A History of Debt in America

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What is the history of debt in America? How has indebtedness become an inescapable condition for some, and a virtue for others? What can we learn from the forgotten efforts of those who issued debt, lived in debt, struggled through debt, and mobilized in and around debt? This survey course examines the links between debt, power, development, and mobility. Together, we will see how debt transformed daily life in North America over the past 500 years, and spot moments when collective action undermined the supposed unbreakable terms of indebtedness. This class neither presumes a background in economics, nor previous coursework in history.