Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The American creed -- The women of the new nation -- Enterprise : commercial and social -- Republican mothers in action -- Social enterprise and the founding of American religious orders -- A market-based social enterprise solution -- The agonizing issue of slavery -- Individualism and social profit in the post civil war era -- Building of national organizations for social profit -- Investors in social profit enterprise -- Social science, social service, and social profit -- Partnerships with the federal government -- Conclusion : cooperative individualism.