Women's Sphere Of Trade In Eighteenth-Century

THE MARKET ECONOMY IN PORT CITIES

During 1740s and 1760s, the port cities along the Northern American continent went through drastic economic changes as new goods became available to the common colonists, and more opportunities came into alive for the merchants and apprentice who possessed the skills to satisfy the increasing demand. Two major groups that benefited greatly from this change in the market economy are the female colonists and the underrepresented slaves and servants. Unlike their counterparts in Europe, slaves and women were engaged in the society as providers of not only skills and labors, but also other commodities, including both legal and illegal ones. Merchants like John Hull, a mint-master of New England, believed that

They took up the business from their deceased spouses and made success. It was quite surprising to learn that most of the merchants in port cities like New York and Philadelphia are females, with the major one being widows. In contrast to most women in England not being allowed to own property until late 19th century, the female merchants in the American colonies were not only able to control their own goods, but also able to communicate and trade with other male merchants in establishing successful trading companies. As Patricia Cleary stated in her essay, Women’s Sphere of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia and New York, Female shopkeepers “attempted to meet and capitalize on the demand created by the consumer revolution by characterizing themselves as arbiters of taste with metropolitan connections”. Because both the consumers and the sellers are female, it makes the trading more effective as the merchants advertise to their customers with gender focus. Shopping gradually became characterized with elements of “incipient female networks”. Besides the widows and married women, sisters and cousins formed partnership before marriages and continued to maintain shops independently. This might be the spark of individualism and fight for gender equality later. Mary Cortes and Magret Varick’s wills illustrated that female merchants typically favored their daughter, because they made sure that

In order to acquire freedom, slaves sold and purchased “passes” to travel freely through the towns and villages. They were able to disguise themselves with the skills that they practiced under their former master. Some pretended to be apprentices to avoid suspicion. One thing interesting that is described by David Waldstreicher in his essay, Unfree Workers Take Advantage of Their Economic Experience to Free Themselves is that the owners were confused about the reasons that slaves with skills run away, and failed to describe the flaws in the characteristic of the runaways. Rather than providing details about the physical appearance of the runaways, the advertisements had more detailed description about the possible jobs the runaways could take up. The slaves and servants were able to acquire freedom through the skills that made their former owners a great amount of wealth. Waldstreicher also noted in his essay that the escaped slaves and servants were able to speak in several different languages besides