Lives of the Philadelphia Engineers: Capital, Class, and Revolution, 1830-1890 (Modern Economic and Social History, 42)

This volume examines the emergence of a new class of industrial entrepreneur and the world they confronted and shaped. Historians are reluctant to examine 19th century American business leaders as a social group and this study helps remedy the defect. It interweaves a history of the social and economic development of the largest centre of machine building in 19th century America with the dramatic political narrative of sectional conflict, civil war and reconstruction. Crossing and re-crossing the boundary between industrial and political history it throws important new light on the process of industrialization, the Civil War conflict, and the contested governance of 19th century cities. While this study is firmly rooted in the experience of Philadelphia's machine builders, its historiographic significance extends to many of the important themes of mid-century American history. By rejecting the conventional viewpoint that timid manufacturers were conservative supporters of the plantation South and insisting that workshop owners rejected slavery, this study reinvigorates one of the Civil War's enduring interpretative battles. Of interest to scholars of business, economic, social, labour, education, urban and Civil War history it should stimulate further debate and add a new angle to our understanding of 19th century America.