Abstract
This paper examines the state of economic thought in the United States during the time period 1700 to 1775, an era that marks the end of the colonial age for the new nation. This essay starts with an over view of economic conditions during the final phase of colonialism in America. This is followed by a discussion of American economic thinking, divided into three distinct yet overlapping perspectives: (1) mainstream economic thought, which represents the dominant point of view about economics in America prior to the end of colonial status; (2) other voices, or economic perspectives focused on particular economic issues of the time and not the general state of economic thought; and (3) a crosscurrent or contrary view to mainstream economics, a way of viewing economics and economic thinking that takes exception to the popular economic paradigm of the time.
Keywords. Slavery, Compulsion, Libertarianism.
JEL. K29.
References
Bailyn, B. (1955). The New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century. Harvard University Press.
Bailyn, B. (1986). The Peopling of British North America. Alfred A. Knopf.
Benson, A. B. (Ed.). (1937). Peter Kalm’s Travels in North America, The English Version of 1770. Dover.
Brands, H. W. (2000). The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Doubleday.
Bruccoli, M. J. (1996). The Man of Letters as Professional. In M. J. Bruccoli & J. S. Baughman (Eds.), F. Scott Fitzgerald on Authorship (pp. 11–22). University of South Carolina Press.
Bullock, C. J. (1897). Introduction: The Life and Writings of William Douglass. Economic Studies, 2(5), 265–290. (American Economic Association).
Carey, L. J. (1928). Franklin’s Economic Views. Doubleday, Doran & Company.
Carr, J. R. (2008). Seeds of Discontent: The Deep Roots of the American Revolution, 1650-1750. Walker & Company.
Conkin, P. K. (1980). Prophets of Prosperity: America’s First Political Economist. Indiana University Press.
Connor, P. W. (1965). Poor Richard’s Politicks. Oxford University Press.
Copeland, D. A. (1997). Colonial American Newspapers: Character and Content. University of Delaware Press.
Copeland, D. A. (2000). Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers: Primary Documents on Events of the Period. Greenwood Press.
Davis, A. M. (1910). Two Forgotten Pamphleteers in the Massachusetts Currency Controversy, 1720-1740. Massachusetts Historical Society.
Davis, A. M. (Ed.). (1911). Colonial Currency Reprints, 1682-1751. Burt Franklin.
Dorfman, J. (1946). The Economic Mind in American Civilization, 1606-1865 (Vol. I). August M. Kelley.
Dunbar, C. (1904). Economic Science in America, 1776-1876. In O. M. W. Sprague (Ed.), Economic Essays by Charles Franklin Dunbar (pp. 1–30). Macmillan. (Original work published in North American Review).
Dunn, R. S. (1984). Servants and Slaves: The Recruitment and Employment of Labor. In J. P. Greene & J. R. Pole (Eds.), Colonial British America: Essays in the New History of the Early Modern Era (pp. 157–194). The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Economidou, C., & Bahmani-Oskooee, M. (2005). How stable is the demand for money in Greece? International Economic Journal, 19(3), 461–472. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10168730500199558
Forde, S. (2003). Benjamin Franklin: A Model American and an American Model. In B. P. Frost & J. Sikkenga (Eds.), History of American Political Thought (pp. 80–92). Lexington Books.
Franklin, B. (1911). A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency. In A. M. Davis (Ed.), Colonial Currency Reprints, 1682-1751 (pp. 335–358). Burt Franklin. (Original work published 1728).
Franklin, B. (1859). Positions to be Examined. In J. R. McCulloch (Ed.), A Select Collection of Scare and Valuable Economical Tracts (pp. 202–205). Lord Overstone. (Original work published 1769).
Galenson, D. W. (1981). White Servitude in Colonial America. Cambridge University Press.
Greene, J. P., & Jellison, R. M. (1961). The Currency Act of 1764 in Imperial-Colonial Relations, 1764–1776. The William and Mary Quarterly, 18(4), 485–518. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1918458
Greene, J. (2005). The Trouble with Ownership: Literary Property and Authorial Liability in England, 1660-1730. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Gummere, A. M. (1922). Preface. In The Journal and Essays of John Woolman (pp. v–vii). Macmillan.
Hutchison, T. (1988). Before Adam Smith: The Emergence of Political Economy, 1662-1776. Basil Blackwell.
Jennings, F. (2000). The Creation of America. Cambridge University Press.
Jernegan, M. W. (1931). Laboring and Dependent Classes in Colonial America, 1607-1783. University of Chicago Press.
Jones, A. H. (1980). Wealth of a Nation to Be. Columbia University Press.
Kammen, M. (1970). Empire and Interest: The American Colonies and the Politics of Mercantilism. J. B. Lippincott.
Kammen, M. (1980). People of Paradox. Cornell University Press. (Original work published 1972).
Katz, B. S. (1989). Nobel Laureates in Economic Science, A Biographical Dictionary (pp. 264–276). Garland.
Koo, K. S. (2008). Slave Life in Colonial America. In J. A. Grigg & P. C. Mancall (Eds.), British Colonial America: People and Perspectives (pp. 81–97). ABC-CLIO.
Labaree, L. W., Ketcham, R. L., Boatfield, H. C., & Fineman, H. H. (1964). The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Yale University Press.
Lemay, J. A. L. (2006). The Life of Benjamin Franklin: Volume 1. Journalist, 1706-1730. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lemon, J. T. (2001). Colonial America in the Eighteenth Century. In T. F. McIlwraith & E. K. Muller (Eds.), North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent (2nd ed., pp. 119–139). Rowman & Littlefield.
Loewenstein, J. (2002). The Author’s Due: Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright. University of Chicago Press.
Mallon, T. (1989). Stolen Words: Forays into the Origins and Ravages of Plagiarism. Ticknor & Fields.
