Tench Coxe
Tench Coxe was a significant figure in early American history, born into a prominent family with deep colonial roots. After starting a trading company in 1772, Coxe navigated the political complexities of the Revolutionary War, striving for neutrality, which ultimately led to challenges, including a near treason trial. He amassed wealth through speculation in mineral-rich lands and became an advocate for a balanced economy that promoted manufacturing, aligning with the economic philosophies of Federalist leader Alexander Hamilton. Appointed as Hamilton's assistant secretary of the treasury in 1790, Coxe contributed to the establishment of the Society of Establishing Useful Manufactures, aimed at creating a model industrial town in New Jersey, though this project was ultimately curtailed by economic downturns. His writings, particularly "A View of the United States of America," were influential in political economy and expressed ideas about government involvement in economic growth. Over time, Coxe shifted his political allegiance from the Federalists to the Republican Party, championing broader citizen participation in governance. Despite his Tory sympathies during the Revolution, his legacy includes important contributions to industrialization and economic policy in the early United States.
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Tench Coxe
Politician
- Born: May 22, 1755
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: July 16, 1824
Biography
Tench Coxe was the son of William Coxe, merchant and landowner, and Mary Francis. His great-grandfather, Daniel Coxe, had been the principal proprietor of colonial New Jersey. After attending the academy division of the Philadelphia College and Academy and one year of college, in 1772, Coxe opened a small trading company. In 1776, he was a partner in his father’s firm, Coxe, Furman, and Coxe.
Coxe tried to avoid taking sides during the Revolutionary War. In the summer of 1776, he resigned his commission in the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment and moved to New York City, which was under Tory control. A year later he returned to Philadelphia when British troops under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis took the city. His attempt to remain neutral was unsuccessful, and he was almost tried for treason in 1778.
After the death of his first wife, Catherine McCall, on July 22, 1778, he married his first cousin, Rebecca Coxe; the couple had ten children. Coxe made his fortune through speculation in mineral-rich lands in western Pennsylvania and Virginia. During the political and economic debates over the Constitution, he supported a balanced economy in which the government encouraged manufacturing. He also supported the financial policies of the Federalist Alexander Hamilton, particularly the effort to establish a national bank.
In May 1790, Hamilton named Coxe as his assistant secretary of the treasury; he used Coxe’s “Plan for a Manufacturing Society” (in Coxe’s A View of the United States of America, in a Series of Papers, Written at Various Times between the Years 1787 and 1794 . . . , 1794) in establishing the Society of Establishing Useful Manufactures (SEUM). This society received funding from the New Jersey legislature on November 22, 1791 to establish a model industrial town on the site of Paterson, New Jersey. The Panic of 1792 drove many of the directors of SEUM into bankruptcy and ended the project. Coxe also assisted Jefferson in preparing reports to Congress on fisheries and foreign commerce.
Coxe’s ideas on the role of government in encouraging economic growth anticipate the nineteenth century “American School” economists Henry Carey and Daniel Raymond. From 1792 to 1797, he served as commissioner of revenue and from 1803 to 1812 as purveyor of public supplies, but his reputed Tory sympathies during the American Revolution kept him from achieving a major political office.
Coxe differed from the Anti-Federalist position regarding voting. In contrast to Hamilton, he believed in encouraging the popular participation of all citizens and eventually left the Federalists and joined the Republican Party. His A View of the United States of America, in a Series of Papers, Written at Various Times between the Years 1787 and 1794 . . . (1794) and A Brief Examination of Lord Sheffield’s Observations on the Commerce of the United States of America supported industrialization and were landmark works in political economy.