Nancy Bradeen Spannaus on Lincoln, Hamilton, and the American System Against Slavery

The Lincoln Group of DC will meet hold the final spring meeting on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Lincoln Group member and Professor Nancy Bradeen Spannaus will speak on the critical connections between Abraham Lincoln and the American System of economic development originally defined by the work of Alexander Hamilton. Please RSVP for this will be zoom-only.  

Spannaus started studying Alexander Hamilton in the mid-1970s and co-edited a book of writings on the economics of the American Revolution, in which major excerpts from Hamilton’s financial papers were featured. Her most recent book, Defeating Slavery: Hamilton’s American System Showed the Way, lays out the blueprint for Abraham Lincoln’s own philosophy and argues that the failure to end slavery was the abandonment of Hamilton’s economic principles. Spannaus will examine how Jeffersonians and Jacksonians promoted slavery and put the nation on the path to war, as well as how Lincoln guided the return to Hamiltonian principles. This is history that is relevant to today’s political situation, and Spannaus helps show a pathway to resolving our crises today.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College and a Master’s degree from Columbia University, Spannaus enjoyed a long career in political journalism. She now spends her time studying Hamiton’s American System and educating the public through her blog, American System Now (https://americansystemnow.com/) and as an Adjunct Professor at Frederick Community College in Frederick, MD.