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A social, economic, and political study of Philadelphia merchants, this study presents both the spirit and statistics of merchant life. Doerflinger studies the Philadelphia merchant community from three perspectives: their commercial world, their confrontation with the Revolution and its aftermath, and their role in diversifying the local economy. The analysis of entrepreneurship dominates the study and challenges long-standing assumptions about American economic history.

Thomas M. Doerflinger, a securities analyst with PaineWebber Incorporated, received his doctorate in history from Harvard. He has published articles on early American business history and has taught history at two universities.

"A solid, well-written, and brilliantly perceptive study of the economic structure and behavior of the merchant class in Revolutionary Philadelphia."
--Richard Alan Ryerson, The Adams Papers