Description
Book SynopsisAnalyzes the establishment, growth, and operations of both commercial and municipal corporations in the nation's premier city, Philadelphia. This work argues that corporations helped to generate the relatively diffuse prosperity of the early national period.
Trade ReviewIn this deeply researched, richly detailed case study of the origins of corporate power in the new nation's "first city," Andrew M. Schocket deftly unravels an enigma that has plagued historians and observers of the early republic since Alexis de Tocqueville disembarked in Philadelphia in 1831.
* The Journal of American History *
This intelligent book considers a central issue of the early American republic and U.S. history: why was political democratization coeval with the consolidation of economic power by a relatively small group of elites?
* American Historical Review *
Carefully researched and well-written. The refreshing tone of this entertaining and insightful book cannot be overstated. It should surely find a place on reading lists of business historians and students of entrepreneurship for years to come.
* Journal of Economic History *
Table of ContentsTable of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Establishing Corporations
Chapter 2: Incorporating the Opposition
Chapter 3: Incorporating Money
Chapter 4: Incorporating the City
Chapter 5: Incorporating the Countryside
Chapter 6: Creating a Corporate Sphere
Conclusion
Methodology and Sources
Notes
Works Cited
Index
