Question

Please write a reaction paper about Worlds of Goods in the Northern Colonies by T.H. Breen

Answer 1

The document "Worlds of Goods in the Northern Colonies" gives insight on the British American colonists. The author gives lot of examples showing the influence of foreign goods on colonies, on contrary to our assumption of pre-independent America.

Breen proves the dependency of the Americans on imported goods, which were the basis for the society. Also, the struggle to determine the hierarchy of various social classes led to the path of fast economic growth. Rich people purchased expensive goods to decorate their homes, each trying to prove themselves better than the other. Slowly the expensive items reached the lowest level of classes.

This increased their interest to be on top of the trend and be similar to their motherland Britain. More the imports, more they had to give something in return. This raised the sense of personal identity for the colonists.

From the above one can understand that the pre-revolution Americans were not as self sufficient, as once thought. This was proved by the specific examples given by Breen. This document shows how consumer revolution was one of the driven factor for the Independence fight.