American Public Finance and Financial Services, 1700–1815

Edwin J. Perkins

“Perkins has written a thorough and well-researched financial history of the early years of this country and their effect of the future development of the American economic system.” —Library Journal

“Perkins’s book is the best overview of American financial history from the eighteenth century, through the Revolution, and into the nineteenth century that we have. It provides a starting point for filling out our knowledge of the profound economic changes that occurred in the formative years of the United States and presents a stimulating and thought-provoking hypothesis to ponder.>” —William and Mary Quarterly

“This book offers both a solid review of recent literature on early American financial institutions and a thought-provoking interpretation of the socio-political context surrounding their development. Readers of this journal and teachers of early American history will undoubtedly profit from using it.” —Business History

“This pathbreaking book should have a significant impact on the historiography of American economic and institutional development. The convincing portrait clearly establishes the critical role of eighteenth-century financial markets and institutions in laying the groundwork for later industrialization. . . . Studies of the subject must in the future begin with this inclusive work of high-quality scholarship.” —Business History Review