Maravic, J., & Palic, M. (2005). Econometric analysis of money demand in Serbia. National Bank of Serbia.
Marx, K. (1906). Capital, A Critique of Political Economy. Modern Library. (Original work published 1867).
Matson, C. (2006). A House of Many Mansions: Some Thoughts on the Field of Economic History. In C. Matson (Ed.), The Economy of Early America: Historical Perspectives & New Directions (pp. 1–70). Pennsylvania State University Press.
McCusker, J. J. (1978). Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775: A Handbook. University of North Carolina Press.
McCusker, J. J., & Menard, R. R. (1985). The Economy of British America, 1607-1789. University of North Carolina.
Menard, R. R. (1996). Economic and Social Development of the South. In S. L. Engerman & R. E. Gallman (Eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of the United States, Vol. I, The Colonial Era (pp. 249–295). Cambridge University Press.
Michener, R. (2011). Money in the American Colonies. EH. Net Encyclopedia: Economic History Association.
Mott, F. L. (1945). American Journalism: A History of Newspapers in the United States through 250 Years, 1690-1940. Macmillan.
Mott, T., & Zinke, G. W. (1987). Benjamin Franklin’s Economic Thought: A Twentieth Century Appraisal. In M. H. Buxbaum (Ed.), Critical Essays on Benjamin Franklin (pp. 111–127). G. K. Hall.
Nash, G. B. (1986). The Early Merchants of Philadelphia: The Formation and Disintegration of a Founding Elite. In R. S. Dunn & M. M. Dunn (Eds.), The World of William Penn (pp. 337–362). University of Pennsylvania Press.
Nettels, C. P. (1964). The Money Supply of the American Colonies before 1720. Augustus M. Kelley. (Original work published 1934).
Newell, M. E. (1998). From Dependency to Independence: Economic Revolution in Colonial New England. Cornell University Press.
Normano, J. F. (1943). The Spirit of American Economics. John Day.
Olsson, N. W. (1970). Pehr Kalm and the Image of North America. James Ford Bell Library.
Perkins, E. J. (1980). The Economy of Colonial America. Columbia University Press.
Pitcher, E. W. R. (2000). An Anatomy of Reprintings and Plagiarisms: Finding Keys to Editorial Practices and Magazine History, 1730-1820. Edwin Mellen Press.
Ripley, W. Z. (1931). Philosophers and Divines, 1720-1789. In W. P. Trent et al. (Eds.), The Cambridge History of American Literature, Book I (pp. 72–89). Macmillan. (Original work published 1917).
Rockman, S. (2006). The Unfree Origins of American Capitalism. In C. Matson (Ed.), The Economy of Early America: Historical Perspectives & New Directions (pp. 335–361). Pennsylvania State University Press.
Rosenblatt, P. (1969). John Woolman. Twayne Publishers.
Sazama, G. W. (2003). On Woolman’s “Conversations,” Ethics, and Economics. In M. Heller (Ed.), The Tendering Presence, Essays on John Woolman (pp. 190–206). Pendle Hill Publications.
Seavoy, R. E. (2006). An Economic History of the United States from 1607 to the Present. Routledge.
Seeger, R. J. (1973). Benjamin Franklin: New World Physicist. Pergamon Press.
Seligman, E. R. A. (1967). Essays in Economics. August M. Kelley. (Original work published 1925).
Seybolt, R. F. (1935). The Public Schools of Colonial Boston, 1635-1775. Harvard University Press.
Seybolt, R. F. (1970). The Private Schools of Colonial Boston. Greenwood Press. (Original work published 1935).
Shore, W. T. (1913). John Woolman, His Life and Our Times. Macmillan.
Smith, A. (1937). The Wealth of Nations. Modern Library. (Original work published 1776).
Spiegel, H. W. (1991). The Growth of Economics Thought (3rd ed.). Duke University Press.
Stapelbroek, K., & Marjanen, J. (2012). Political Economy, Patriotism and the Rise of Societies. In K. Stapelbroek & J. Marjanen (Eds.), The Rise of Economic Societies in the Eighteenth Century (pp. 1–25). Palgrave Macmillan.
Thayer, T. (1953). The Land-Bank System in the American Colonies. The Journal of Economic History, 13(2), 145–159. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050700070339
Thomas, I. (1970). The History of Printing in America. Weathervane Books. (Original work published 1810).
Tomlins, C. (2006). Indentured Servitude in Perspective: European Migration into North America and the Composition of the Early American Labor Force, 1600-1775. In C. Matson (Ed.), The Economy of Early America: Historical Perspectives & New Directions (pp. 146–182). Pennsylvania State University Press.
Vance, H. (1911). An Inquiry into the Nature and Uses of Money; More especially of the Bills Of Credit. In A. M. Davis (Ed.), Colonial Currency Reprints (Vol. III, pp. 365–474). The Prince Society. (Original work published 1740).
Van Doren, C. (1938). Benjamin Franklin. Viking Press.
Wetzel, W. A. (1895). Benjamin Franklin as an Economist. Johns Hopkins Press.
Whitney, J. (1943). John Woolman Quaker. Harrap & Co. LTD.
Wilhite, V. G. (1958). Founders of American Economic Thought and Policy. Bookman Associates.
Woolman, J. (1922). The Journal and Essays of John Woolman (A. M. Gummere, Ed.). Macmillan.
Woolman, J. (1922). A Plea for the Poor. In A. M. Gummere (Ed.), The Journal and Essays of John Woolman (pp. 402–437). Macmillan. (Original work published 1763).
Woolman, J. (1922). Conversations of the True Harmony of Mankind and How it May be Promoted. In A. M. Gummere (Ed.), The Journal and Essays of John Woolman (pp. 460–473). Macmillan. (Original work published 1772).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.