The Founders' Fortunes
How Money Shaped the Birth of America
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An illuminating financial history of the Founding Fathers, revealing how their personal finances shaped the Constitution and the new nation
In 1776, upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers concluded America’s most consequential document with a curious note, pledging “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Lives and honor did indeed hang in the balance, yet just what were their fortunes? How much did the Founders stand to gain or lose through independence? And what lingering consequences did their respective financial stakes have on liberty, justice, and the fate of the fledgling United States of America?
In this landmark account, historian Willard Sterne Randall investigates the private financial affairs of the Founders, illuminating like never before how and why the Revolution came about. The Founders’ Fortunes uncovers how these leaders waged war, crafted a constitution, and forged a new nation influenced in part by their own financial interests. In an era where these very issues have become daily national questions, the result is a remarkable and insightful new understanding of our nation’s bedrock values.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Randall (Unshackling America) explores in this intriguing yet unsatisfying survey how the founding fathers' personal financial circumstances helped chart the course of the American Revolution. Delving into the business interests and economic considerations of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and others, Randall notes that almost all of Connecticut's delegation to the Second Continental Congress in 1775 were land speculators, motivated in no small part by King George III's decree barring them from profiting from the fur trade. He also points out that the resistance movement in Massachusetts was bankrolled by John Hancock, whose merchant empire was threatened by English taxes, and that Benjamin Franklin, contrary to his "Poor Richard" persona, became wealthy by investing the profits from his printing and publishing business in Philadelphia real estate. Unfortunately, Randall downplays other political and cultural factors behind the revolution and risks oversimplifying the motivations and considerations of his subjects, as when he suggests that George Washington's diminished financial circumstances were behind his acceptance of the presidency and its annual salary of $25,000 ($750,000 in today's money). Readers will find Tom Shachtman's The Founding Fortunes to be a more thoughtful and nuanced treatment of the same subject.
