Merchants [ Commerce ]
… should not just simply relate to income, but to shared values concerning property, industry, improvement, leisure or fashion. Historians have therefore presented two different versions of the middling sort, those who emulated the gentry … either their own honorable intentions toward others or their expectation that others should act in an honourable fashion towards them. Honour functioned here as an ‘antidote to risk’. 16 A merchant’s credit concerned his ability to …
Commerce | Merchants | Middling sort | North America | Politeness
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