Capitalism in the Age of Revolution
This MIT OpenCourseWare seminar traces the financial instruments of credit, debt, and investment that took shape in the decades before the Atlantic revolutions of the late eighteenth century. Readings and discussion topics cover debates over large-scale trading corporations, recurring financial crises of the period, and the collisions between corporate power and emerging republican political norms. The course closes by examining the relationship between slavery and the rise of industrial capitalism in the nineteenth century, along with the critiques of capitalism that grew out of that history. Materials include the syllabus, weekly reading assignments, and discussion questions typical of an MIT seminar, available free through MIT OpenCourseWare with no certificate offered. The focus stays on financial and political history rather than theory alone, tracking how corporate finance and republican ideals repeatedly clashed across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.