Women's Economies in North America before 1820: Special Forum Introduction

This introduction places six articles in the context of three overlapping issues in the economic history of women's lives before 1820. Considered together, the authors have situated their case studies within the long-term development of a domestic North American and wider Atlantic world economy growing enormously during this era. Secondly, the introduction elaborates on how the six essays situate women's economic lives in the dramas of consumer, transportation, and market revolutions transforming the colonies and nation. Thirdly, the introduction reviews the wider historiographical insights that have governed our perspectives about women's economic lives and points to ways that these six case studies help extend and change long-standing views.