Please watch the video above. It is is a unique discussion on Alexander’s Hamilton’s contributions to economic progress through examiningthe policies of China, Africa, and the U.S.
September 3, 2026
China believes it is better to contribute to the development of African nations, to not have their populations suffer in poverty, but rather experience a continuous rising standard of living. The West does not!
Contrary to constant maligning of China by the West, accusing it of conducting a new form of colonialism against the people of Africa, China has been an indispensable partner for development. There is not and never has been a “debt-trap “ policy to seize mineral resources of African nations. Any American official repeating this defamation is either an ignorant fool or a liar. The West dominated the African continent for decades, while China has only recently in this century, expanded its involvement with the nations of Africa. The creation by China, of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2003, has established a unique political, economic cooperative relationship with African nations.
As Alexander Hamilton understood, and his followers of his school of economic thought, which became known as the American System of Political Economy knew, the key to the growth of a nation, and its economy, is to increase the productive powers of labor. This requires a growth in manufacturing, it requires massive investments in infrastructure, and it requires nurturing the creativity of the population to discover new scientific principles, from which new technologies are derived. With the application of new technological advancements, the economy is able to leap, if you will, to a higher level of productivity, generating greater economic output.
This is what should be understood by Western officials. There are people in China who think this way. Presently, we don’t have people in the West, and the United States in particular, who refuse to comprehend these essential elements of economic growth. The Western political-financial elites are mired in a monetarist world dominated by making money, which they foolishly believe is wealth. They lack any understanding of what the requirements are to actually develop an economy physically, nor the necessity to promote a culture that fosters the creative potential of its people. They don’t understand the difference between making a so called profit from monetary speculation, the stock market, or manipulating the market, as opposed to increasing the profitability of the physical economy. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is attacked by the United States and the West, who fail to comprehend that the BRI is a modern day extension of Hamilton’s economic principles.
China has proved, beyond any question, that their investments in science and technology, infrastructure, and manufacturing in particular, have transformed their economy, their society. With the proven reality of this success, China can lead the Global South on a pathway of real economic development
The African continent is projected to have the largest population in the world-approximately 2.5 billion people by 2050. That’s not a burden. It is a resource of new creative minds, which are the real source of value for any economy, more valuable than minerals or artificial intelligence.
I believe watching this video will help you understand these principles that I have outlined above.
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X@lkfreemansafrica
On Saturday, January 31st, 2026, I attended the funeral of a longtime friend and colleague, Nancy Bradeen Spannaus. (See obituary below). The service was filled with hundreds of people who were touched by the life of Nancy. She lived her mortal existence the way all of us should: to do good for the human race. She affected many people from different sectors of society. She left an indelible mark on humanity during her life on earth. In her retirement years, she wrote and published three books, which educated Americans among others, on the better principles that the United States of America was founded on and stood for. She discussed in detail the history of Alexander Hamilton’s American System of Political Economy. She wrote a groundbreaking history of the fight in the United States against slavery, which the vast majority of Americans and non-Americans alike, are completely ignorant of. She also discussed how British subjects, American colonists, became citizens of this Republic after defeating British imperialism.
I knew Nancy for almost fifty-seven years. I first met Nancy and her husband Ed, following my freshman year in college in 1969. She and I had various forms of political collaboration over the succeeding decades. Nancy had a significant impact on my life even though I never discussed it with her until the occasion of her eighty-second birthday in December 2025. Nancy influenced who I am today. She contributed more than anyone else in helping me to become a writer. For that, I will be thankful for the remainder of my life.
Nancy and her husband Ed, Annual Patriots Gala of the Maryland Society, Sons of the American Revolution (Dec 18, 2024)
Over the long period of time that I knew Nancy, I realized she was a person of strong intellect. Her writings on Hamilton and the American System of Political Economy were invaluable to me. Her work in this extended field of American history provided me with an in-depth education and motivated me to read and re-read many of the original works of Alexander Hamilton and his students, among others; Henry Carey, Fredrich List, Peshine Smith, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D Roosevelt. However, even though I knew her as a strong political figure, historian, and author, it was not until many years later that I realized the quality of her inner strength. This was amplified in the way she conducted her life in the remaining months after she was diagnosed with a rare and deadly form of cancer.
To help educate my circle of colleagues around the world, I would buy Nancy’s books and gift them to political allies, relatives and friends across the United States, Africa, and China. This practice continues today, in an effort to educate people on the true principles upon which the United States of America was founded. Among some African circles, this stimulated a discussion on how Alexander Hamilton and the American System of Political Economy could affect economic progress in African nations today. I will continue my efforts of distributing Nancy’s books to expand people’s knowledge of the profound history of the United States. Nancy once told me that I was her best customer.
Alexander Hamilton was an economic genius. He created a National Bank by converting outstanding debts from the Revolutionary War into credit. He allowed holders of U.S. debt to use their relatively worthless paper claims, to purchase shares (stock) in this new bank. This created new capital for lending (issuing credit) for investments in farming, manufacturing, and internal improvements (infrastructure). For decades I have advocated for a Hamiltonian approach to address Africa’s huge infrastructure deficits. Years ago, I collaborated with a group of Africans to establish an African Infrastructure Development Bank, modeled on Hamilton’s First Bank of the United States (1791). This approach remains valid for Africa today, especially when there is no competent policy to provide the trillions of dollars of credit required to build vital categories of infrastructure necessary to industrialize the nations of Africa.
Like Nancy, I too am guided by a mission in my life: to make the world better. To improve the quality of the thinking of as many people that I can reach with my limited resources. It has been my particular mission for over thirty-five years to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa. Introducing Africans to Hamilton’s scientific economic principles has been an important feature of that mission. With Nancy as a model, I hope in my brief mortal existence I can have the same uplifting impact on society that Nancy has exhibited throughout her life.
After all, our mortal existence should mean more than just simply seeking pleasure and satisfying our biological needs. We should all govern our mortal existence by what kind of indelible contributions we have made to the future of civilization after our mortal existence expires. Let the way Nancy Bradeen Spannaus conducted her life be an inspiration and exemplar for all of us to emulate. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have met Nancy during my lifetime.
Nancy Bradeen Spannaus, author and historian1943-2026
February 4, 2026
Nancy Bradeen Spannaus of Lovettsville, VA, author and public historian, died on January 16, 2026 at Inova Loudoun Hospital. Nancy had been fighting cancer over a span of eleven years, and was battling a rare and particularly virulent form of the disease for the past two years.
Nancy had been studying U.S. history, with an emphasis on the country’s economic development in general, and Alexander Hamilton in particular, since the 1970s, and in 1977 she co-authored a book of writings on the Political Economy of the American Revolution. In 2017, upon retirement from a career in journalism, she established the blog https://americansystemnow.com, which contains more than 600 articles on the history and principles of the American System of Economics.
In 2019, she published the book Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics. In 2023 she published Defeating Slavery: Hamilton’s American System Showed the Way.
In early 2025, with an eye to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, she published a collection of essays from the blog in a volume entitled From Subject to Citizen: What Americans Need to Know about Their Revolution.
In recent years, she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Ketoctin Chapter), the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society, the Lincoln Group of D.C., the Loudoun 250 Committee, and the American Friends of Lafayette.
