A History of American Manufactures From 1608 to 1860, Vol. 1 of 2 (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from A History of American Manufactures From 1608 to 1860, Vol. 1 of 2 In presenting the public with the first portion of a work on the Manufactures of the United States, I do not deem an apology necessary for the design. The short period of our national history, has furnished an unexampled progress in productive industry, and in the creation and development of all the elements of a great and increasing material prosperity. The annual product of Manufactures, according to the last published returns in 1850, had reached an aggregate value of more than ten hundred and nineteen millions of dollars, and the capital employed in them, exceeded five hundred and fifty millions of dollars. To attain this result from a state of great feebleness in little more than three-fourths of a century, while the other branches, Agriculture and Commerce, which constitute the tripedal support of a nation's prosperity, have been commensurately increased, is a subject of national gratulation. The record of such a progress might be expected to show remarkable illustrations of national character and appetencies, of the influence of social and political institutions, of public economy and of individual genius and enterprise. The operative industry of the country, has exercised no little influence in shaping the public and social organization of the country and the legislative policy of the general and local Governments, and has in turn been modified by each and all of these. Its history furnishes lessons of instruction bearing upon nearly all the great questions of the day, interesting alike to the legislator, the political economist, the merchant, the manufacturer, and the philanthropist. Its importance therefore seemed to justify an attempt to trace the successive steps by which our present position has been attained, and the principal causes which have retarded or promoted that progress. This attempt has, however, in the present instance, been confined chiefly to a record of the facts, which have marked the growth of our Manufactures and their more important and ascertained relations to causes, leaving the discussion of abstract principles and questions in legislation, in moral, political, social, legal, physical, or mechanical science, which mar connect themselves therewith, to abler hands. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.