Debt Failure and the Development of American Capitalism: Bruce Mann's Pro-Debtor Republic

Following independence, Americans were unique in the degree to which they countenanced the failure to pay debts. Indeed, from Alexis de Tocqueville to contemporary historians, commentators agree that compared to those in other commercial countries, Americans possess a "strange indulgence" toward bankrupts (Balleisen 2001, 13; Skeel 2001). Bruce Mann explores the origins of this distinctive pro-debtor bankruptcy attitude that has persisted throughout American history. Examining the cultural consciousness and legalities of bankruptcy in the age of American Independence, he reveals a tension between the entrepreneur's narrow preoccupation with gain and a prevailing confidence that interpersonal relationships could sustain commercial credit (Tomlins and Mann 2001; Blumin 2000; Freyer 2000). Like other commercial peoples of the period, Revolutionary-era Americans identified bankruptcy with Christian precepts, defining it as a moral failing subject to criminal penalties. From Independence on, however, Americans increasingly employed legal rules governing market failure to promote risk taking throughout their economic system of mercantilism governed by public officials who set prices of goods and services, controlled market entry, limited the number offirms, and imposed quality standards. Even so, disputes about bankruptcy law exposed the cultural and

[1]  D. Skeel.  Debt's Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America , 2006 .

[2]  Edward J. Balleisen.  The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence , 2005, Business History Review.

[3]  J. Witt.  Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America/republic of Debtors: Bankruptcy in the Age of American Independence/debt's Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America , 2003, Law and History Review.

[4]  N. Lamoreaux.  Rethinking the Transition to Capitalism in the Early American Northeast , 2003 .

[5]  Christopher L. Tomlins,et al.  The Many Legalities of Early America , 2002, Law and History Review.

[6]  Jonathan M Chu.  Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America , 2001 .

[7]  S. Engerman,et al.  The Farm, The Farmer, and The Market , 2000 .

[8]  S. Engerman,et al.  The Social Implications of U.S. Economic Development , 2000 .

[9]  T. Freyer,et al.  Business Law and American Economic History , 2000 .

[10]  P. J. Coleman.  Debtors and Creditors in America: Insolvency, Imprisonment for Debt, and Bankruptcy, 1607-1900 , 1999 .

[11]  S. Engerman,et al.  The European Background , 1996 .

[12]  S. Engerman,et al.  The Revolution, the Constitution, and the New Nation , 1996 .

[13]  D. Vickers.  The Northern Colonies: Economy and Society, 1600–1775 , 1996 .

[14]  J. Mccusker.  British Mercantilist Policies and the American Colonies , 1996 .

[15]  T. Freyer,et al.  Democracy and Judicial Independence: A History of the Federal Courts of Alabama, 1820-1994 , 1996 .

[16]  Forrest Mcdonald.  Novus Ordo Seclorum: the Intellectual Origins of the Constitution , 1985 .

[17]  D. R. McCoy,et al.  The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America , 1981 .

[18]  T. Freyer,et al.  Forums of Order: The Federal Courts and Business in American History , 1980, The Journal of Economic History.

[19]  H. Scheiber.  Debtors and Creditors in America: Insolvency, Imprisonment for Debt, and Bankruptcy, 1607–1900. By Peter J. Coleman. Madison, The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1974. Pp. xiii + 303. $17.50 , 1975, Business History Review.

[20]  T. H. Breen,et al.  The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence , 2004 .

[21]  David G. Epstein,et al.  Where Did Chapter 13 Come From And Where Should It Go , 2002 .

[22]  T. Freyer.  Producers versus Capitalists: Constitutional Conflict in Antebellum America , 1994 .

[23]  J. F. Davison,et al.  Bankruptcy in United States History , 1935 .

[24]  H. Commager.  Documents of American history , 1935 .