Jack Fischer's The Reshaping Of Everyday Life

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Renowned historian David Hackett Fischer believes the Early National Period marked a time of “deep change” in the United States. To what extent does Jack Larkin’s The Reshaping of Everyday Life and the essays in A Shared Experience support or refute Fischer’s thesis? Remember to use very specific examples from the readings. In 1790, the United States had just ratified the Constitution and began its experiment with a Republican government. The ratification of the Constitution marked the beginning of the Early National Period. The ENP was filled with change. Everything from transportation to cooking became more efficient and changed the way ordinary Americans lived. The advancements in technology had a profound impact on American culture. Jack Larkin’s book, The Reshaping of Everyday Life, and the essays in A Shared Experience support Fischer’s thesis that “deep change” was happening in the ENP. The first major change happening in…show more content…
The sustenance economy was being replaced by the commercial economy. A commercial economy depended on the exchange of currency for goods, in the period from 1790 to 1840, the amount of hard currency in circulation increased, especially with the mid century gold rushes. People relied less on the rural exchange and more on hard currency. The rural exchange was not just an economic system. It connected neighbors and communities with each other socially. Rural farmers traded labor for commodities and vice versa. Northern farms responded to the new economic reality by specializing in goods and producing items that the market demanded. Rural artisans found it harder to compete with mass produced products and had to change their work habits in order to survive. At the beginning of the century, most items that could be bought were “handmade” by artisans living in the area. As industrialization took hold in the east and in England, Americans were more likely to be buying machine made
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