المصرفي الذي صنع أمريكا: توماس ويلينج وصعود الأرستقراطية المالية الأمريكية، 1731-1821

If you haven't followed the money trail, you probably don't know the true story of America and its revolution. Nothing captures this history more clearly than the life of Thomas Welling, the prominent early American trader, first bank president, and first central banker. In this book, Richard Fagg shows how Willing financed the revolution - helped save it - and then shaped radically changed the financial structure of the young republic. Wheeling was so influential that President John Adams complained that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton were under his control. However, at a crucial moment in his life, Wheeling voted against independence, as conflict between Pennsylvania's wealthy elite and the emerging lower and middle classes brought the politics of 1776 into a bitter class struggle. This situation continued after independence, as Welling and his comrades attempted to rein in the democratic forces unleashed by the revolution, creating tension that never ceased to influence American politics. This dramatic, untold story sheds truly new light on the origins of the American republic, as well as the ongoing economic and political struggles that continue to shape American society today.