Book Description

This is the first collection of primary sources by and about artisans in the early national era. In a number of ways it is as significant as the many volumes by the founding fathers that now grace library shelves because artisans were at the forefront of both the political and economic developments that would make this era so formative in American history. The documents illustrate the expectations spawned by the American Revolution within this sector of American society and the efforts of the artisans. It tells the colorful, dramatic, and hopeful, if ultimately disappointing story of their efforts, and the vital part they played in the shaping of American social and labor history.