Hamilton, A. (1791). Report on the Subject of Manufactures, delivered to the House of Representatives, 5 December 1791.
The foundational document of the American retention tradition. Hamilton makes a broad-ranging case for government promotion of manufacturing through protective tariffs, direct bounties (subsidies) for infant industries, and federally funded internal improvements. Nearly every tariff recommendation in the Report was adopted by Congress in early 1792, though the bounty recommendations were rejected. The Report is the ancestor of Clay’s American System, Carey’s Harmony of Interests, List’s National System, and Lincoln’s Civil War program.