Description
Book SynopsisThis work examines the role of artisans in the American economy and society in the 18th and 19th centuries. Going beyond the traditional story of the decline of journeyman status, it explores a variety of themes loosely centred around opportunities in the developing economy.
Trade Review"A more complete range of artisans than ever before, from rural white tanners on Maryland's Eastern Shore to enslaved blacksmiths in Virginia's capital to a Washington, D.C., foreman who earned the respect of workers without ever joining their union. Journal of Southern History
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction, Identity and Independence: The American Artisan, 1750-1850
Part I. Studies of the Southern Experience
1. From Father to Son: Economic Roots of Craft Dynamics in Eighteenth-Century Maryland
2. Freeman, Servants, and Slaves: Artisans and the Craft Structure of Revolutionary Baltimore Town
3. Planters in the Making: Artisnal Opportunity in Georgia, 1790-1830
4. Slave Artisans in Richmond, Virginia, 1780-1810
Part II. Explorations of Class and Politics
5. Alternative Communities: American Artisans and the Evangelical Appeal, 1780-1830
6. The Petitoning of Artisans and Operatives: Means and Ends in the Struggle for a Ten-Hour Day
7. "Spavined Ministers, Lying Toothpullers, and Buggering Priests": Third-Partyism and the Serch for Security in the Antebellum North
Part III. Biographical Approaches
8. Becoming Joseph T. Buckingham: The Struggle for Artisanal Independence in Early-Nineteenth-Century Boston
9. From Artisan to Alderman: The Career of William W. Moore, 1803-1886
Part IV. Iconographic Interpretations
10. "All Her Sons Join as One Social Band": New York City's Artisanal Societies in the Early Republic
11. With Hammer in Hand: Working-Class Occupational Portraits
Notes
Contributors
Index