Nancy spoke on Alexander Hamilton and related topics at many local events, including history groups and the public libraries. She was also a volunteer for the Western Loudoun Food Pantry (acting as its manager in recent years), and the Lovettsville Historical Society. She taught in Lifelong Learning programs, often as an Adjunct Professor, at Shepherd University, Long Island University, Johns Hopkins University, and Frederick Community College.
Nancy was born in Portland, Maine, of parents Donald and Mary Lou Towle Bradeen, in 1943, and spent her younger years in Washington, Pennsylvania and Cincinnati, Ohio. She was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College (B.A., 1965), and Columbia University School of Social Work (M.S., 1967). As a journalist, she was for many years the editor-in-chief of several national publications affiliated with the Lyndon LaRouche organizations, and she also ran for statewide office in Virginia in the 1990s.
She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Edward; her second son Andrew, a journalist based in Milan, Italy; and grandson Christopher Ziboni Spannaus of Italy. She was predeceased by her first son Michael (1970-1990). She is also survived by four younger brothers and sisters: Robert Bradeen and wife Ellen, of Haughton, Louisiana; Judy Bradeen, of Lebanon, New Hampshire; David Bradeen and husband NJ, of Camden, Maine and Indian Wells, California; and Susan Bradeen Haimes and husband David, of Seneca Falls, New York.
In her own words:
In 2018, Nancy wrote a biographical essay for the DAR, which she adapted just this last November for a website on influential women. Here are a few excerpts, beginning where she was discussing her mother’s side of the family as “decidedly a matriarchy.”
My father represented a clear countervailing, and broadening influence. As a Classics professor and twice a fellow at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, he was a rigorous scholar and very demanding of me, his oldest child. He had an in-depth historical view (“Everything after the 5th Century B.C. was current events,” he said.) He never gave any indication that my gender should interfere with the highest level of intellectual achievement—and pushed me to go to a top woman’s college, Bryn Mawr, in order to get the best education possible. Bryn Mawr had a strong Classics tradition, including school songs in Classical Greek and a de facto patron goddess, Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom (and war). I majored in philosophy . . . .
My own concentration of study on the American Revolution, which began in the mid-1970s, did not focus on the role of women, but on the ideas which the leading Founders, such as Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, developed in order to create the new nation. And while these heroes of mine were by no means concentrated on advancing the role of women per se, their political ideas were equally applicable to liberating the minds of men and women.
For as long as I can remember, I always felt an obligation to act to improve society. By the time I finished my formal education, this concept had broadened considerably beyond just working in a local community, to encompassing the world as a whole. When I had my children in the early 1970s, my determination to play that larger role in the world, specifically through politics, became even stronger. I owed it to my children, as well as those of others, to create a world where they could thrive. My husband shared this view . . . .
I have retired, but will actually never really retire. It is still my obligation to use what knowledge I have acquired to educate, and if possible, inspire, my fellow human beings to improve this world—indeed, to bring it out of crisis. My activities, including starting a blog and joining DAR, have been embarked on with this intent. That is my role as a privileged human being . . . .
For Nancy, the history of the American Revolution was a living project. She was passionate about the good the American Revolution had brought to the world, and she was determined to help people understand it so that the visions and ideas of Alexander Hamilton and the American founders could shape our future. Nancy breathed life into the figures of the past in a way that forges a direction for now, and for the times to come. To this end, she continued to write and think about more speaking events — right up through the very last weeks of her time on Earth.
Read below my previous posts on Alexander Hamilton:
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X@lkfreemansafrica
Hamilton versus Wall Street: Relevance to Ethiopia & Africa
By Dr. Birhanu M Lenjiso. Former State Minister of Irrigation Development, & Director General of Oromia Agricultural Authority, Ethiopia
Introduction
About five years ago, my friend Lawrence Freeman, gave me an enlightening book: Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics published by Nancy Bradeen Spannaus in 2019.
Lawrence Freeman and Dr Birhanu Lenjiso
Alexander Hamilton is regarded as a Founding Father of the United States. Beyond, being a chief of staff to General Washington, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the Constitution, and the founder of the nation’s financial system, he was the first Secretary of the Treasury, who established the nation’s financial system, including the national bank, federal assumption of state debts, and a framework for economic growth. As an aide to George Washington, he was an artillery officer and strategist. He was also chief author of the Federalist papers, which urged ratification of the U.S. Constitution. He is credited for shaping early American politics, but also made powerful enemies, most notably Aaron Burr, who fatally shot him in 1804. His legacy continues to influence the U.S. financial system and debates surrounding federal power.
The book, Hamilton versus Wall Street challenges the notion of Hamilton as a proponent of speculative finance, instead revealing his visionary economic principles that prioritized national development, infrastructure, and public welfare over Wall Street’s short-term profits. This sparked my curiosity about how Hamilton’s ideas might provide valuable insights for Ethiopia and Africa, where economic sovereignty and sustainable growth are pressing concerns. My reading, along with my recent discussions with Mr. Freeman inspired me to explore the book’s relevance to Africa, making it a compelling subject for review.
Hamilton versus Wall Street examines Hamilton’s economic philosophy, which laid the groundwork for America’s emergence as an industrial powerhouse. The book argues that Hamilton’s principles of protectionism, infrastructure investment, and a national banking system offer a timeless blueprint for economic development. While the book primarily focuses on the U.S., I believe its concepts resonate beyond, and particularly relevant for developing nations who are striving to secure economic sovereignty. Therefore, my goal here is to evaluate the relevance of the book for Ethiopia and the broader African continent, where countries grapple with industrialization, foreign debt, and economic dependency.
In fact, Spannaus presents Hamilton’s American System of Economics as a counterpoint to the laissez-faire capitalism promoted by Wall Street. To show that the author outlines three key pillars of Hamilton’s philosophy:
Protectionism: that is explained by implementing tariffs and subsidies to nurture infant industries and shield them from foreign competition.
Infrastructure Development: this is about state-led investments in roads, irrigation canals, and later railroads to enhance economic connectivity.
National Banking: this relates to establishing a central bank that focuses on stabilizing currency, managing debt, and funding development projects.
The author tried to illustrate these three principles with historical examples, such as Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures (1791), advocating for industrial self-sufficiency. She also cites the rapid industrialization of the U.S. in the 19th century as evidence of Hamilton’s success, noting, “Hamilton’s system provided the unique basis for building the United States into an industrial power.” Spannaus’ book contrasts Hamilton’s vision with Wall Street’s focus on speculative finance, asserting that his principles remain relevant for nations seeking economic independence – justifying the relevance of this review.
Critical Analysis of the Book
Spannaus did a wonderful job in making complex economic ideas accessible for the reader, it is a well-written and easy to read book. The historical depth, grounded in primary sources like Hamilton’s writings, supports the argument effectively. The book also challenges the dominance of free-market ideology, offering a refreshing perspective on state-led development. However, the book’s U.S.-centric limits its global perspective. In fact, Spannaus briefly mentions its relevance for developing countries but she does not delve into how Hamilton’s ideas apply to post-colonial contexts. Additionally, the book risks oversimplifying Hamilton’s policies and downplaying criticisms of protectionism or centralized banking in modern economies. In general, Spannaus’ clear, engaging prose makes the book accessible to non-economists, although the repetitive emphasis on Hamilton’s genius occasionally detracts from a nuanced discussion of the limitations of his policies.
