Editing Alexander Hamilton (section)

===Manufacturing and industry===
{{further|Report on Manufactures}}
[[File:Great Falls of Paterson 2016.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Great Falls of the Passaic River in [[Paterson, New Jersey]], which Hamilton envisioned using to power new factories]]
Hamilton's next report was his ''Report on Manufactures''. Although he was requested by Congress on January 15, 1790, for a report for manufacturing that would expand the United States' independence, the report was not submitted until December 5, 1791.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|274, 277}} In the report, Hamilton quoted from ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'' and used the French [[physiocrats]] as an example for rejecting [[agrarianism]] and the physiocratic theory, respectively.<ref name=McDonald />{{rp|233}} Hamilton also refuted Smith's ideas of government noninterference, as it would have been detrimental for trade with other countries.<ref name=McDonald />{{rp|244}} Hamilton also thought that the United States, being a primarily agrarian country, would be at a disadvantage in dealing with Europe.<ref>Cooke, p. 100.</ref> In response to the agrarian detractors, Hamilton stated that the agriculturists' interest would be advanced by manufactures, and that agriculture was just as productive as manufacturing.<ref name=McDonald />{{rp|233}}<ref name=schachner />{{rp|276}}

Hamilton argued for [[industrial policy]] to support a modern manufacturing industry in the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sylla |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Sylla |date=2024 |title=Alexander Hamilton's Report on Manufactures and Industrial Policy |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.38.4.111 |journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=111–130 |doi=10.1257/jep.38.4.111 |issn=0895-3309}}</ref><ref name=Bairoch>{{cite book |last=Bairoch |first=Paul |author-link=:de:Paul Bairoch |title=Economics and World History: Myths and Paradoxes |url={{GBurl|LaF_cCknJScC |p=33}} |year=1995 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-03463-8 |page=33}}</ref> Among the ways that the government should assist manufacturing, Hamilton argued for government assistance to "[[infant industries]]" so they can achieve [[economies of scale]], by levying protective duties on imported foreign goods that were also manufactured in the United States,<ref name=Cooke101>Cooke, p. 101.</ref> for withdrawing duties levied on raw materials needed for domestic manufacturing,<ref name=schachner />{{rp|277}}<ref name=Cooke101/> and pecuniary boundaries.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|277}} He also encouraged immigration as a way to improve the American work force.<ref name=Cooke101/><ref>Mitchell, p. 145.</ref> Congress shelved the report without much debate, except for Madison's objection to Hamilton's formulation of the [[general welfare clause]], which Hamilton construed liberally as a legal basis for his extensive programs.<ref>Stephen F. Knott, ''Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth'' (2002), pp. 43, 54, 56, 83, 108.</ref>

In 1791, Hamilton, along with Coxe and several entrepreneurs from New York City and Philadelphia formed the ''[[Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures]]'', a private industrial corporation. In May 1792, the directors decided to examine the [[Great Falls (Passaic River)|Great Falls]] of the [[Passaic River]] in [[New Jersey]] as a possible location for a manufacturing center. On July 4, 1792, the society directors met [[Philip Schuyler]] at [[Abraham Godwin]]'s hotel on the Passaic River, where they led a tour prospecting the area for the national manufactory. It was originally suggested that they dig mile-long trenches and build the factories away from the falls, but Hamilton argued that it would be too costly and laborious.<ref name=Shriner>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtQwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA59 |page=59 |title=Four Chapters of Paterson History |first=Charles Anthony |last=Shriner |date=1919 |publisher=Lont & Overkamp}}</ref>

The location at Great Falls of the Passaic River in New Jersey was selected due to access to raw materials, it being densely inhabited, and having access to water power from the falls of the Passaic.<ref name=McDonald />{{rp|231}} The factory town was named ''Paterson'' after New Jersey's Governor [[William Paterson (judge)|William Paterson]], who signed the charter.<ref name=McDonald />{{rp|232}}<ref name=Cooke103>Cooke, p. 103.</ref> The profits were to derive from specific corporates rather than the benefits to be conferred to the nation and the citizens, which was unlike the report.<ref name=Cooke102>Cooke, p. 102.</ref> Hamilton also suggested the first stock to be offered at $500,000 and to eventually increase to $1&nbsp;million, and welcomed state and federal government subscriptions alike.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|280}}<ref name=Cooke102/> The company was never successful, with numerous shareholders reneged on stock payments and some going bankrupt. [[William Duer (Continental Congressman)|William Duer]], the governor of the program, was sent to debtors' prison, where he died.<ref name=Matson>{{cite journal |last=Matson |first=Cathy |year=2010 |url=http://www.common-place-archives.org/vol-10/no-03/matson/ |title=Flimsy Fortunes: Americans' Old Relationship with Paper Speculation and Panic |journal=Common-place |volume=10 |issue=4 |access-date=May 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409230828/http://www.common-place-archives.org/vol-10/no-03/matson/ |archive-date=April 9, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In spite of Hamilton's efforts to mend the disaster, the company folded.<ref name=Cooke103/>