{"product_id":"promise-to-pay-the-politics-and-power-of-money-in-early-america-9780226835839","title":"Promise to Pay: The Politics and Power of Money in Early America","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn incisive account of the crucial role money played in the formation and development of British North America. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ePromise to Pay\u003c\/i\u003e follows America's first paper money--the \"bills of credit\" of British North America--from its seventeenth-century origins as a means of war finance to its pivotal role in catalyzing the American Revolution. Katie A. Moore combs through treasury records, account books, and the bills themselves to tell a new story of money's origins that challenges economic orthodoxy and mainstream histories. \u003ci\u003ePromise to Pay\u003c\/i\u003e shows how colonial governments imposed paper bills on settler communities through existing labor and kinship relations, their value secured by thousands of individual claims on the public purse--debts--and the state's promise to take them back as payment for taxes owed. Born into a world of hierarchy and deference, early American money eroded old social ties and created new asymmetries of power, functioning simultaneously as a ticket to the world of goods, a lifeline for those on the margins, and a tool of imperial domination. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Grounded in sustained engagement with scholarship from multiple disciplines, \u003ci\u003ePromise to Pay\u003c\/i\u003e breathes new life into old debates and offers an incisive account of the centrality of money in the politics and conflicts of empire, community, and everyday life. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKatie A. Moore\u003c\/b\u003e is assistant professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50869549924626,"sku":"9780226835839","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3b21e108-318b-4c4b-9d58-5e584178eca1.jpg?v=1744275665","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/promise-to-pay-the-politics-and-power-of-money-in-early-america-9780226835839","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}