Casualties of Credit : : The English Financial Revolution, 1620-1720 / / Carl Wennerlind.

Modern credit, developed during the financial revolution of 1620¬-1720, laid the foundation for England's political, military, and economic dominance in the eighteenth century. Possessed of a generally circulating credit currency, a modern national debt, and sophisticated financial markets, Eng...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2011
VerfasserIn:
Place / Publishing House:Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2011]
©2011
Year of Publication:2011
Language:English
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Author's Note on Conventions --
Introduction --
I. Alchemy and Credit --
1. Th e Scarcity of Money Problem and the Birth of English Political Economy --
2. The Alchemical Foundations of Credit --
II. Death Penalty and Credit --
3. The Epistemology of Credit --
4. Capital Punishment in Defense of Credit --
III. Slavery and Credit --
5. Public Credit and the Public Sphere --
6. The South Sea Company and the Restoration of Public Credit --
Epilogue --
Notes --
Acknowledgments --
Index
Summary:Modern credit, developed during the financial revolution of 1620¬-1720, laid the foundation for England's political, military, and economic dominance in the eighteenth century. Possessed of a generally circulating credit currency, a modern national debt, and sophisticated financial markets, England developed a fiscal-military state that instilled fear in its foes and facilitated the first industrial revolution. Yet a number of casualties followed in the wake of this new system of credit. Not only was it precarious and prone to accidents, but it depended on trust, public opinion, and ultimately violence.Carl Wennerlind reconstructs the intellectual context within which the financial revolution was conceived. He traces how the discourse on credit evolved and responded to the Glorious Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, the founding of the Bank of England, the Great Recoinage, armed conflicts with Louis XIV, the Whig-Tory party wars, the formation of the public sphere, and England's expanded role in the slave trade. Debates about credit engaged some of London's most prominent turn-of-the-century intellectuals, including Daniel Defoe, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Jonathan Swift and Christopher Wren. Wennerlind guides us through these conversations, toward an understanding of how contemporaries viewed the precariousness of credit and the role of violence-war, enslavement, and executions-in the safeguarding of trust.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780674062665
9783110261189
9783110261233
9783110261257
9783110374889
9783110374926
9783110442205
9783110459517
9783110662566
DOI:10.4159/harvard.9780674062665
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Carl Wennerlind.