Relevance to Ethiopia
Ethiopia, one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, provides fertile ground for applying Hamilton’s principles. With an average GDP growth rate of more than 7% annually over the past decade, Ethiopia has made significant investments in infrastructure, such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), industrial parks, irrigation systems, telecommunications, and roads. However, challenges like foreign debt, reliance on agricultural exports, and limited industrial capacity mirror the early U.S. conditions Hamilton addressed.
Protectionism: Ethiopia’s government has enacted policies to protect local industries for years, such as tariffs on imported textiles to support its garment sector. Hamilton’s advocacy for shielding infant industries aligns with Ethiopia’s strategy to develop manufacturing. Spannaus notes Hamilton’s belief that “government must play a role in fostering industry,” a principle evident in Ethiopia’s state-led industrial parks.
Infrastructure Development: Ethiopia’s ambitious infrastructure projects, like the GERD, reflect Hamilton’s emphasis on state-driven public works. The GERD, funded domestically to maintain sovereignty, aligns with Hamilton’s vision of national control over critical assets. Spannaus highlights Hamilton’s promotion of canals and roads, which “created the arteries of commerce,” a model Ethiopia could adopt to enhance regional connectivity.
National Banking: Ethiopia’s dependence on foreign loans underscores the need for financial independence. Hamilton’s national bank helped stabilize U.S. finances, and a similar institution could assist Ethiopia in managing debt and funding development. Spannaus argues that Hamilton’s bank “provided a stable currency and credit system,” a lesson for Ethiopia as it navigates currency devaluation and inflation.
However, Ethiopia must balance protectionism with global trade integration. Over Reliance on state intervention, as cautioned in the book’s critique of centralized systems, could stifle innovation if not accompanied by market reforms.
The Hamilton statue at Paterson National Park, home of his Society for Useful Manufactures
Relevance to Africa
Africa’s economic landscape, characterized by raw material exports, foreign debt, and underdeveloped industries, makes Hamilton’s principles broadly applicable. Many African nations, such as Nigeria and Rwanda, are pursuing industrialization to reduce dependency on volatile commodity markets.
Reducing Financial Dependency: Africa’s $700 billion external debt burden highlights the need for financial sovereignty. Hamilton’s national banking model could inspire institutions like the African Development Bank to prioritize local financing. Spannaus notes that Hamilton’s system “freed the U.S. from foreign creditors,” a goal African nations could strive for to avoid debt traps.
Promoting Industrialization: Hamilton’s protectionist policies could guide African nations in nurturing industries. Nigeria’s efforts to revive its textile industry through import restrictions reflect Hamilton’s tariffs. Spannaus emphasizes that Hamilton’s policies “built a manufacturing base from scratch,” serving as a blueprint for African economies transitioning from resource extraction.
Regional Infrastructure: Africa’s infrastructure deficit, estimated at $100 billion annually, necessitates Hamilton-style investments. Rwanda’s focus on digital infrastructure and regional trade hubs exemplifies this approach. Spannaus’ description of Hamilton’s infrastructure as “essential for national unity” underscores its relevance for African integration, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Nevertheless, Africa’s diverse political and economic contexts complicate the application of Hamilton’s ideas. Global trade agreements and multinational corporations may limit the feasibility of protectionism, and state-led projects risk corruption without strong governance.
Critical Reflections
Hamilton’s principles provide African policymakers with a framework to prioritize economic sovereignty, but adaptation is essential. Ethiopia’s substantial investment in infrastructure, including the GERD, industrial parks, irrigation systems, and roads, showcases the potential of state-led development, while Rwanda’s technology-driven growth illustrates how Hamilton’s ideas can be modernized. However, the risks of protectionism, such as trade retaliation or inefficiency, must be carefully navigated. The book’s U.S.-centric lens also overlooks Africa’s unique challenges, such as colonial legacies and global economic pressures. Policymakers should blend Hamilton’s ideas with local innovations, ensuring accountability and inclusivity.
Conclusion
Hamilton Versus Wall Street serves as a well-crafted defense of Alexander Hamilton’s economic vision, offering valuable lessons for nations pursuing industrial and financial independence. Its relevance to Ethiopia lies in its alignment with ongoing infrastructure and industrialization efforts, while its broader application to Africa addresses the continent’s quest for economic sovereignty. Although Spannaus’ focus on the U.S. limits the book’s global scope, its clarity and historical insight make it a compelling read. Policymakers in Ethiopia and Africa should consider Hamilton’s principles as a guide, tempered by the realities of 21st-century globalization. For readers interested in economic development, this book provides a thought-provoking starting point for reimagining state-led growth.
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X@lkfreemansafrica
U.S. President, Donald Trump and Chinese President, Xi Jinping (courtesy of sutori.com)
April 7, 2025
Unintentionally, the rules-based international order not only reveals its weakness in regard to China, but also the failure of the U.S. economy due to its intrinsic flaws. If one knows the true history of the United States, as I do, Michael Froman’s Foreign Affairs article, China Has Already Remade the International System,exposes the strategic challenge-paradox the U.S. faces today. To compete with China, the U.S. would have to reindustrialize its economy, but that would run counter to the free-trade financial predatory nature of the rules-based order. The author discloses the complete absence of knowledge by the present day financial-political elites, of the scientific principles responsible for the creation of the formerly industrialized United States
We should not lose sight of the fact that Foreign Affairs is published by the Council on Foreign Relations, the century old British American policy institute that represents the thinking of the Anglo-American Establishment in the U.S.
The American System
President Trump, like his predecessors for the last sixty years, has no understanding of how the United States was created from thirteen colonies into a powerful industrial nation. It was accomplished under the guidance of Alexander Hamilton’s principles for economic growth, which later became known as the American System of Political Economy. While tariffs were one aspect of Hamilton’s policy, they are misunderstood and misapplied today. Hamilton and his followers; Fredrich List, Henry Carey, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and Franklin Roosevelt, rejected the free trade mentality that dominates conventional economic thought today.Read my article: Nations Must Study Alexander Hamilton’s Principles of Political Economy.
Architects of the American System of the Political Economy in the 18th and 19th centuries (courtesy of schillerinstitute.com)
Froman’s argument is: China was let into the Western world order, but then violated the rules to emerge from an undeveloped peasant based economy to a robust manufacturing industrialized economic power. China’s crimes, in the eyes of the rules-based order are: not allowing the so called markets to determine the future growth of its economy. As Hamilton and other more thoughtful founding fathers knew, Adam Smith’s theories, and the so called freedom of the marketplace, were always a fraud. The marketplace was never “free,” and it never resulted in the development of an economically sovereign nation. The United States, like every other modern nation that emerged in the last four hundred years, always entailed the intervention of the state, and the practice of dirigisme (state directed credit) policies.
