Early American colonial furniture was highly influenced by the types and designs of English furniture in the seventeenth century. The American highboys and lowboys were the equivalent of the English chest of drawers called Tallboys and they made their appearance towards the beginning of the 18th century. However, a point of difference was that English or French chests of drawers were made wholly of oak, while what was commonly available in America was the pine chest of drawers; very rarely though the chests of drawers were made of poplar or maple. American colonial solid pine chest of drawers used the tenon and mortise joinery for the drawers. Pine chests come in a range of styles many white and French chest of drawers are made from pine wood.
American colonial furniture was distinctly functional, simple in design and had little ornamentation. However, as the wealth increased, furniture makers thrived and furniture pieces were named after the location of manufacture as Hartford chests of Connecticut or the Hadley chests of Massachusetts. The highboys of Philadelphia and Rhode Island were stupendous works of finest quality and workmanship.