1.  Describe Philadelphia in the late eighteenth century?

2.  What was the role of the “moral economy” (just price, just wage) and the "market society" (the market)  in eighteenth-century Philadelphia?

3.  How were Philadelphia's two dominant social groups, the merchants and the artisans (leatheraprons), different from each other?  Describe a typical merchant and a typical artisan?  How did they live and work?  What did they believe?  Why?  Were there social divisions within these groups?  How did they affect Philadelphia life?  What was the relationship between merchants and artisans?

4.  What was the artisans' social-political life like?  How did they come to take an interest in politics?  What was their interest?

5.  What was Thomas Paine's influence on the artisan community?  What was the artisan community's influence on Paine?

6.  Describe the lower orders of Philadelphia society?  What were the most important characteristics of this group?  What were some of the fundamental distinctions within this group?  What was the relationship of the lower orders with the merchants and with the artisans?  True Clue:  Consider leisure activity.

7.  What was the significance of mob activity in Philadelphia?  Did the mob have a “mind”?  How was mob action in Philadelphia related to traditional mob activity, ie., the bread riot?  What was the connection between the mob and the militia?  How did the joining the militia affect the social status of poor people?  Who were the Associators?

8.  What are the main elements of the emerging Republican ideology that was held by the independent artisans?  To what degree was it forward-looking and to what extent backward-looking?