| In the middle decades of the eighteenth century, commercial expansion drew Britain and her North American colonies closer together within a burgeoning Atlantic economy. Growing imports of British manufactures and foodstuffs flowed into the colonies. Tea equipage, silverware, looking glasses, clocks, and a host of other goods became prevalent in the majority of early American homes for the first time. Indeed, consumerism became central to the lives of British American colonists, and therefore, it is essential to our historical understanding of early America.; During the rise of consumerism in the eighteenth century, consumption came to play a major role in the social bonding of families. Consumer goods became invested with important social meaning. In fact, they became tangible manifestations of personal bonds and relationships. Early Americans increasingly utilized consumer goods as one of their most vital means to strengthen familial relationships. Women especially played a leading role in the preservation of bonds within families by gifting consumables to loved ones. Historians have largely ignored this crucial social bonding element of consumption, focusing instead upon status as the principal social motive behind growing consumption. In my estimation, the forging and perpetuation of emotional bonds was just as significant in the hearts and minds of colonists. This dissertation will demonstrate that consumerism functioned as a form of social glue across time and space, across generations, and even across gender, over the course of the eighteenth century. |
