This event is sponsored by Blue Grass Motorsport.
How does one package and sell confidence in the stability of
a nation riven by civil strife? This was the question that loomed before the
Philadelphia financial house of Jay Cooke & Company,?entrusted?by the US
government with an unprecedented sale of bonds to finance the Union war effort
in the early days of the American Civil War.?How the government and its agents
marketed these bonds revealed a version of the war the public was willing to
buy and buy into, based not just in the full faith and credit of the United
States but also in the success of its armies and its long-term vision for open
markets. From Maine to California, and in foreign halls of power and economic
influence,?thousands of agents were deployed to?sell?a clear message: Union
victory was unleashing the American economy itself.
This fascinating work of?financial and political
history?during?the Civil War?era?shows?how the marketing and sale of bonds
crossed the Atlantic to Europe and beyond, helping ensure foreign countries’
vested interest in the Union’s success. Indeed, David K. Thomson demonstrates
how Europe, and ultimately all corners of the globe, grew deeply interdependent
on American finance during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the American
Civil War.?
David K. Thomson is assistant professor of history at Sacred
Heart University.
Dinner at Buck's Restaurant for participants who purchase a "Lecture and Dinner" ticket will immediately follow the conclusion of the lecture.