The Alexander Hamilton Collection of John E. Herzog

"To Correspondents. A review of several new publications, and sundry miscellaneous articles, are unavoidably postponed till next month, to make room for the report on manufactures. As this subject will shortly engage the attention of congress, and as copies of the report are not to be had, we have been induced to present it to our readers entire."

Philadelphia: Printed for the Proprietors, by William Young, 1792. Hamilton's classic report, Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the Subject of Manufactures, printed on pp. 33-75 in the magazine, The Universal Asylum, and Columbian Magazine, for January, 1792. (ii), 33-79, (1) pp. (pp. 1-32 not present). Three-quarter tan calf, stamped in gilt, red morocco spine label, over marbled paper-covered boards; all edges trimmed; soiling to title-page, small loss at bottom corner of same; loss at top corner of pp. 33/34 affecting a few letters; scattered minor spotting to text. Howes H 123

One of the earliest public printings of Alexander Hamilton's famous Report on Manufactures, printed here in The Universal Asylum, and Columbian Magazine soon after Hamilton delivered his report to Congress on December 5, 1791. "Issued in December 1791, (the report) provided not only theoretical justifications for the promotion of domestic manufacturing, but as a policy document made specific proposals for government action. These proposals included higher import duties on certain final goods, lower import duties on certain raw materials, pecuniary bounties (production subsidies) for selected industries, and government assistance for the immigration of skilled workers, among other measures. To this day, the report is often heralded as the quintessential American statement against the laissez faire doctrine of free trade and for activist government policies—including protectionist tariffs—to promote industrialization." (Douglas A. Irwin, The Aftermath of Hamilton's "Report on Manufactures", The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge, Vol. 64, No. 3 [Sep., 2004] pp. 800-821). The report was met with criticism, especially from Thomas Jefferson, who viewed Hamilton's plan with alarm, as he thought it would disproportionately benefit Northerners at the expense of the Southern farmers he championed. Although the Report was rejected by Congress, his vision offered a modern forward-looking model toward national industrial development (see lot 18).

Howes refers to Hamilton's magnum opus as "One of the great American state papers, 'the Magna Carta of industrial America'"