Got Silk?: Buying, Selling, and Advertising British Luxury Imports During the Stamp Act Crisis Page: 2
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Busse, Michele Conrady, Got Silk?: Buying, Selling, and Advertising British
Luxury Imports Durinq the Stamp Act Crisis. Master of Arts (History), August 2007, 188
pp., 9 tables, 20 figures, references, 62 titles.
Despite the amount of scholarship on the Stamp Act Crisis, no study has used
advertisements as a main source. This study attempts to show that a valuable,
objective source has been overlooked, through the quantitative analysis of 5,810
advertisements before, during and after the Stamp Act Crisis from five port cities:
Boston, Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, and Portsmouth. The findings reveal the
colonists' strong connection to imported British luxury goods, and a lack of interest in
American-made goods, especially before and after the boycott. Advertisements also
demonstrate that the decision of many merchants to place the needs and expectations
of their community before their own personal gain offered a rare economic opportunity
for others. The colonists' devotion to imports tested the strength of the boycott,
especially among Boston merchants, who continued to advertise imported goods a
good deal more than any other city.
This lack of dedication to the boycott on the part of the Boston merchants shows
disunity among the colonies, at a time when many argue was the first instance of
colonial nationalism. Capitalism challenged and undermined a commitment to
communal sentiments such as nationalism. Moreover, if Americans did share a sense
of nationhood during the Stamp Act Crisis, it cannot be gauged by a rejection of
"Englishness."
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Busse, Michele Conrady. Got Silk?: Buying, Selling, and Advertising British Luxury Imports During the Stamp Act Crisis, thesis, August 2007; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3993/m1/2/: accessed May 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .