Benjamin Franklin retired on his assets at the age of 43. He was in the media business.
By early 1800's, the slaveowning bourgeoisie were the ruling sector of the ruling bourgeois class, dominating the federal government (See Marx's main articles on the Civil War which analyze the class relations of the that period; and Aptheker. )
Regarding the property relations in land, in _The American Revolution_, Herbert Aptheker indicates that the big losers were some remnants of feudal property rights and powers which were extirpated.
Charles Brown
>>> Michael Perelman <michael at ecst.csuchico.edu> 07/22/99 10:44PM >>>
Wealth at the time was mostly land. Money was scarce.
An excellent book, written by the comedian and tv critic:
Kitman, Marvin. 1989. The Making of the Prefident, 1789: The Unauthorized Campaign Biography (NY: Harper & Row).
also see his book about W's expense account.
See what trivia we academics collect.
Lebergott, Stanley. 1984. öThe Americans: An Economic Recordò (NY: Norton).
87: He cites Azel Backus. repr. ed. 1961. Connecticut Towns: Bethlehem, 1812 and Watertown 1801, pp. 3,8. says that a 70 acre lot was sold for a jackknife, a paper of pins, 2 quarts of molasses, and a dozen needles; land in "general had risen by 100 percent within the memory of the present generation." Also land could be monetized: in 1830s, raw land in western New York sold for 29 to 49 cents per acre. After the land was cleared of trees and bush, it became worth $10 per acre.
Soltow, Lee. 1987. "The Distribution of Income in the United States in 1798:
Estimates Based on the Federal Housing Inventory." öReview of Economics and Statisticsò, 49: 1 (February): pp. 181-85.
182: A congressman from Kentucky claimed that there was less than $10,000 in coinage in the entire state in 1798.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu