Download or read book A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise written by Thomas M. Doerflinger and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.