Antiques.(American Revolution and today's antiques)(Brief Article)

Our clock strikes when there is a change from hour to hour; but no hammer in the Horologe of Time peals through the universe, when there is a change from Era to Era.

Thomas Carlyle, "Thoughts on History," Fraser's Magazine, November 1830

The transformation of Britain's mainland colonies between 1680 and 1770 was the real American Revolution. The great social, economic, political, and cultural changes created the first modern society, just as the war in 1776 can rightly be called the first modern revolution.

Between 1680 and 1770 the people of America became the diverse society that has distinguished the country ever since. The economy grew at a rate unprecedented by the standards of both the new and old worlds, drawing on the productivity of European immigrants, enslaved Africans, and American Indians. It brought American goods to expanding international markets and a wide array of the world's goods to affluent American consumers.

Despite the rising importance of merchants and the skilled trades, the ubiquity of farming in America meant that most European immigrants shared one common characteristic: they were people of the land. Much colonial farming raised crops for household consumption, but commercial fanning for other markets became increasingly important during that century of change. By the 1760s farmers were quite commercially oriented, selling crops to factors, who then sold them to other, mainly European markets. These crops varied widely and included grains, tobacco, rice, indigo, and timber.

During the fruitful century ...