Antiques.(the contribution of artisans to American life in the colonial period)

 
Tall, slender, and light of figure, the American seems built expressly 
for labour; he has no equal for despatch of business. Nobody also can 
conform so easily to new situations and circumstances; he is always 
ready to adopt new processes and implements, or to change his 
occupation. He is a mechanic by nature ... in Massachusetts and 
Connecticut, there is not a labourer who has not invented a machine or a 
tool. 
Michel Chevalier, Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States, 
1839 

Crafts--and the artisans of "the middling sort" who practiced them--played an important part in early American life. Next to yeoman farmers, craftsmen comprised the largest segment ...