founding Father and 1st United States Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton on the request of Congress for consideration on establishing a national banking system with the creation of the Bank of... The Federalist Party (or Federal Party) was an American political party in the period 1792 to 1816, with remnants lasting into the 1830s. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. ... Classical economics is widely regarded as the first modern school of economic thought. ... The Austrian School, also known as the “Vienna School” or the “Psychological School”, is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates adherence to strict methodological individualism. ... Socialism refers to the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ...

Notes

References

• Croly, Herbert, The Promise of American Life (2005 reprint)
• Joseph Dorfman. The Economic Mind in American Civilization, 1606–1865 (1947) vol 2
• Joseph Dorfman. The Economic Mind in American Civilization, 1865–1918 (1949) vol 3
• Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War (1970)
• Gill, William J. Trade Wars Against America: A History of United States Trade and Monetary Policy (1990)
• Lind, Michael Hamilton's Republic: Readings in the American Democratic Nationalist Tradition (1997)
• Lind, Michael What Lincoln Believed: The Values and Convictions of America's Greatest President (2004)
• Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War (1997)
• Edward Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century (1903; reprint 1974), 2 vols.

Herbert David Croly (January 23, 1869 - May 17, 1930) was a liberal political author. ...

External links

• Manufactures- from The Works of Alexander Hamilton, edited by Henry Cabot Lodge.
• the Report- with page numbers for Selected Writings, Annals of Congress, Works of Alexander Hamilton.
• Excerpts from the Report (Columbia University Press) (University of Chicago)
• Excerpts from the Report (University of San Diego)