Description
Book SynopsisThis 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.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 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
