Has Anyone Read...?

[L Verge]

It seems that Amazon is quite sure that I will read every book ever written on the Civil War or any aspect of it because they keep sending me notices on anything that appears to be still in print. The latest alert is about The Civil War and the American System: America's Battle with Britain, 1860-1876, by W. Allen Salisbury, 1992. Here's what they say:

When historian W. Allen Salisbury first wrote this book in 1978, he was seeking to teach Americans that the battle between the American System of economics and the British System of free trade which resulted in the Civil War, was the center of the political battles of the 20th century.

Today this is even more true. The heirs of Adam Smith and the British Empire are pressing for worldwide adoption of free trade, a system which led to slavery in the 19th century, and would do so again today. And certain U.S. political circles are even openly demanding a return to the principles and Constitution of the Confederacy.

Utilizing a rich selection of primary-source documents, Salisbury reintroduces the forgotten men of the Civil War-era battle for the American System: Mathew Carey, his son and successor Henry Carey, William Kelley, William Elder, and Stephen Colwell. Together with Abraham Lincoln, they demanded industrial technological progress, against the ideological subversion of British "free trade" economists and the British-dominated Confederacy.

Salisbury highlights the career of Henry C. Carey, who, as Lincoln's leading economic advisor, acted to prevent a complete City of London banker's takeover of the United States political-economic system.

Has anyone read it or know of it and would like to comment on the premise?

[Thomas Thorne]

(04-27-2015 01:38 PM)L Verge Wrote:  When historian W. Allen Salisbury first wrote this book in 1978, he was seeking to teach Americans that the battle between the American System of economics and the British System of free trade which resulted in the Civil War, was the center of the political battles of the 20th century.

Today this is even more true. The heirs of Adam Smith and the British Empire are pressing for worldwide adoption of free trade, a system which led to slavery in the 19th century, and would do so again today. And certain U.S. political circles are even openly demanding a return to the principles and Constitution of the Confederacy.

Utilizing a rich selection of primary-source documents, Salisbury reintroduces the forgotten men of the Civil War-era battle for the American System: Mathew Carey, his son and successor Henry Carey, William Kelley, William Elder, and Stephen Colwell. Together with Abraham Lincoln, they demanded industrial technological progress, against the ideological subversion of British "free trade" economists and the British-dominated Confederacy.

Salisbury highlights the career of Henry C. Carey, who, as Lincoln's leading economic advisor, acted to prevent a complete City of London banker's takeover of the United States political-economic system.

Has anyone read it or know of it and would like to comment on the premise?

I'm no economics wizard or expert on economic history but the suggestion the "worldwide adoption of free trade" was a "system which led to slavery in the 19th century" is absurd. Britain adopted a policy of free trade by repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Slavery, a ghastly inheritance of classical and medieval civilization,was introduced into Virginia in 1619.

I've not read the book and I would not waste my time with it. The author is guilty of "presentism' 'fighting today's political battles over the global economy, free trade and Nafta by ransacking the past. I have previously seen the silly argument that today's conservatives somehow desire to bring slavery back but this accusation is totally without merit.

We have largely seen a political shift by the American political parties over the virtues of free trade vs protectionism. The Democratic party believed in free trade. While the Clinton and Obama administrations largely still support free trade agreements, but most of the Democratic party now is against them. The Republican party has almost with a few exceptions, has abandoned its Lincolnian belief in protectionism. In practice everyone still can find a few industries they are still willing to protect.

I have never accepted the Charles Beard thesis that an industrializing North was engaged in a campaign against the agrarian South that could only lead to war.

When young men joined the Confederate Army in 1861, they feared Lincoln would incite John Brownesque slave insurrections. Tariffs don't drive people to risk their lives.

Tom