Economics Commons^™

Financial Problems Of A Revolutionary: The Memoir Of John Wilkins, Howard L. Applegate

The Courier

In this article, Howard L. Applegate describes and includes an excerpt of the autobiography of John Wilkins, a shop owner in Pennsylvania during the American Revolution period who became a militia captain. Instead of detailing the colonial militia of the time, Wilkins related how militia members often took on significant financial burdens in order to keep the regiment intact, and lamented the rampant devaluation, inflation and speculation that occurred during this turbulent period in American history.