Clarification of "Capitalism"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I had posted an 1848 antedating of "capitalism" (OED 1854).  Stephen Goranson and Joel Berson posted earlier citations in an Argentinian context going back to 1816, but I responded that I had been aware of such citations but had regarded them as not the same term, probably referring to Buenos Aires as the capital of the country rather than referring to financial capital.  I think the following citation makes clear that I was correct in this:

1820 H. M. Brackenridge _Voyage to Buenos Ayres_ 107 (Making of the Modern World)  The new government immediately took measures to convene a NATIONAL CONGRESS, which would fairly represent the whole body of the people; and to do way every idea of capitalism, it was appointed to meet at Tucuman, 1200 miles in the interior.

Fred Shapiro


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