Business Enterprise in the American Revolution

Extract

As students continue to re-work the field of American history, they turn up a great variety of new material. Some of it is of limited significance—the sparse gleanings that one expects to find where many careful reapers have been at work. But some of it is rich and important, as unexplored aspects of the past attract attention; and this is especially true of the growing knowledge about business in America's development. It is a striking paradox that while private enterprise was overwhelmingly dominant in American life, historians gave it not the slightest heed; but now, in a period when that dominance has definitely waned, historians are devoting an increasing amount of attention to the role of business in the growth of the nation.