« Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »

This paper presents the preliminary results of a work in progress, the aim of which is an integration of Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian visions of political economy with the kind of public opinion statements which began to appear in newspapers after the end of the Constitutional debate, more specifica...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pierre Gervais
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2006-03-01
Series:Transatlantica
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/463
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832580729340428288
author Pierre Gervais
author_facet Pierre Gervais
author_sort Pierre Gervais
collection DOAJ
description This paper presents the preliminary results of a work in progress, the aim of which is an integration of Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian visions of political economy with the kind of public opinion statements which began to appear in newspapers after the end of the Constitutional debate, more specifically during the year 1793. The working hypothesis used is that there was indeed around 1792‑1793 a cristallization of two opposed worldviews, usually associated with Jefferson and Hamilton respectively, and built on conflicting views of the economy and its role, within and in spite of the « liberal consensus » stressed by recent historiography. This opposition was centered on contradictory assessments of the benefits and risks of merchant development, which can be observed easily in two important texts, the Notes on the State of Virginia and the Report on Manufactures. While Jefferson considered that the correlated growths of merchant power and market activity were inherently dangerous, and should be strictly controlled, Hamilton took a much more positive view of the same phenomena.A second part relates these two positions to an as yet small sample of patriotic toasts given during the year 1793 and printed in Philadelphia and Boston papers. By carefully analyzing the use and wording of one particular kind of thematic toast, called « economic toast, » it can be shown that, within the discourse of local political actors, there were traces of the same differential view of merchant activity which structured national political discourse.
format Article
id doaj-art-fac136694b4c4ca68ea7a95cc2f3c431
institution Kabale University
issn 1765-2766
language English
publishDate 2006-03-01
publisher Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
record_format Article
series Transatlantica
spelling doaj-art-fac136694b4c4ca68ea7a95cc2f3c4312025-01-30T10:45:44ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662006-03-01110.4000/transatlantica.463« Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »Pierre GervaisThis paper presents the preliminary results of a work in progress, the aim of which is an integration of Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian visions of political economy with the kind of public opinion statements which began to appear in newspapers after the end of the Constitutional debate, more specifically during the year 1793. The working hypothesis used is that there was indeed around 1792‑1793 a cristallization of two opposed worldviews, usually associated with Jefferson and Hamilton respectively, and built on conflicting views of the economy and its role, within and in spite of the « liberal consensus » stressed by recent historiography. This opposition was centered on contradictory assessments of the benefits and risks of merchant development, which can be observed easily in two important texts, the Notes on the State of Virginia and the Report on Manufactures. While Jefferson considered that the correlated growths of merchant power and market activity were inherently dangerous, and should be strictly controlled, Hamilton took a much more positive view of the same phenomena.A second part relates these two positions to an as yet small sample of patriotic toasts given during the year 1793 and printed in Philadelphia and Boston papers. By carefully analyzing the use and wording of one particular kind of thematic toast, called « economic toast, » it can be shown that, within the discourse of local political actors, there were traces of the same differential view of merchant activity which structured national political discourse.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/463
spellingShingle Pierre Gervais
« Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »
Transatlantica
title « Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »
title_full « Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »
title_fullStr « Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »
title_full_unstemmed « Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »
title_short « Agriculture, and Commerce as its Handmaid »
title_sort agriculture and commerce as its handmaid
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/463
work_keys_str_mv AT pierregervais agricultureandcommerceasitshandmaid