Stumbling Towards the Constitution : The Economic Consequences of Freedom in the Atlantic World

Jonathan M. Chu examines the economic and constitutional adjustments Americans made after Independence to consider their impact on the debates over the Constitutional Convention. Chu explores individual economic and legal behaviors, connecting them to: adjustments in trade relations with Europe and Asia; the rise in debt litigation in Western Massachusetts; deflation and monetary illiquidity, and the Bank of North America; and reconceiving the functions of the national government and the need for constitutional reform. Stumbling Towards the Constitution will be of interest to historians of the Revolution and Early America specifically, and economic, legal and constitutional historians and historians of the Atlantic world more generally. "This book explores how Americans adjusted their economic behavior to new market incentives that resulted from the American Revolution. Jonathan Chu explores individual economic and legal behaviors, connecting them to adjustments in trade relations with Europe and Asia, the rise in debt litigation in Western Massachusetts, deflation and monetary illiquidity, and the Bank of North America." Front Matter....Pages i-xv Independence, the United States, and the Atlantic Community....Pages 1-18 Reorienting Trade: The Origins of Sino-American Trade....Pages 19-41 American Merchants in the Postrevolutionary World....Pages 43-69 Debt and Taxes: The Economy, State Action, and Private Behavior....Pages 71-89 Illiquidity, Depression, and Debt Litigation in Western Massachusetts....Pages 91-108 A Necessary Expedient: Monetary Stability and the Bank of North America....Pages 109-136 The Bank of North America: A Dreadful Engine of Oppression....Pages 137-158 The Unfinished Revolution: A Uniform System of Commercial Intercourse and Regulations....Pages 159-188 Back Matter....Pages 189-277