LEADER 04675nam 2200805Ia 450 001 9910452392003321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-8122-2247-4 010 $a1-283-89082-8 010 $a0-8122-0261-9 024 7 $a10.9783/9780812202618 035 $a(CKB)2550000000104525 035 $a(OCoLC)794702149 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10576056 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000607786 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11407856 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000607786 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10591200 035 $a(PQKB)10486796 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000811987 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12344203 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000811987 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10859144 035 $a(PQKB)11733433 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3441616 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse11967 035 $a(DE-B1597)463520 035 $a(OCoLC)979954181 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780812202618 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3441616 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10576056 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL420332 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000104525 100 $a20090419d2009 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aTown born$b[electronic resource] $ethe political economy of New England from its founding to the Revolution /$fBarry Levy 210 $aPhiladelphia $cUniversity of Pennsylvania Press$dc2009 215 $a1 online resource (361 p.) 225 1 $aEarly American studies 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-8122-4177-0 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tIntroduction -- $tPART I. Foundations -- $tChapter one. Political Economy -- $tChapter two. Stripes -- $tChapter three. Settlement -- $tPART II. Development -- $tChapter four. Political Fabric -- $tChapter five. Of Wharves and Men -- $tChapter seven. Crews -- $tPART III. Town People -- $tChapter eight. Orphans -- $tChapter nine. Prodigals or Milquetoasts? -- $tEpilogue -- $tNotes -- $tSelected primary sources -- $tIndex -- $tAcknowledgments 330 $aIn the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, British colonists found the New World full of resources. With land readily available but workers in short supply, settlers developed coercive forms of labor-indentured servitude and chattel slavery-in order to produce staple export crops like rice, wheat, and tobacco. This brutal labor regime became common throughout most of the colonies. An important exception was New England, where settlers and their descendants did most work themselves.In Town Born, Barry Levy shows that New England's distinctive and far more egalitarian order was due neither to the colonists' peasant traditionalism nor to the region's inhospitable environment. Instead, New England's labor system and relative equality were every bit a consequence of its innovative system of governance, which placed nearly all land under the control of several hundred self-governing town meetings. As Levy shows, these town meetings were not simply sites of empty democratic rituals but were used to organize, force, and reconcile laborers, families, and entrepreneurs into profitable export economies. The town meetings protected the value of local labor by persistently excluding outsiders and privileging the town born.The town-centered political economy of New England created a large region in which labor earned respect, relative equity ruled, workers exercised political power despite doing the most arduous tasks, and the burdens of work were absorbed by citizens themselves. In a closely observed and well-researched narrative, Town Born reveals how this social order helped create the foundation for American society. 410 0$aEarly American studies. 606 $aCities and towns$zNew England$xHistory 606 $aCity and town life$zNew England$xHistory 606 $aLand settlement$zNew England$xHistory 606 $aPower (Social sciences)$zNew England$xHistory 607 $aNew England$xEconomic conditions 607 $aNew England$xPolitics and government$yTo 1775 607 $aNew England$xSocial conditions 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aCities and towns$xHistory. 615 0$aCity and town life$xHistory. 615 0$aLand settlement$xHistory. 615 0$aPower (Social sciences)$xHistory. 676 $a330.97402 700 $aLevy$b Barry$0938976 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910452392003321 996 $aTown born$92468525 997 $aUNINA