Historian Nancy Spannaus summarizes the core principles of the American System: That principle is the use of government-regulated credit to promote continuous scientific and technological progress through the constant upgrading of the productive powers (mental as well as physical) of the labor force. These principles conflict sharply with the laissez-faire ideas which most Americans have been told built our economic prosperity.americansystemnow.com
It is not mysterious to understand how China has transformed its economy in less than fifty years. Practitioners of the American System ofPolitical Economy have done the same, when in charge of crafting U.S. economic policy. Tariffs or protectionism have not been historically applied simply to make money or as a political weapon against other nations, as many foolishly think today. The profitability of the American System that includes tariffsflows from a full throated commitment to industrialize the nation. This would include:
Increasing the productivity of the economy and workforce
Expanding the manufacturing sector
Modernizing the agricultural sector
Issuing low-interest public credit for investments in infrastructure
Promoting advances in science and technology
Upgrading educational standards
Providing quality healthcare
Formulating a vision for great infrastructure projects
The objective of such commitments is not to make money per se. It is to raise the standard of living of the nation’s citizens, eliminate poverty and increase the longevity of life. All of which China has accomplished in approximately two generations.
Paul Volker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979-1987, ushered in the destruction of the U.S. manufacturing economy. (courtesy of jacobin.com)
U.S. Chooses Deindustrialization
In 1971, several years before China’s Deng Xiaoping launched the modernization of China, President Nixon removed the dollar from being a gold based currency. This began the process of transforming the financial system into a gigantic gambling casino, disconnected from the physical economy. Not only is the Western financial system bloated with trillions of dollars of debt, but it also contains almost two quadrillion dollars of derivatives, which are gambling bets. The truth, which Froman does not know or will not tell, is that the rules-based order is grounded on a predatory monetarist system, which exists to exploit its financial supremacy. Their objective is to obtain and maintain political power, not create wealth for the material improvement of people’s lives.
The United States and the West has been going in the wrong direction for decades, and now they are faced with the reality of what China has accomplished in becoming an industrialized and manufacturing powerhouse. The immediate conundrum for the United States is: 1) not understanding how China achieved their level of economic success; 2) not knowing how to apply or even knowledge of the principles of the American System; and 3) not having any intention of giving up their financial-predatory mindset.
The insanity of the U.S. elites, reflecting their opposition to expanding the industrial economy of the U.S., is best exemplified by their commitment to “deindustrialization” in the 1980s. Much of this was accomplished by Paul Volker, then head of the Federal Reserve, who raised interest rates to 20% in June of 1981, suffocating the economy in his pursuit of “controlled disintegration.” Volcker’s policy shut down industry, pauperized the American consumer, only helping banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, and money managers to make higher profits.
The political-financial elites, who actually determine U.S. economic policy intended to transform the U.S. into a “post-industrial society.” Their fantasy ridden belief was that America no longer needed a strong manufacturing sector. They intended the U.S. to become a service economy and the center of the Western financial system, surviving by purchasing cheap products from around the world. They succeeded. Tourism replaced production. The U.S. has never recovered. We witnessed the effects of this dangerous policy during the Covid 19 crisis, when the US could not produce the essential products required for the health care of its citizens.
Compare China’s policy from the 1980s forward, to expand and industrialize their economy, to that of the U.S., to contract its industrial manufacturing base.
One example that typifies the drastic difference in orientation between China and the U.S. over the last two generations, is their transportation systems. China’s high-speed rail trains travel smoothly at 215 miles an hour, compared to the antiquated U.S. Amtrak trains which plod along at an average speed of 48 miles per hour. Think about the effect of that order of magnitude difference in speed has on the productivity of an economy?
China Rejected West’s Rue-Based Order
(Courtesy of statista.com)
Froman believes falsely that President Trump’s policies will succeed in rebuilding the U.S. economy. He bemoans the fact that Washington failed miserably to induce China into becoming a member of the rules-based order, refusing to submit to their free trade ideology diktats. He whines that China ignored Washington’s demands that the Chinese government stop subsidizing the production and exports of goods, which distorted the global marketplace.
He writes:
The U.S. strategy of engagement with China based on the premise that, if the United States incorporated China into the global rules-based system, China would become more like the United States…Instead of China coming to resemble the United States, the United States is behaving more like China (sic). Washington may have forged the open, liberal rules based order, but China has defined its next phase: protectionism, subsidization, restrictions on foreign investment, and industrial policy. To argue the United States must reassert its leadership to preserve the rules-based system it established is to miss the point. China’s nationalist state capitalism now dominates the international economic order.
Although Froman is acutely aware of China’s growth as an economic power in the 21st century, he has no idea how it happened. He appears clueless as to the effective policies that China employed to raise almost one billion people out of poverty, erroneously attributing the cause to globalization. China rejected the Western dictated norms of behavior, crushing the fantasies of the rules-based order that they would control China’s future.
China The New Model?
Froman continues:
The country’s [China’s] GDP grew from $34.77 billion in 1989, to $1.66 trillion by 2003, to $17.79 trillion in 2023. Hopes were high that integrating China into the rules based trading system would lead to a more peaceful and prosperous world… In 2004, China made-up 9% of the world’s manufacturing value added, leapfrogging to a massive 29% in 2023.
Over a period of 34 years, China’s GDP grew a whopping 500 times, according to the World Bank.
Froman makes the laughable analysis that President Trump is now chosen the option of becoming like China. The problem is, that neither President Trump nor any of his advisors comprehend the strategy that China adopted to build its economy. Their difficulty is compounded by their failure to comprehend or have any knowledge, of the American System of Political Economy, as practiced over centuries in the United States.
Froman points out that the proportion of the U.S. labor force employed in manufacturing has been declining for decades. However, it will not be reversed simply through President Trump’s misguided tariff policy. Froman, displaying his ignorance of American history, asserts that China has pioneered a new economic model, characterized by protectionism, constraints on foreign investment, subsidies, and industrial policy–essentially nationalist state capitalism. These policies by the government of China parallel the measures enacted by the United States when it was employing the principles embedded in the American System of Political Economy.
Froman and others, writing on behalf of the Washington Establishment, would better spend their time studying Alexander Hamilton, and his students, who understood the role of the state in nurturing industrial capitalism. They might also come to comprehend that the development of U.S. and China is not antithetical, rather both nations can expand their economies in a global system committed to economic progress.
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World,” and on X@lkfreemansafrica
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (courtesy of www.okwu.edu)
January 20, 2025, the leadership of the United States was passed to President Donald Trump from President Joe Biden, on the official day celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This confluence brought to my mind, a multi-dimensional time image encompassing six decades of history in the United States.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, and his life was ended at the age of thirty nine, by an assassin’s bullet on April 4, 1968. He was not a President, in fact he never held public office, but he possessed the qualities of leadership, and he should have become President of United States. Until his death, Dr King embodied the highest qualities of morality and justice, superior to all other U.S. leading political figures of that period.
Below, you will see an article by a colleague of mine, Nancy Spannaus, Dr. King Demanded Economic Justice for All, discussing the qualities and attributes of Dr King. He was not only the most forthright American leader advocating for the fulfillment of the intent of the Declaration of Independence for equality, as the great statesperson, Frederick Douglas had demanded a century earlier. Dr King was also the champion in the United States for economic development of those who were still struggling to achieve economic advancement. Dr King also distinguished himself by stepping outside of civil rights issues and challenging the political class of the United States to end of Vietnam War, which may have been a contributing motivation for his assassination. Years earlier, in 1957, Dr King, and his wife traveled to West Africa to attend Ghana’s independence ceremony at the invitation of Kwame Nkrumah. He was also fierce critic of apartheid rule in South Africa. .
