"The Right to Purchase Is as Free as the Right to Sell": Defining Consumers as Citizens in the Auction-house Conflicts of the Early Republic
This article explores the commercial turf war over auction houses in the 1820s, a dispute which inadvertently altered how Americans imagined the civic rights and obligations of consumers. Beginning in 1817, east coast merchants embarked on a self-interested crusade to convince Congress to tax auction houses out of existence. As the auctioneers retaliated, this private conflict over profits escalated into a public debate on the state of the nation's political economy. Seeking public sympathy, both sides quickly focused on the needs of purchasers, arguing that their business alone upheld the rights of the consumer in a chaotic and corrupt marketplace. But this strategy failed as the choices and desires of individual shoppers forced both sides to reformulate their understanding of the consumer. As Americans continued to flock to shops that stocked goods bought at auction, merchants in particular conceded that championing the consumer did not serve their cause. Abandoning hope that a tariff would curb the success of the auction-house, the merchants began to argue that consumers must regulate themselves for the good of the nation. By 1828, this argument hardened into a new understanding, that placed the "right to purchase" alongside a set of new obligations, ones that made consumer choice and taste a requirement of good citizenship.
Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America
National Humanities Center. William C. and Ida Friday Fellow. 2013-14. American Council of Learned Societies. Fellow. 2013-14 Princeton University. Program in Law and Public Affairs. Fellow. 2013-14. (declined) Harvard University. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Fellow. 2013-14. (declined) University of Michigan. Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship. 2013-present. University of Michigan. Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award. 2011. Organization of American Historians. Distinguished Lectureship Program. Distinguished Lecturer. 2010-13. University of Michigan. Office of the Vice President for Research. Michigan Humanities Award. 2010-11. Columbia University. Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference. Visiting Fellow. 2009-11. University of Michigan. Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. Faculty Fellow. 2009-2010. University of Pennsylvania Law School and the National Constitution Center. Visiting Scholar. 2008. Gilder-Lehrman Institute Fellowship in American History. Research Fellowship. 2003-04. The Library Company of Philadelphia and Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Research Fellowship. 2003-04. University of Michigan. Institute for the Humanities. Michigan Faculty Fellowship. 2003-04.
Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
PART I: The Pre-Islamic Middle East Chapter 1 Mesopotamia Chapter 2 The Mediterranean Middle East PART II: Founding Discourses Chapter 3 Women and the Rise of Islam Chapter 4 The Transitional Age Chapter 5 Elaboration of the Founding Discourses Chapter 6 Medieval Islam PART III: New Discourses Chapter 7 Social and Intellectual Change Chapter 8 The Discourse of the Veil Chapter 9 The First Feminists Chapter 10 Divergent Voices Chapter 11 The Struggle for the Future Conclusion Notes Index.