The colonial era is especially appealing in regard to economic history
because it represents a study in contrasts. The economy was
exceptionally dynamic in terms of population growth and geographical
expansion. No major famines, epidemics, or extended wars intervened to
reverse, or even slow down appreciably, the tide of vigorous economic
growth. Despite this broad expansion, however, the fundamental patterns
of economic behavior remained fairly constant. The members of the main
occupational groups - farmers, planters, merchants, artisans, indentured
servants, and slaves - performed similar functions throughout the
period. In comparison with the vast number of institutional innovations
in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, structural change in the
colonial economy evolved gradually. With the exception of the adoption
of the pernicious system of black slavery, few new economic institutions
and no revolutionary new technologies emerged to disrupt the stability
of this remarkably affluent commercial-agricultural society. Living
standards rose slowly but fairly steadily at a rate of 3 to 5 percent a
decade after 1650. (Monetary sums are converted into 1980 dollars so
that the figures will be relevant to modern readers.) For the most part,
this book describes the economic life styles of free white society. The
term "colonists" is virtually synonymous here with inhabitants of
European origin. Thus, statements about very high living standards and
the benefits of land ownership pertain only to whites. One chapter does
focus exclusively, however, on indentured servants and slaves. This book
represents the author's best judgment about the most important features
of the colonial economy and their relationship to the general society
and to the movement for independence. It should be a good starting point
for all - undergraduate to scholar - interested in learning more about
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
This popular study, lauded by professors and scholars alike, has been
diligently revised to reflect the tremendous amount of new research
conducted during the last decade, and now includes a totally new chapter
on women in the economy. Presenting a great deal of up-to-date
information in a concise and lively style, the book surveys the main
aspects of the colonial economy: population and economic expansion; the
six main occupational groups (family farmers, indentured servants,
slaves, artisans, great planters, and merchants); women in the economy;
domestic and imperial taxes; the colonial monetary system; living
standards for the typical family