It was in 1967, with Dr King leading the most powerful political movement that the United States had experienced, that I, then a 16 year old youth, intersected the political arena, in part due to Dr King’s crusade. Almost sixty years later, I am still committed to economic justice in the United States and throughout the world, although now my interventions and my focus has developed beyond what it was when I was a young teenager. I can still remember the faces of the people on the New York City subway the night Dr King was assassinated, as I was returning home from my part time job. They were filled with sadness, anger, and anguish in response to their messiah being seized from them. A true leader, who could have changed the future, was stolen from the American people and the world. It was not until twenty years later that I joined forces in Alabama with the followers of Dr. King, who were still alive and active.
(Courtesy of www.azquotes.com)
After the assassination of President John F Kennedy, our last great president, who was an American statesman, Dr King’s leadership was made even more vital for the future of the United States. Even though he was in office for only a few short years, President Kennedy exemplified a superior quality of presidential leadership, after the failed and limited presidencies of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, respectively. Following the death of President Kennedy, our nation’s commitment to science and development dissipated, eventually vanished, under the onslaught of the 1970’s “rock-drug-zero-growth” counterculture.
From Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, to his own in April 1968, Dr King built a grass-roots political movement that should have propelled him to the presidency of the United States. Tragically, it was not to be. Instead, for the last 56 years, we have suffered the mediocrity or worse of eleven presidents, bringing us to the current election of the second term of President Trump. While individual presidents may have made useful contributions, both the Republican and Democratic parties have so far failed to produce a true leader that represents the most profound fundamental principles of the United States, much less a statesman. Unfortunately, our recent U.S. presidents have not been able to “see the promised land” nor demonstrate the qualities of thought, morality, and leadership exhibited by Dr King.
It is not my intention now, to review the failures of President Biden’s administration nor prognosticate about the possible consequences of future policies by President Trump. America and the world could not have survived another four years of $100 billion wars supported by Secretary of State Blinken and President Biden. However, that was probably not the main reason that Biden was voted out of office. Whatever exactly President Trump stands for, he was the chosen vehicle used by the voters to express their outrage against the policies of Washington DC, dominated by the Democrats. More specifically, voters perceived that the ruling liberal political class in Washington arrogantly chose identity classifications over their interest. Whether the new administration knows the authentic founding principles of the U.S. and has the moral and mental fortitude to navigate a renaissance, is unclear to me at this moment. I have my doubts because I have seen more populism and slogans than substantive fruitful strategies.
To restore the U.S. to its core principles that made our nation a shining city upon a hill, will require a complete break from the rules-based-order’s zero sum mentality. First, we must end “the axis of evil” mindset and return to diplomacy grounded in policies that promote the common interest of development for all nations. Second, it is essential that we reinvigorate Alexander Hamilton’s successful Principles of Political Economy embedded in the creation of the First National Bank. President Franklin Roosevelt, a student of Hamilton, understood that nations require legitimate banking institutions to generate credit to promote economic development. True economic growth involves issuing long term loans at 2-3 percent interest rates to drive economic growth, especially in categories of soft and hard infrastructure. We do not need oligarchs to make obscene profits, but we require all nations to be profitable to ensure peace.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghana’s Independence, and Cold War Civil Rights (courtesy of Society for US Intellectual History)
If president trump genuinely wants to overturn the policies of Washington that have been detrimental to the U.S. and the world, he should adopt the following proposal of mine.
Let Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping of China, who preside over the two largest economies in the world, unite in a joint mission to end poverty and hunger across the African continent. This common mission to benefit humankind would usurp the power of the financial predators, the commodity cartels, the usurious financial institutions, and the rules based order ideologues. It would actually drain the swamp! It would yield a magnificent and enduring legacy, if President Trump has the courage and foresight to initiate such a bold strategy.
It would be a commitment to economic justice that would make Dr King proud.
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World
Candidates sound off on hot button issue but have no ideas. (courtesy of palmbeachpost.com)
October 22, 2024
Simply stated, this November’s election in the United States are a disaster. Detrimental to the existence of America and dangerous to the world. Both of the leading candidates for President are imbued with the diseased “rules based order-zero sum” ideology. Neither of them is qualified to lead America, much less articulate a vision to fashion a better world. This is not an exaggeration to the slightest degree.
In this grave time of multiple crises, the United States is bereft of a capable leader, who possess the intellectual acuity to navigate our nation and the world safely through these stormy waters. Sadly, candidates of both parties can at best repeat their talking points, which must include the hot button phrases to evoke mindless applause.
I have been involved in American politics, in one form of another, for over half a century, and have painfully witnessed the moral and intellectual decline of America. Recently, I re-read the speeches of President John Kennedy, our last American statesman, delivered before, during, and after the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is no comparison to the pathetic utterings of our lilliputian nominees today.
This is not what the United States was created to be and not what we are as Americans.
This leads to the substantive conceptual intent of this essay: re-discovering the principles upon which the United Staes of America was established. This is no easy task. I sympathize with the difficulties my African friends have in understanding the core of what America actually is. Unlike myself, my fellow Americans have made little effort to study the real history of America. To help us learn the truth of the unique American story, I recommend reading, Who We Are: America’s Fight for Universal Progress, from Franklin to Kennedy.* The author, Anton Chaitkin, an historian who I have known for decades, goes beyond the popular narrative of the U.S., in digging deeper to discover the underlying beliefs that created and guided our republic.
How the U.S. became an industrial economic power is unknown even to the overwhelming majority of Americans, many of whom out of ignorance, would rather attack the U.S. with silly myths. Yes, the U.S. is not perfect, but what we are today is quite different from what we were and created to be. Our revolution and emergence as an industrial republic changed the world. Chaitkin, in this book unearths the secrets of how this was accomplished, and who were the principal leaders.
The U.S. did not achieve its economic power as a result of slavery, greedy capitalist, or free trade, as it has now become popular to repeat. Rather, it was achieved by extraordinary entrepreneurs, industrialists, engineers, scientists, economists, inventors, and brilliant military and political leaders. Chaitkin insists that the U.S. was designed, by exceptional individuals, who were committed to the concept of improvement and progress, not selfishness. This incredible story is disclosed in rich detail in Who We Are.
Who We Really Are
The American Revolution, the defeat of the British Imperial oligarchy, was for something more than simply freedom. Freedom to do what? Chaikin supplies the answer:
The American Revolution carried with it the promise of something beyond civil liberties and self-government. There now existed a new productive power that a free people could use to raise their own living standards.
Adam Smith’s free-trade dogma, and his Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, was an attack on the aspirations of the colonies. Smith, sponsored by the City of London, and the British East India Company, was deployed to counter the intent of the colonies to establish a manufacturing sector. British Imperialism required the colonies be preserved as exclusive exporters of agricultural products. The British oligarchy outlawed the “production of even one horseshoe nail.” Chaitkin writes: The 1750 Iron Act forbade Americans to build any steel making furnace, or any factory or machine for slitting, rolling, or hammering of iron…
They feared the colonists would build an independent capability for the production of goods, undermining England’s colonial policy of dumping cheap products on the colonies.
