University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2009 "Millions of Luxurious Citizens": Consumption and Citizenship in the Urban Northeast, 1800-1865 Joanna Cohen University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Cultural History Commons, Economic History Commons, Political Economy Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Cohen, Joanna, ""Millions of Luxurious Citizens": Consumption and Citizenship in the Urban Northeast, 1800-1865" (2009). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. Paper 1537. Related publications based on this dissertation: Luxurious Citizens: Consumption and Civic Belonging in Nineteenth Century America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming). “Promoting Pleasure as Political Economy: The rT ansformation of American Advertising, 1800 to 1850.” The inW terthur Portfolio(link is external), (forthcoming) This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1537 For more information, please contact [email protected]. "Millions of Luxurious Citizens": Consumption and Citizenship in the Urban Northeast, 1800-1865 Abstract In the century following the American Revolution, culturally powerful middle-class citizens in the northeast slowly abandoned a vision of civic non-consumption that rested on the strength of imperial boycotts nda instead converted their consumption of luxury goods and products into a civic act. This dissertation reveals how these citizens challenged the limitations that a republican vision of political economy placed on consumers in the early republic. Through discussions over taxation, tariff nda market regulation, middle-class men and women struggled to define their civic rights and obligations as consumers in a capitalist democracy. As they began to imagine their civic identity more in terms of their capacity as consumers rather than producers, well-off citizens created a new vision of economic citizenship that acknowledged the consumer as a rights-bearing individual. By the end of the Civil War, middle-class Americans in the North had transformed the civic dimensions of consumption. By disconnecting consumption from a republican political economy, middle-class citizens made consumption part of a new politics of representation, freeing themselves from older civic restraints. In doing so, they laid the groundwork for the consumer culture that would escalate rapidly in the twentieth century. Using an analytical framework that combines cultural history with the study of political economy, Millions of Luxurious Citizens asks how it was that nineteenth century middle-class producers, retailers and consumers imagined the demands of the nation's economy and translated those ideas into a vision of citizenship that made shopping in America both a right and an obligation. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group History First Advisor Stephanie McCurry Keywords consumption, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, citizenship, market, New York, tariff Subject Categories Cultural History | Economic History | Political Economy | United States History This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1537 Comments Related publications based on this dissertation: Luxurious Citizens: Consumption and Civic Belonging in Nineteenth Century America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming). “Promoting Pleasure as Political Economy: The rT ansformation of American Advertising, 1800 to 1850.” The Winterthur Portfolio(link is external), (forthcoming) This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1537 'MILLIONS OF LUXURIOUS CITIZENS": CONSUMPTION AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE URBAN NORTHEAST, 1800-1865 Joanna Cohen A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2009 Dissertation Supervisor Graduate Group Chairperson "Millions of Luxurious Citizens": Consumption and Citizenship in the Urban Northeast, 1800-1865. COPYRIGHT 2009 Joanna Cohen To my parents. Jonathan and Micky Cohen. 111 A dissertation is a strange thing. It has multiple ends. You hand it in, you defend it and you deposit it and it is still never quite complete. It is an open ended project, waiting for you to take it on to the next step of its existence. In the same way it has many beginnings. The moment you begin your research, the first day of a particular course that planted a seed on an idea or even your first day of graduate school. But in thinking about all the people who have helped me complete this task, I have realized that the beginning of this project extends much farther back than the start of my graduate school days, making the list of people to whom I owe my gratitude that much longer. As a British citizen I am trained to guard against sentiment. Nonetheless, it is wonderful to finally be able to thank all those people, who supported, encouraged and inspired me to both start and finish this project. This project is dedicated to my parents, Jonathan and Micky Cohen. It is hard to adequately sum up all the wonderful things they have passed on to me, so I will mention only a few. Through the places they took me, the ideas they shared with me and the questions they asked me, they gave me a love of learning that will stay with me all my life. They gave me the confidence and courage to embark on hard projects and perhaps most valuable of all in a project like this, they taught me how to stay the course. It is fair to say that this would not have been completed with out their help. Richard, my brother, has played his own special role in helping me to complete this project. His early offer of providing readers for the dissertation has not been forgotten and although it is somewhat unconventional, I may still hold him to it. Not only did it make me laugh but it also let me know that he was proud of me, two things that have sustained me, perhaps more than he knows. The other family member who has iv sustained me is Diane Storck. My American cousin, she gave me a home away from home from the moment I arrived in the U.S. Everything from food and furniture to a Thanksgiving holiday (even when I was no longer in Chicago) was provided without hesitation, making me feel that even though I had crossed an ocean, I still had someone who would look out for me who was close by. I also thank my grandparents, Norman and Ruth Cohen and Lore Weingarten. Their own stories, my own family's past, were the first histories I learnt and they each taught me in their own way why history was important. My grandfather, in particular, led me into a world of learning. A self-taught scholar of William Blake, an artist and a bibliophile, he has always nurtured my own efforts at being scholarly and he continues to be a source of inspiration. I have had a number of truly wonderful history teachers. Ann Thomas, Julian Roberts and Annabel Smith taught me how to make history more than dates and facts. Arriving at Queens' College, Cambridge I was fortunate enough to be looked after by the late Brendan Bradshaw as well as by Richard Rex, who patiently explained to me in the first week that the Bishop of Rome was, in fact, the Pope. I was also lucky enough to be taught by Angus Gowland, who not only ushered me through a section of Tripos but also allowed me to ask him endless questions about what came after University. He continues to generously answer all the questions I throw his way on academic life in general. Above all I must thank Tony Badger. Not only did he introduce me to the joys of American history but he helped me to make my way to the United States for graduate school. I can say without a doubt, that were it not for him I would not be where I am today. Because of him I went first to Northwestern and then the University of Pennsylvania and ended up working with Stephanie McCurry. From the very first I knew I was lucky to be working with Stephanie McCurry. Her verve and enthusiasm always infused me with new energy, the thought and intellect she brought to every piece of work I showed her, no matter how rough, always improved my thinking and the passion she brought to her own work, taught me how to be a scholar. Beyond that she has been a mentor and a friend and I am grateful for all the time she took to talk with me about history and life in general. I am also grateful to be able to say thank you to Kathy Peiss. Her calm wisdom, thorough readings and constant advice have helped me to navigate the waters of graduate school. Her class on the history of consumption was one of the starting points for this project and her insistence on deep thinking and thoughtful prose helped me to finish it. Her reading groups also provided community and camaraderie, both of which made graduate life a pleasure. Two other advisors also ushered the project through from start to finish. Roger Chartier and Walter Licht both helped me at different moments to frame the dissertation and give it either focus or broader horizons when necessary. Discussions with both of them were always illuminating and their individuals approaches to the past helped me to gain greater clarity. Other faculty, both at Northwestern and at Perm have also taught me a great deal. My thanks to Dana Baron, T.H. Breen, Kathy Brown, Betsy Erkkila, Steve Hahn, Sarah Igo, Marion Kant, Bruce Kuklick, Ann Moyer, Daniel Richter, Jonathan Steinberg, Tom Sugrue and Mike Zuckerman for their time, interest and expertise. No project can be completed without substantial financial help from many generous institutions.