Female Consumerism and Household Authority in Early National New England

Abstract

This article explores connections between female consumer activity, male household authority, and concerns regarding the survival of the republic in late eighteenth, early nineteenth-century New England. Newspaper essays warning of the dire individual and national consequences of excessive female consumerism and husbands' newspaper advertisements accusing their wives of excessive spending reveal a contest within New England households over control of economic resources, the extent and meaning of women's consumer activities, and the implications of these activities for the nation. Wives' consumer spending challenged their husbands' authority and could threaten the men's position as economically independent citizens. Many New Englanders feared that women's spending would disrupt male household authority and undermine the success of the new republic.