| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 168 words from this article are provided below; about 368 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Securing the Commonwealth: Debt, Speculation, and Writing in the Making of Early America. By Jennifer J. Baker. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. xii, 218 pp. $50.00, ISBN 0-8018-7972-8.)

Using Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Ebenezer Cooke, David Ramsey, Charles Brockden Brown, Royall Tyler, and Judith Sargent Murray as foci, Jennifer J. Baker links the literature of the early republic to debates and discussions over debt, paper money, and commercial speculation and sees in them paradigms for imagining the bases for community building and the emergence of sympathetic, benevolent feelings. In contrast to those who see this period as the transition from subsistence, moral economies to ruthless market ones, she assumes a more complex world: one in which colonists and early Americans comprehended the commodity value of money; understood the implications of government backing of paper money; saw speculation and commerce as opportunities for growth; and attempted to use their economic experience prescriptively for building "communities and a catalyst for sympathetic social action" (p. 2).

. . .

There are about 368 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.