@article{1389724,
      recid = {1389724},
      author = {Edling, Max M.,},
      title = {A Hercules in the cradle : war, money, and the American  state, 1783-1867 /},
      pages = {xii, 318 pages :},
      abstract = {"In A Hercules in the Cradle, Max M. Edling argues that  the federal government's abilities to tax and to borrow  money, developed in the early years of the republic, were  critical to the young nation's ability to wage war and  expand its territory. He traces the growth of this capacity  from the time of the founding to the aftermath of the Civil  War, including the funding of the War of 1812 and the  Mexican War. Edling maintains that the Founding Fathers  clearly understood the connection between public finance  and power: a well-managed public debt was a key part of  every modern state. Creating a debt would always be a  delicate and contentious matter in the American context,  however, and statesmen of all persuasions tried to pay down  the national debt in times of peace. A Hercules in the  Cradle explores the origin and evolution of American public  finance and shows how the nation's rise to great-power  status in the nineteenth century rested on its ability to  go into debt."--Publisher's Web site.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1389724},
}