Major Themes use of consumer goods to create identities the debate over the morality of consumer acquisitiveness political use of consumer choice economic impact of consumerism Puritans and Jamestown colony started off differently but slowly began very similar by wanting same goods Puritans Massachusetts bay feel like a rapid materialism is growing in Europe gold candlesticks buttons etc Quaker simplicity created laws Sumptuary Laws to make conspicuous consumption illegal willing to enforce a certain kind of austerity because they see consumption as a lot of rich puritans still wanted their goods and found loopholes to wear their immoral rich clothing it was the poor that wanted to dress like the rich but couldn t pay the fines quakers felt like consumerism would lead to other moral dangers caring about fine goods would stop you from caring about poor finer tea sets equals more drinking Jamestown Settlement believe they were here to get rich as europeans come in they pull native americans in trade system n a were changed the most by consumerist colonies jamestown brought knives and hooks that changed how the n a lived they began to want stocking ribbons tea sets and more As we move into 18th century Puritan second generation started overturning their laws Southern farmers were getting rich and needs more and more stuff 18th century fashion fine fabric fancy lace patterns and more more money lets spend it porcealin clocks solver candlesticks as soon as they have a little bit of spending money they would spend it musical instruments filling their new big colonial houses Began worrying about what it was doing to their society list of goods to buy went from 50 to 400 increase in shoplifting keep giving great deals on credit that slam you with interest a few years later got slammed with debt during revolution 90 of people bought merchandise on credit hoping the money would come in later not a consumerist society yet but it has the evidence of one forming still producing what they need but by last 25 years of 1700s they loved consumer goods some say they started the revolution to keep consumerist society American Revolution Breen argues that revolution was the first large scale political movement in recorded history to organize itself around the relation of ordinary people to manufacture consumer goods Colonial society was a mirror of English Society so they felt insulted when the english tax them differently than englishmen living in England Colonists used consumer goods to try and show them that they were just as english as the ones in England Sons of Liberty one stated that he hated being dependent on Great Britian for stuff England was in debt due to French and Indian War they sent army over to colonies to protect them during war they believed the colonists should have to pay them back through taxes British don t understand why they are made about the taxes so try to change products or seasons John Hancock believes it is creating dependent men Colonists don t want to pay certain taxes on consumer goods and want a say in how the taxes are created taxation without representation Stamp Tax all printed materials produced in North America must be taxed sheet music dice paystubs everything Stamp Act Protest decided to repeal it because colonists were mad thought they didn t like the tax on internal goods British wanted to tax the colonists like englishmen but wouldn t treat them equally Townshend Act taxation on imported goods TEA colonists think its unfair they just want a say in what they are taxing doing it to protect english industry that the colonists don t benefit from Creates non importation organized by George Washington and George Mason all merchants that import goods are going to stop taking them they might lose on sales but they real hit will be in England semi boycott by merchants if everyone agrees it will make a statement not everyone wanted to agree cause if they stocked the goods they could ve made a lot of money importation decreased at first but in 1770 the non importation started to fall apart and is gone by 1771 British start to back down but keep tea act reinforced by parliament in 1773 so much demand for tea that merchants want to smuggle it in from islands and caribbean works for a while until British start ramping up imperial presence started persecuting smugglers colonists feel like once again rights have been taken away creates a Boycott that will punish British industry and support domestic industry want to give back to the british the economic pain that americans had felt as long as they organize they can use this new found power women are the ones to start producing goods and make decisions as consumers of their households a k a making homespun cloth instead of buying it Homespun dress was a badge of patriotism women does this in public Daughters of Liberty come together in public centers and make clothes their way of participating in political acts Edenton Tea Party women with common experiences consumerism can lay the ground for a new nation Morality of Consumerism Historian Leach Companies the part of yourself that wants stuff is the worst part because it leads us to forget about important parts of being human but consumption during this time is more complicated growing over the century before this time companies would die out when the owner died now companies are so large they will keep on going Horizontal Intragration when you own all of the companies in on area all gas all textile all car Vertical Intergration when you own all of the steps of production so you can control price Meat Packing Industry transport production shops drove local businesses out Urban Growth 1870 1900 cities grew at least 50 but up to 21 000 living in cities its much harder to produce your own goods so you must buy them as the same time as we see these huge skyscrapers going up we see an increase in tenements crowded unhealthy these people in the tenements are the ones working in factories that allow they are the ones producing consumer goods but they are also the ones buying American industrialization happen them because they have to have to do the same thing over and over again and worked insanely long days up to 17 hours while working 13 14 days everyone in the family had to work to support the family political cartoon portraying John D Rockefeller as a King consumers took purchases is seriously cause it was how they chose to spend their money to create an identity since