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Colonial Ports, Global Trade, and the Roots of the American Revolution (1700 — 1776)
Series: - Library of Economic History, Volume: 18
Author:
This title is published in Open Access with the support of the University of Helsinki Library.
This book takes a long-run view of the global maritime trade of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia from 1700 to American Independence in 1776. Land argues that the three cities developed large, global networks of maritime commerce and exchange that created tension between merchants and the British Empire which sought to enforce mercantilist policies to constrain American trade to within the British Empire. Colonial merchants created and then expanded their mercantile networks well beyond the confines of the British Empire. This trans-imperial trade (often considered smuggling by British authorities) formed the roots of what became known as the American Revolution.
This book takes a long-run view of the global maritime trade of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia from 1700 to American Independence in 1776. Land argues that the three cities developed large, global networks of maritime commerce and exchange that created tension between merchants and the British Empire which sought to enforce mercantilist policies to constrain American trade to within the British Empire. Colonial merchants created and then expanded their mercantile networks well beyond the confines of the British Empire. This trans-imperial trade (often considered smuggling by British authorities) formed the roots of what became known as the American Revolution.
Jeremy Land, Ph.D., (2019), Georgia State University, is currently a postdoctoral researcher in economic history at University of Gothenburg and a visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki. His research focuses on the global maritime economy, war, and state capacity in the early modern era.
"
Colonial Ports offers an accessible overview of eighteenth-century commercial networks in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Nonspecialists and undergraduates will welcome its clear language, argumentation, and historical background, while specialists will gravitate to its exhaustive quantitative analysis and data tables on the contours of this trade. "
---- Grant Kleiser, Columbia University, in: H-Early-America February, 2024
"Land offers a convincing material explanation of the cause of American independence. Tight, well-organized, and quite readable, Land’s book presents an argument that is both straightforward and sophisticated. He successfully argues against several prior interpretations of the political economy of eighteenth-century British North America." - Benjamin L. Carp, Brooklyn College, in: EH.Net (September 2023)
---- Grant Kleiser, Columbia University, in: H-Early-America February, 2024
"Land offers a convincing material explanation of the cause of American independence. Tight, well-organized, and quite readable, Land’s book presents an argument that is both straightforward and sophisticated. He successfully argues against several prior interpretations of the political economy of eighteenth-century British North America." - Benjamin L. Carp, Brooklyn College, in: EH.Net (September 2023)
Acknowledgments
List of Tables and Figures
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Historical Background
2 Outline
1 The Port Complex of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia
1 The Regional Complex of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia
2 Complementarity and Competition
3 Imperial Constraints and Limits
4 Conclusion
2 Merchants and Mercantile Networks
1 Merchants and Communities
2 Local Capital Investment in Trade
3 Networks and the Regional Complex
4 Mechanisms of Trade
5 Merchants and the Political Economy
6 Conclusion
3 Trade and Commodities
1 Imports
2 East Asian Goods
3 Exports
4 Sugar
5 Mechanisms of Consumption and Demand
6 Conclusion
4 Inter-colonial Trade
1 Quantifying and Defining Inter-colonial Trade
2 Coastal and North American Trade
3 West Indies Trade
4 Conclusion
5 Trans-imperial Trade
1 Defining Trans-imperial Trade
2 Legal(?) Trade
3 Smuggling
4 Supplying Demand for East Asian Goods
5 Transcending Imperial Borders in the Colonial Arena
6 Lisbon–Philadelphia Trade
7 Conclusion
6 “Salutary Neglect” and the Origins of Independence
1 “Salutary Neglect” and Imperial Control
2 Colonial Merchants as Competitors with English Merchants
3 The Seven Years’ War and the 1760s
4 Economic Implications of Renewed Imperial Control
5 Regional Merchants and Collective Resistance
6 Britain’s Military Occupation of Boston and the Sparks of War
7 Conclusion
Conclusion: Revolution or a Battle for Free Trade?
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
List of Tables and Figures
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Historical Background
2 Outline
1 The Port Complex of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia
1 The Regional Complex of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia
2 Complementarity and Competition
3 Imperial Constraints and Limits
4 Conclusion
2 Merchants and Mercantile Networks
1 Merchants and Communities
2 Local Capital Investment in Trade
3 Networks and the Regional Complex
4 Mechanisms of Trade
5 Merchants and the Political Economy
6 Conclusion
3 Trade and Commodities
1 Imports
2 East Asian Goods
3 Exports
4 Sugar
5 Mechanisms of Consumption and Demand
6 Conclusion
4 Inter-colonial Trade
1 Quantifying and Defining Inter-colonial Trade
2 Coastal and North American Trade
3 West Indies Trade
4 Conclusion
5 Trans-imperial Trade
1 Defining Trans-imperial Trade
2 Legal(?) Trade
3 Smuggling
4 Supplying Demand for East Asian Goods
5 Transcending Imperial Borders in the Colonial Arena
6 Lisbon–Philadelphia Trade
7 Conclusion
6 “Salutary Neglect” and the Origins of Independence
1 “Salutary Neglect” and Imperial Control
2 Colonial Merchants as Competitors with English Merchants
3 The Seven Years’ War and the 1760s
4 Economic Implications of Renewed Imperial Control
5 Regional Merchants and Collective Resistance
6 Britain’s Military Occupation of Boston and the Sparks of War
7 Conclusion
Conclusion: Revolution or a Battle for Free Trade?
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
Specialists in economic and business history; libraries; graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in American, global, and Atlantic studies; history of the American Revolution, colonial America, and international trade.