Chaitkin’s primary thesis is:
Over the course of the long American Revolutionary War with Britain, a small group of nationalists associated with [Benjamin]Franklin in Philadelphia, and with General Washington in the field, came to form the core of a ‘national party,’ with its particular political economic tradition, that persisted well beyond the Revolution. It may be said to have brought about the modern world, by industrializing the United States, and fighting for the industrialization of other countries, over the determined opposition of the rulers of the British Empire.
Alexander Hamilton, the young genius, who served as General Washington’s aide de camp during the war, led the political battle for the creation of a national government from thirteen bankrupt colonies. It was Hamilton’s design of a national bank to issue credit for development, and his sound policy to pay off their huge debt from the war, which saved the colonies from collapse after their successful revolution. His insistence on a strong central government, creation of a manufacturing sector, and use of tariffs to build nascent industry, became the foundation of what was later named, the American System of Political Economy. It is no exaggeration to assert, that what became the United States, was built by Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin. And that the export and application of these ideas in the nineteenth and twentieth century transformed the rest of the world.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (courtesy of americanjourneys.com)
What We Built
Chaitkin writes on Hamilton’s American System:
The American mission of progress, embodied in Hamilton’s proposals, and the fight over implementing that program, form the essential core of world history ever since. All later economic progress has preceded from that revolutionary policy outlook. The fundamental contest of the two sides, progressive nationalism versus finance-based imperial interest, has continued up to the present.
Hamilton, Franklin, their followers and many states opposed slavery as immoral, and economically regressive practice that would retard progress. They believed that the full implementation of Hamilton’s design for a manufacturing driven economy would end the plantation economy with its slave labor conditions and destruction of the soil.** Everyone Should Know The Truth About Slavery in America
Not accidentally, beginning in the early nineteenth century, the industrial economy of the U.S. entered a new phase of physical economic growth, becoming the engine of the world. This exciting development is depicted in Liftoff (chapter 9).
The cooperating nationalists who together attained national power in 1824-1825 went on to solve fundamental problems that had kept the USA backward and weak. They would develop the first canals and railroads, connecting regions separated by natural geography. They would create the American coal industry and America’s modern iron industry, making the essential components of advanced production. They would bring to life new globally-important centers of skilled work and engineering genius…
Pennsylvania would become the center of America’s great industries, and the world headquarters for nationalist economies.
This effort was led by such luminaries as John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, James Monroe, Matthew Carey, Nicholas Biddle, Friedrich List, and other leaders of the American system.
“Erie Canal dramatically reduced the cost of moving people and goods between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.” (Courtesy of ppaccone.medium.com)
The accomplishments included:
Anthracite coal production increased from 400 tons in 1820, to 3.5 million tons in 1847.
Iron production increased from about 20,000 tons in 1820, to 800,000 tons in 1847.
The 363-miles-long Erie Canal was completed in 1825, and 15 years later over 3,000 miles of canal have been built.
There were three miles of railway in operation in 1826 and nearly 6,000 in 1847.
The growth in physical economy in the first half of the nineteenth century was spectacular. It transformed the U.S. and gave the world a new, non-imperialist model of development, which was successfully disseminated to Europe, and Asia. President Lincoln was to continue this progress, despite the Civil War, with initiation of the first ever continental railroad.
Conclusion
Since the death of President John Kennedy, America has lost any semblance of its commitment to scientific industrial progress. U.S. has also lost its enthusiasm to uplift other nations achieve physical economic growth. Using the principles of Hamilton’s American System of Political Economy, discussed above, we could have assisted African nations in already having eliminated poverty. Our failed political leadership, supported by a largely uneducated citizenry, has also irrationally opposed China’s progress in eliminating poverty.
Thus, we have brought ourselves to this crisis point. Americans will be faced with a tragically sad quandary of not having a candidate who truly represents the profound principles upon which the U.S. was established. How we got to this point is another conversation, that I addressed in an earlier article: Why Is US-Africa Policy So Bad? Decline of American Culture!
The purpose of this commentary today is to demonstrate to you, by reviewing Anton Chaitkin’s new book, Who We Are, that America was once a better nation, with qualified leaders. Now, our challenge is to find our way back to being those kinds of Americans.
*Volume I: 1750s to 1850s. published 2020, paperback-435 pages. Who-We-Are
** Nancy B Spannaus, Defeating Slavery: Hamilton’s American System Showed the Way. Published 2023, paperback-383 pages.
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World.”
Watch August 16, 2024 interview on Alexander Hamilton, by Anton Chaitkin (antonchaitkin.substack.com) with Nancy Spannaus (americansystemnow.com)
August 25, 2024
In the interview above, two American history historians discuss the vital contributions of Alexander Hamilton to the founding of the United States of America. The question was raised in the interview whether USA, with its profound constitution, would have even be created if not for Hamilton’s intellectual input and energy. They highlighted Hamilton’s insistence that the young republic adopt a government supported policy of developing a manufacturing sector. Hamilton’s Report on the Subject of Manufacturers, written in 1791, remains a seminal argument for every nation to promote manufacturing. Hamilton, with support from President George Washington, prevailed over those who maintained the USA would be an agricultural based economy. Hamilton also insisted that the new republic have a strong central government against those who campaigned for the supremacy of states rights . Hamiltonian successfully reorganized the debt of the thirteen colonies and expanded the economy with new investments in infrastructure, through his creation of the First National Bank.
Hamilton’s economic philosophy created a school of economic thought, the American System of Political Economy, (opposed to so called free-trade), which when applied created economic growth in the U.S and other nations through the world. I have advocated decades that Hamilton’s economic principles transform African nations into industrialized economies.
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World.”
Engraving of slaves picking cotton on a Louisiana planation in the 19th century. (courtesy of istockphoto.com)
February 20, 2024
This post is my contributions to Black History Month in the U.S.
Nancy Spannaus has made an invaluable contribution to the history of the fight over slavery in the United States, with her new book; Defeating Slavery: Hamilton’s American System Showed the Way. Thoroughly documented, Spannaus exposes the falsehood that America was founded on slavery, or that slavery is in the DNA of Americans. Not only are such untruths historically unfounded, but they are downright folly, and display gross ignorance of the history of the United States. Slavery was a disease, a cancer inside the United States, which sadly is still affecting our society today. However, it is not the basis of the more profound accomplishments of the United States, in its better days.
As anyone who understands real economics would know, it is physically impossible for slavery to begat the creation of the United States as an industrialized power. Slave labor, which dominated a whole section of the southern portion of the United States, is not a driver of economic growth, but rather retards development.
I concur with Spannaus, that if the economic principles of Alexander Hamilton had been fully implemented, the southern slave labor economies would have been driven out of existence. Southern United States, which I know well, still displays the backwardness inherent in its legacy from slavery, which President Lincoln intended to eradicate. Unfortunately, the assassination of President Lincoln, also killed his plans for full reconstruction of the South.
Bluntly stated, the whole 1619 Project , which erroneously purports that the U.S. was founded on slavery, is a fraudulent attack on the United Staes of America. Our nation is imperfect. Its greatest flaw is an uneducated populace that has been dumb downed over the last half century to submit to popular opinion, rather than investigate the truth on such critical issues as slavery. Spannaus, in her new book unmasks the actual fight for and against slavery in the U.S. And in so doing, has performed an invaluable service to U.S. and to universal history.
