Alexander Hamilton, Economic

Prophet

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was an American
statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was an influential
interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation's
financial system, the Federalist Party, the United States Coast Guard, and The New York
Post newspaper.

Hamilton's main goals were to achieve the financial stability necessary to fight another war
should one arise with the foreign threats of Britain and Spain, and to dull assertions of state
power that might diminish national power.

Exactly 226 years ago, on Dec. 5, 1791, Hamilton delivered to the U.S. Congress a “Report
on the Subject of Manufacture.

Given the desire of many of the founders that the United States remain a primarily
agricultural nation, Hamilton’s report wasn’t just a work of extraordinary research, detail,
and length – it was also highly controversial.

Like so many of his ideas, Hamilton was ahead of his time. The Report on Manufactures
promoted a modern economic vision based on investment, industry, internal improvements,
and expanded commerce that has ultimately served as a driving force for centuries of
economic growth and security.

The culmination of his economic program, it is the clearest statement of his economic
philosophy. The protection and encouragement of infant industries, he argued, would
produce a better balance between agriculture and manufacturing, promote national self-
sufficiency, and enhance the nation's wealth and power.