PREFACE 
Tre following pages are frankly fragmentary. They 
are designed to suggest new lines of historical research 
rather than to treat the subject in an exhaustive fashion. 
This apology is not intended as an anticipation of the 
criticism of reviewers, but as a confession of fact. No 
one can appreciate more fully than I do how much of the 
work here outlined remains to be done. The records of 
the Treasury Department at Washington, now used for 
the first time in connection with a study of the formation 
of the Constitution, furnish a field for many years’ re- 
search, to say nothing of the other records, printed and 
unprinted, which throw light upon the economic condi- 
sions of the United States between 1783-1787. 
If it be asked why such a fragmentary study is printed 
now, rather than held for the final word, my explanation 
is brief. I am unable to give more than an occasional 
period to uninterrupted studies, and I cannot expect, 
therefore, to complete within a reasonable time the survey 
which I have made here. Accordingly, I print it in the 
hope that a few of this generation of historical scholars 
may be encouraged to turn away from barren «political ” 
history to a study of the real economic forces which con- 
dition great movements in politics. 
Students already familiar with the field here surveyed 
will discover that I have made full use of the suggestive 
work already done by Professor Turner, Drs. Libby, 
Ambler. and Schaper.