On Economic Growth ... what it is about the American System that made sustained growth possible

America's founders ... Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and Madison in balancing their own political objectives, created something greater than any of their individual ambitions, an enduring system for prosperity.  

It is a system that for the first time enabled men and women to believe it rational to strive for something better with each generation ... rather than fear someone with power would ultimately take all that they have earned.

It is a system that provides for a free people by enabling all to have access to free markets that make it much easier (than before America) for people to efficiently sustain themselves and prosper.

Here are the fundamentals of the American System.  

1. Banking, that the pig farmer can trust to store his coins
vs. fearing that a thief, land owner, earl or king might seize it to fund his ambitions

2. Intellectual Property Law that enables the truck builder to protect his design
vs. fearing it being stolen by a competitor or the state

3. Employment Rights that force the truck company to profit by innovation
vs. taking more from labor as did the barons and earls of the past

4. Contract Law that enables manufacturers, suppliers, employers and employees to set clear and binding terms
vs. a system of bribery, cronyism and patronage

5. Honest Judges that enable businesses and individuals to resolve disputes
vs. resorting to violence that might end a business or a life

6. Property Law and Law Enforcement that enables successful businesses and individuals to accumulate wealth that can be invested in new businesses and homes
vs. the poor periodically burning and looting the very wealth that provides jobs

7. Monetary Systems that enable each State's market to dynamically set a value for all goods and services and enable a Global Market to dynamically set valuations for each State's Market
vs. trade being limited because of the inflexibility of currency.

That American System is the difference between poverty and wealth,
It is the difference that today separates 

countries that have fully stocked supermarkets and trains that run on time and 

countries that don't.