Originally published on August 16, 2021 (Episode 218)
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Introduction
In 1756, an unmarried Quaker woman named Deborah Morris wrote “Deborah Morris, her book, 1756” inside a copy of The American Instructor, or, Young Man’s Best Companion. At first glance, the book seems an odd choice. But for Morris—a landlady, retailer, and investor—it was immensely practical. She was not unusual. As Sarah Damiano shows in her new book To Her Credit: Women, Finance, and the Law in Eighteenth-Century New England, free women in places like Boston and Newport were deeply engaged in the world of credit. In a cash-poor society, nearly all transactions rested on trust, recorded in ledgers until creditors demanded hard currency. Women borrowed, lent, sued, and testified in countless cases involving credit, weaving themselves into the legal and financial fabric of their communities.
About the Guest
Sarah Damiano is Assistant Professor of History at Texas State University. Her research focuses on the intersections of gender, law, and finance in early America. To Her Credit is her first book.
For Further Investigation
Sarah Damiano, To Her Credit: Women, Finance, and the Law in Eighteenth-Century New England (Hopkins Press, 2021)
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale
Cornelia Hughes Dayton, Women Before the Bar: Gender, Law, and Society in Connecticut, 1639–1789
Episodes of Historically Thinking on early American law and economy
Listen & Discuss
How does Sarah Damiano’s portrait of women and credit challenge your assumptions about early America? Join the conversation in the comments.
