Industrializing Antebellum America

This book explores the rise of manufacturing through the beliefs and practices of Samuel Colt, John Fox Slater, Horatio Nelson Slater, Amos Adams Lawrence, and their families. These entrepreneurs dominated the firearms and textile industries, but their influence extended beyond their respective enterprises. From the antislavery activities and business innovations of the Slaters and Lawrence to Colt's advocacy of Empire, they represented diverse possibilities for the organization of a new industrial society. Colt envisioned a free-wheeling casino and crony capitalism, the Slaters fused small town values and a new industrial discipline, and Lawrence promoted a Protestant vision of America guided by educated urban elites.

This book explores the rise of manufacturing through the beliefs and practices of Samuel Colt, John Fox Slater, Horatio Nelson Slater, Amos Adams Lawrence, and their families. These entrepreneurs dominated the firearms and textile industries, but their influence extended beyond their respective enterprises. From the antislavery activities and business innovations of the Slaters and Lawrence to Colt's advocacy of Empire, they represented diverse possibilities for the organization of a new industrial society. Colt envisioned a free-wheeling casino and crony capitalism, the Slaters fused small town values and a new industrial discipline, and Lawrence promoted a Protestant vision of America guided by educated urban elites.

Barbara M. Tucker is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Connecticut Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University. She is the author of Samuel Slater and the Origins of the American Textile Industry. Kenneth H. Tucker, Jr. is Professor of Sociology at Mount Holyoke College. He is the author of French Revolutionary Syndicalism and the Public Sphere, Anthony Giddens and Modern Social Theory, and Classical Social Theory: A Contemporary Approach.