Another valuable benefit to this book is the rich history of the fight for and against the realization of the unique American System of Political Economy, which Spannaus traces from Alexander Hamilton to President Abraham Lincoln
Slavery Has Always Been A Battle
Spannaus boldly states on page one, that contrary to what many uninformed Americans believe, our American Revolution created the first antislavery movement in the world. Do our citizens even know that before the creation of the United States, the colony of Rhode Island banned slavery in 1652, and the colony of Georgia outlawed slavery in 1733? (p. 2) Or that as early as 1688, the Society of Friends in Germantown, Pennsylvania, issued the first petition against slavery? Astonishingly, five decades after 1619, there was only one British colonial territory, South Carolina, which was explicitly founded as a slave economy. (p. 39)
Massachusetts was a leading colony advocating the elimination of slavery. Sam Adams, a leader in the Revolutionary War, in 1766, chaired a town meeting on slavery, which instructed the state’s representatives: that for the total abolishing of slavery among us, you move for a law to prohibit the importation and purchasing of slaves for the future. (p. 63)
Pennsylvania was also a hotbed of the anti-slavery movement. Anthony Benezet, an immigrant, who became a leader and activist in Pennsylvania for the education of black children and the elimination of slavery, published numerous tracts against slavery. But Benezet did more than write. In 1775 he established a first known organization dedicated to the abolition of slavery anywhere in the world.” (p. 77)
In 1775 , Pennsylvania quakers, under the guidance of Benezet, established the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Years later its second iteration became, the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, commonly called the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. (pp. 77-78)
Alexander Hamilton, one of the nation’s founding fathers, first secretary of treasury, and leader in the fight against slavery. (Courtesy of blogs.shu.edu)
Revolutionary figures John Jay and Alexander Hamilton formed the New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, in 1785. The preamble to their association read in part:
The Benevolent Creator, and Father of all Men; having given to them all equal right to life, liberty, and property, no sovereign power on earth can justly deprive them of either but in conformity to part impartial laws…(p. 134)
Yet slavery spread even with public sentiment against it. To outlaw enslavement of our fellow Americans required our bloody Civil War, at a cost of 750,000 lives. However, after almost 250 years since the founding of our nation, and almost 160 years since the ending of the Civil War, we are still engrossed in fighting the legacy of slavery. Why wasn’t slavery extinguished and how could that have been accomplished?
U.S. Constitution adopted in September 17, 1787, (courtesy of billpetro.medium.com)
Slavery Could Have Been Eliminated
In her book, Spannaus makes a unique contribution to the discussion of the elimination of slavery. She boldly asserts that had Alexander Hamilton’s economic principles been fully executed across the United States, slavery would have been extirpated from American society. While this idea may seem foreign to many, it is actually elementary. It requires people freeing themselves from the mysterious belief that economic growth is determined by the “invisible hand, or “buy low and sell dear,” or British spawned “free trade.” Once one rejects this deliberate miseducation by our society, and comprehends the principles of physical economy, we understand the following: an uneducated, poorly paid, poorly fed, and over worked labor force is less productive and yields less profit to the economy. A backward slave labor system that squeezes out “profit” from the exploitation of backbreaking manual labor in growing sugar, cotton, and tobacco, cannot compete with the labor force of an industrialized economy.
Alexander Hamilton expressed this concept as early as 1774, two years before the revolution.
Were not the disadvantages of slavery too obvious to stand in need of it, I might enumerate and describe all the tedious train of calamities, inseparable from it. I might shew that it is fatal to religion and morality; that it tends to debase the mind, and corrupt its noblest springs of action. I might shew, that it relaxes the sinews of industry, clips the wings of commerce, and introduces misery and indigence in every shape. (p. 165)
Spannaus summarizes that Hamilton emphasized two concepts that are central to industrial progress: the productive powers of labor and the need to stimulate the creative powers of the human mind. Both are starkly antithetical to the feudal slave labor system. (p. 166)
Hamilton opposed slavery because it debased human beings, and he knew that slave based agriculture system would weaken the United States. The British not only ran the transatlantic slave trade but invested in the southern slave labor economy as a means of breaking apart our Republic, while making huge profits in the process.
Industrialization Required
Henry Charles Carey, chief economic adviser to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. (courtesy of en.wikipedia.org)
In his Report on Manufacturers,* Hamilton argues the necessity for the United States to become a manufacturing society, but also to exploit, if you will, the capital of the human mind. In the above cited Report, Hamilton writes that manufacturing, unlike slave-labor, serves: to cherish and stimulate the activity of the human mind, by multiplying the objects of enterprise. (pp. 170-171)
As Spannaus underscores throughout her book, industrialization of the United States was the means to eliminate slavery before the Civil War. Having Failed to accomplish that, a comprehensive full-throated reconstruction effort for the defeated Southern slave-economy following the war was required. This is what the well-known followers of Hamilton, and proponents of the American System, such as President Lincoln and Henry Carey, understood.
Henry Carey was a towering intellectual force in the nineteenth century. He was an American System economist, advisor to President Abraham Lincoln, and authored the Slave Trade: Domestic and Foreign, and How It May be Extinguished, (1853). Carey wrote on the negative effects of slavery. Spannaus refers to Carey extensively throughout her book and devotes almost the entirety of chapter sixteen to his thoughts. Typifying the outlook of the advocates of the American System, Carey wrote in 1865:
Had our legislation been of the kind which was needed for giving effect to the Declaration of Independence, that great hill region of the South, one of the richest, if not absolutely the richest in the world, would long since have been filled with furnaces and factories, the labourers in which would have been free men, women, and children, white and black, and the several portions of the Union would have been linked together by hooks of steel that would have set at defiance every effort of the ‘wealthy capitalists’ of England for bringing about a separation. Such, however, and most unhappily, was not the course of our operation. (p. 224)
Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Giants in the fight against slavery. (Courtesy of history.com)
Constitution Not Pro-Slavery
Many poorly informed detractors of the U.S. Constitution denounce the framers by selecting a word, a phrase, or a sentence, which they allege proves the United States is racist nation founded on support for slavery. This conclusion is usually reached without any serious intellectual investigation of the historical and factual context. It has now become popular to attack the Founding Fathers in obeisance to the latest politically correct dogma. The U.S. Constitution was written by mortal human beings with imperfections. However, this noble document, the Preamble in particular, articulated principles that transformed the world. It helped to ignite liberation movements against British colonialism across the globe, including in Africa.
The great American statesman, Frederick Douglas, who was born a slave on a plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, understood this well. Douglas became an informal advisor to President Lincoln despite some disagreements. He distinguished himself by breaking from the abolitionists because of their support for the dismemberment of the Union. Americans and non-Americans alike, would benefit from reading Douglas’ writings. In his remarks below, Douglas responds to the provision in the U.S. Constitution that set the date of 1808, for the banning of importation of slaves. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Douglas recognized the importance of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence and insisted that the United States deliver on its noble intention. Speaking in 1860, seven decades after the Constitution was ratified and a year before the outbreak if the Civil War, Douglas spoke on the constitutional banning of slavery:
American statesman, in providing for the abolition of the slave trade, thought they were providing for the abolition of the slavery. This view is quite consistent with the history of the times. All regarded slavery as an expiring and doomed system, designed to speedily disappear from the country. But, again, it should be remembered that this very provision, if made to refer to the American slave trade at all, makes the Constitution anti-slavery rather than for slavery…Thirdly, it [Constitution] is anti-slavery, because it looked to the abolition of slavery rather than its perpetuity. Fourthly, it showed that the intentions of the framers of the Constitution were good not bad. (p. 157)
It will be well worth your time to read Spannaus’ new book.
