NATIONAL

HUMANITIES

CENTER

The

Consumer

Revolution in

Colonial

America

A

Live,

Online

Professional

Development

Seminar

Seminar Leader: Maurie McInnis

ThursdayOctober 8, 2009

7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. EST

Focus Questions

How and when did America become a nation of consumers?

How did consumption during the colonial period connect Americans to one another?

How did this consumption connect them to Britain?

During the colonial period how did goods come to have political meaning?

Maurie McInnis

Associate Professor of ArtUniversity of Virginia

Director of American Studies

American Art and Material Culture

In Pursuit of Refinement: Charlestonians Abroad,

1740-1860 (1999)

The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston (2005)

Slaves Waiting for Sale:Visualizing the Southern Slave Trade

(Forthcoming)

Remembering the Revolution: Pictures, Politics, and Memory

(Forthcoming)

What was the Consumer Revolution?

The term consumer revolution refers to the period from the late sixteenth century to the nineteenth century in which there was a marked increase in the consumption of goods and products that previously were only available to those of middle to upper classes. The consumer revolution marks a departure from a traditional mode of life that was dominated by scarcity to that of mass consumption by numerous individuals. In the American colonies, the height of the consumer revolution was from 1725-1776.

From Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography

But mark how Luxury will enter Families, and make a Progress in Spite of Principle. Being call’d one Morning to Breakfast, I found it in a China Bowl with a Spoon of Silver. They had been bought for me without my Knowledge by my Wife, and had cost her the enormous Sum of three and twenty Shillings, for which she had no other Excuse or Apology to make but that she thought her Husband deserv’d a Silver Spoon and China Bowl as well as any of his Neighbours.

From “The Articles of Association,” October 20, 1774

1. That from and after the first day of December next, we will not import, into British America, from Great-Britain or Ireland, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, or from any other place, any such goods, wares, or merchandise, as shall have been exported from Great-Britain or Ireland; nor will we, after that day, import any East-India tea from any part of the world; nor any molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, or pimento, from the British plantations or from Dominica; nor wines from Madeira, or the Western Islands; nor foreign indigo.

Probate inventory forPhilip Ludwell LeeStratford Hall PlantationTaken 20 March 1776

Dineing [sic] RoomCherry Tree RoomChamberNurseryKitchenHallGreen RoomBlue RoomWhite RoomSchool RoomUnder room office

Wet StoreFat StoreHousekeeping RoomDairyLaundryStoreNew HouseMeat HouseSmokehouse

Room names used in inventory:

Text from Dineing Room:

1 Tea Kittle & Triret[sic]/138 pieces of Queens China consisting of plates, dishes, Mugs, Tureens, &c151 Oz & 5 penny weight Silver80 pieces of China plates Tea cups &c1 china bowl, crack’d/ 1 Tea board mohag.y16 Water glasses & plates / 15 wine glasses1 coffee pott /1 chocolate do.

From “The Articles of Association,” October 20, 1774

8. We will, in our several stations, encourage frugality, economy, and industry, and promote agriculture, arts and the manufactures of this country, especially that of wool; and will discountenance and discourage every species of extravagance and dissipation, especially all horse-racing, and all kinds of games, cock fighting, exhibitions of shews, plays, and other expensive diversions and entertainments; and on the death of any relation or friend, none of us, or any of our families will go into any further mourning-dress, than a black crepe or ribbon on the arm or hat, for gentlemen, and a black ribbon and necklace for ladies, and we will discontinue the giving of gloves and scarves at funerals.

Probate inventory forPeyton RandolphRecorded: 15 July 1776

Signers of the Non-Importation AgreementContinental Cognress, Oct. 20, 1774

Peyton Randolph, Probate Inventory, July 15, 1776

Bedstead 1 and Suit Cotton Curtains1 do. And do. Virginia cloth do.And later:1 Bedstead & Suit Virginia Curtains and Window Curtains

Mother: “I’ll force you to obedience, you rebellious slut.”Daughter: “Liberty, liberty forever, Mother, while I exist.”

Final slide.