Consumer Nation: How Consumerism Changed America

Joshua Shavel
Consumer Nation
10/5/17

How Consumerism Changed America

America is often described as a nation of consumers. This description usually has a negative tone, implying that Americans are materialistic, and in comparison to the majority of other countries, this is true. Many people accuse Americans of having a level of consumption that is actually wasteful in a lot of ways. Finding the difference between “needs” and “wants” is difficult in a consumer nation, where options are almost limitless. Consumerism can also bring about positive change, though, and this is especially true in the United States. From the beginnings of America, consumerism was a positive force for change in terms of political, cultural and geographical developments.

This would make it seem unlikely that they would be a part of the first consumer revolution in America, (1) (S1) but once the Europeans came to America, the Native Americans struck a relationship to trade with them, “The per capita wealth of Indian Americans, though it cannot be measured in currencies, increased dramatically from the earliest stages of contact because European traders were willing and eager to pay top pound…for American animal pelts and skins”(S1, pg. ?). Europeans wanted to trade with the Indians for their furs and skins that they had acquired, because these were very popular in Europe at that time. Deer skins were used for pants, bags, and work attire, and furs were used on coats and evening gowns. In return the Indians wanted hatchets, cooking utensils, bigger hoes, and blankets; items that would make hunting and eating less time consuming. They also traded for jewelry, mirrors, guns and alcohol. Unfortunately, as the Indians became bigger consumers, they began to run out of resources, so they had to hunt further and further away, which extended the geography of their tribe. Their consumerism changed from goods that were necessary for survival to goods that were more of a want

Colonists wanted British goods because they were a social status symbol of the time, and they were especially interested in clothing and household items. In return the colonists wanted trade to go both ways and to import American goods. When the British saw how prosperous the colonists were they decided to put a tax on imports from America, “Britain turned the ingenuity of American consumers into a justification for parliamentary taxation, based on reports of visitors ‘who saw a great display of luxury.” (S3, pg. 102) The colonists were not happy about this because they felt that “As the Americans prospered so too would the British.” (pg. 109) (S1) The colonists decided to boycott British goods so they started subscription lists where they promised not purchase imported items from Britain. They decided to use the power of consumerism to bring about political change, “What no one anticipated was that mass political mobilization within a consumer marketplace would radically transform how Americans construed community so that by the 1770s their experience provoked them to imagine a powerful commercial empire of their own.” (pg. 107) (S1) These consumer forces played a political and cultural role in the beginnings of the American Revolution where the colonists cut all ties with Britain and