*See Chapters on Report on Manufacturers, Spannaus, Bradeen, Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics, iUniverse, 2019
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com
South AfricanMinister Naledi Pandor speaking in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
July 18, 2023
Below are excerpts from remarks by South African Minister, Dr. Naledi Pandor, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on July 4, 2023.*
Minister Pandor’s words speak eloquently for themselves. However, permit me to put a fine point of her focus on the importance of African nations fostering manufacturing and industrialization.
As a physical economist, I understand better than most people, the substance of her reasoning. The only true measure of a successful economic policy is: does the material standard of living improve from one production cycle to the next? And does the implementation of this policy produce an expansion of real physical wealth from the present generation to that of their children? Throughout modern history, it has been proven repeatedly that real sovereignty requires a robust manufacturing sector, physical infrastructure, and increased industrialization of one’s economy.
It is a touch of poetic justice, that Minister Pandor delivered her remarks on July 4, the day the United States declared Independence from the imperialist grip of Great Britain. British suppression of manufacturing by the colonies was overturned and reversed by the adoption of the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton. Contrary to the myth that slavery was the underlying cause for the growth of the U.S as an economic power, it was the genius of Treasury Secretary Hamilton’s four economic reports that outlined the course of economic development for the newly formed nation.** If not for the decisive support of Hamilton’s policies by President George Washington, against the objection of those, who advocated, slavery, states’ rights, and agriculture as the only source of wealth, the American republican experiment would have failed.
Hamilton’s argument in his Report on the Subject of Manufactures, written in 1791, remains relevant today. A nation that cannot manufacture the essential commodities for the continuous progress of its people is endangering its national security.
The essence of successful foreign, domestic, and economic policy by a wise government is founded on the same elementary principle: creating the economic conditions for the advancement of the physical wellbeing of its population.
*Ministerial meeting of the Bi-National Commission of South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
**Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics, by Nancy Spannaus, 2019.
Excerpts from, Minister Naledi Pandor
We spend too much time trusting others outside our continent and not enough time trusting ourselves. We need to change that history. I’m hopeful that our business leaders will leverage opportunities provided by the African Continental Free Trade Area.
I believe that the AfCFTA will be a catalyst toward the pursuit of beneficial economic integration in the continent. Through the Free Trade Area agreement, we have promised ourselves as Africans that we will increase intra African trade. That doesn’t mean we buy goods from country B and pretend they were made in the DRC. It means we must manufacture in the DRC and sell within Africa. It means we must manufacture in South Africa and sell within Africa. It means we must manufacture in Ghana, in Togo, wherever we find ourselves as Africans we become productive, and we change our conditions.
Another matter that we must address if the African Continental Free Trade Area is to be a success, is the value addition to our natural resources within the confines of our continent. Everybody is running after the rare mineral resources of the DRC but they’re not establishing factories in the DRC. Don’t sign any agreement if production is not to happen here.We must refuse. We must ensure that value addition beneficiation happens within Africa. And we must ensure that as Africans we derive full benefit from the value chain and that our people realize these much needed opportunities. The time has come for South Africa and the DRC to work at changing our condition. To work at changing our history. But to do these things it’s not easy, there’ll be much opposition. So, the challenge is can we work together honestly and faithfully. If we can do that, we will change our conditions. But if we allow others to divide us, to direct us as to what should suit us, we will never achieve these ambitions.
So honorable minister I close by saying the future is in our hands. It is only by working together that will bring the change that we all want to see. I look forward to our fruitful deliberations… Our people have placed on us the responsibility of ensuring that they enjoy peace and prosperity. Our relations have always been inspired by our commitment to Pan African ideals and solidarity…Our Pan African ideals impose a commitment on us to ensure the development of our countries, but the development of the entire continent of Africa. Our Pan African ideals and our solidarity ask us to pose difficult questions to ourselves as to what good we are making out of the wealth of the nations of Africa. How do we industrialize? How should we manufacture?…
Our main goal and vision is to see real changes in our people’s livelihoods. After all they don’t elect us because we are pretty or because we wear nice outfits. They elect us to change their lives. Our people want their children to be educated. They want their children to become responsible future leaders of our nations. Our people want girls and women to be empowered so that they can fully participate in our economies and in our political lives. Our people want us to create sustainable jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for them so that our people become independent, self-sustained, enabled, and empowered to take charge of their own future and identity. Allowing our people to remain poor is to keep them in a prison of lack of advancement. So, we must change the condition of our people so that they are free to realize their full abilities. (Emphasis added)
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. He is also the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton
Watch this video of Economist Jeffrey Sachs addrressing the African Union (coutersy of africanagenda.net)
Jeffrey Sachs and I agree 100% on the absolute necessity to provide long term-low interest financing for infrastructure in Africa. The global financial system, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the so called international rules based order, do not understand the importance of building infrastructure in Africa, or they don’t care, or they want Africa to remain underdeveloped.
I, like Professor Sachs, understand, that the only way forward for African nations is; development: massive investment in physical and human capital. Democracy and good governance are empty constructs, cynically meaningless words, without economic development. If one genuinely desires democracy, than you must have abundant electricity! Without real, physical economic growth, which is not possible without financing trillions of dollars of infrastructure, African nations will not realize their potential in this century.
This requires a new paradigm based on development, which I have been advocating for decades.
Excerpts from Prof. Sachs, speaking before the African Union, on February 17, 2023, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:
And that is that African governments should take on a lot more debt and use it to keep the kids in school, to build the electricity, to build the rail, to build the transport systems because it can`t wait. And if you do it right the growth will be rapid, so what looks like a lot of debt today , 25 years from now won`t be very much debt at all.
But the problem with my analysis obviously is that I believe that Africa needs financing on 30 year borrowing , not on 5 year Euro Bonds, which is nonsense! Because development is a 30 year process…
But you have lots of sources of capital and by the way, the cost of a thirty year loan , AAA is 3%. Imagine if Africa could finance its development at 3%. 30 year borrowing. Believe me , the issues would be finished! Because you would be on your way, this would be the biggest construction site in the whole world history, roads, power, housing, new factories.
Now the problem is that Africa right now borrows at 13% on 5 years. This Euro Bond stuff is useless, worse that useless! I wouldn`t take any borrowing with less than 20 year maturing, anything. Because you cannot run development on a year by year basis. And that is what Prof Oromo was just showing, all these [up and down/high and low] swings are just finance swings. Commodity prices are high, finance is easy, you borrow, commodity prices come down, finance is tough, then austerity. All that Africa is suffering is finance swings. (All emphasis original)
Read the full transcript below provided by PD Lawton, created of the blog: africanagenda.net
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. He is also the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton
