Building DuPont: Capitalism, manufactures, and place in early America, 1800-1820

Though there is a rich literature dealing with the DuPont Company, the historiography remains dedicated to studies of the family’s life, corporate methods, working-class culture, and technological know-how. Rarely do studies engage the company’s wider economic position or regional influence in early America. This study analyzes the way early American culture guided and influenced DuPont’s growth and success. It also examines the company’s efforts to promote manufactures, create markets, and shape its surrounding landscape. As in other parts of the world, the development of industrial capitalism, and the wider acceptance of domestic manufacturers and large-scale industry in the United States accelerated the emergence of factory towns, milling villages, and long-term urban growth. The DuPont Company and its founder E.I. du Pont played an instrumental role in these developments and helped determine their specifically American characteristics. Furthermore, this thesis asserts that the environment in and around Wilmington shaped DuPont’s early development, and that the firm was instrumental in organizing the economic, social, and physical world around it