Introduction

The time is ripe to restate the principles of industrial democracy and citizenship for the post-industrial era, say scholars Ruth Dukes and Wolfgang Streak. William Hoegland's book, Founding Finance, how debt speculation, foreclosures, protests, and crackdowns made us a nation adds another important dimension to our understanding of this critical period. Dig listeners know that the dominant conceptions of freedom were fundamentally premised on the enslavement of Africans. In this interview, conducted by our beloved guest host Astra Taylor, Hoegland narrates the violent conflicts over economics, class, and finance that shaped the US Constitution.