Description
What can dresses bedlinens waistcoats pantaloons shoes and kerchiefs tell us about the legal status of the least powerful members of American society In the hands of eminent historian Laura F Edwards these textiles tell a revealing story of ordinary people and how they made use of their material goods economic and legal value in the period between the Revolution and the Civil War
Only the Clothes on Her Back uncovers practices commonly known then but now long forgotten which made textilesclothing cloth bedding and accessories such as shoes and hatsa unique form of property that people without rights could own and exchange The value of textiles depended on law and it was law that turned these goods into a secure form of property for marginalized people who not only used these textiles as currency credit and capital but also as entre into the new republics economy and governing institutions Edwards grounds the laws relating to textiles in engaging stories from the lives of everyday Americans Wives wove linen and kept the proceeds enslaved people traded coats and shoes and poor people invested in fabrics which they carefully preserved in trunks Edwards shows that these stories are about far more than cloth and clothing they reshape our understanding of law and the economy in America
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.