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191
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2018
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Publié par
Date de parution
15 octobre 2018
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781611178951
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
A study of early transatlantic trade in South Carolina that exposes the divisive complexity that led to war
London's "Carolina traders," a little-known group of transatlantic merchants, played a pivotal but historically neglected role in the rise of tensions in the South Carolina lowcountry. In Trade, Politics, and Revolution, Huw David delves into the lives of these men and explores their influence on commerce and politics in the years before and after the American Revolution.
Beginning in the 1730s, a few select merchants in Charleston fueled South Carolina's economic rise, used their political connections to prosper in British-Carolinian trade, and then relocated to London, becoming absentee owners of property, plantations, and slaves. Using correspondence, business and slave trade records, newspapers, and a wealth of other sources, David reconstructs the lives of these Carolina traders and demonstrates their shifting but instrumental influence over the course of the eighteenth century. Until the 1760s these transatlantic traders served as a stabilizing force, using their wealth and political connections to lobby for colonial interests. As the British Empire flexed its power and incited rebellion with laws such as the so-called Intolerable Acts, South Carolinians became suspicious of the traders, believing them to be instruments of imperial oppression.
Trade, Politics, and Revolution offers a fresh understanding of trade in South Carolina's early history and the shifting climate that led to the American Revolution, as well as reaching beyond the war to explore the reconstruction of trade routes between the newly founded United States and Great Britain. By focusing on one segment of transatlantic trade, David provides a new interpretive approach to imperialism and exposes the complex, deeply personal rift that divided the Carolina traders from their homeland and broke the colonies from the mother country
Publié par
Date de parution
15 octobre 2018
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781611178951
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
TRADE, POLITICS, AND REVOLUTION
The Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World Sponsored by the Program in the Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World of the College of Charleston
TRADE, POLITICS, AND REVOLUTION
S OUTH C AROLINA AND B RITAIN S A TLANTIC C OMMERCE , 1730-1790
H UW D AVID
T HE U NIVERSITY OF S OUTH C AROLINA P RESS
2018 University of South Carolina
Published by the University of South Carolina Press
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov/ .
ISBN 978-1-61117-894-4 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-61117-895-1 (ebook)
FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION
A Merchant s Office by Thomas Rowlandson
For my parents, Rhys and Susan David
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES ON THE TEXT
CHRONOLOGY
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
INTRODUCTION
A large territory on the Atlantic Ocean, in a temperate latitude -South Carolina and Great Britain
CHAPTER ONE
THE METROPOLIS OF SOUTH CAROLINA
London Lobbying and Charles Town Commerce
CHAPTER TWO
FRIENDS TO ASSIST AT HOME
London s Carolina Trade in the 1740s and 1750s
CHAPTER THREE
CANKERS TO THE RICHES OF A COUNTRY ?
Transatlantic Absenteeism in Colonial South Carolina
CHAPTER FOUR
FROM HUMBLE MODERATE FORTUNES TO GREAT AFFLUENCE
The Transatlantic Carolina Trade and Imperial Crises
CHAPTER FIVE
THE VOYAGE OF THE LORD NORTH
American Independence, Anglo-Carolinian Trade, and Unfinished Business
CONCLUSION
Let me have done with American lands
ABBREVIATIONS
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
An Exact Prospect of Charles Town, the Metropolis of the Province of South Carolina , 1762
House of Robert Pringle, 1774, Tradd Street, Charleston
Advertisement by James Crokatt, South Carolina Gazette , May 1736
Advertisement by John Beswicke, South Carolina Gazette , April 1741
Notice by James Crokatt, South Carolina Gazette , April 1739
Vendue Range, Charleston, pictured in 1865
Notice by James Crokatt, South Carolina Gazette , March 1739
The Thames and the Tower of London Supposedly on the King s Birthday , 1771
St Paul s and Blackfriars Bridge , between 1770 and 1772
Walbrook Ward and Dowgate Ward , 1756
An Elevation, Plan, and History of the Royal Exchange of London , c. 1760
A View of the Royal Exchange, London , 1754
The Inside View of the Royal Exchange at London , eighteenth century
A Map of London and the Adjacent Country 10 Miles Round , (detail) 1748, showing the City of London
A Map of London and the Adjacent Country 10 Miles Round , (detail) 1748, showing Greenwich
Aldgate Ward , 1760s
Henry Laurens , engraving, 1784
Notice for sale of Broughton and New Hope Plantations, Public Advertiser , September 1787
Notice for sale of Eveleigh s Wharf, Charleston, Public Advertiser , April 1789
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Like the business of the eighteenth-century merchants who populate this book, writing it has been a hugely rewarding enterprise. And, to push the analogy a little further, in the process I ve run up many outstanding debts to colleagues and friends who have made the book possible.
Special thanks must go to Perry Gauci for his tireless enthusiasm, insight, and generosity. He really is a conscientious, vigilant and accessible man of action, as he has defined the archetypal eighteenth-century merchant. At Oxford University the Rothermere American Institute is an exceptional place to study America and its relations with the world, and it has been a wonderful academic home. I am very grateful to colleagues at the RAI for their advice and encouragement, in particular its outstanding directors Nigel Bowles and Jay Sexton, and Gareth Davies, Pekka H m l inen, and Stephen Tuck. Each year one of America s great historians visits as Harmsworth Professor, and I am grateful to all of them who have shared ideas and recommendations, in particular Peter Onuf and Philip Morgan. Peter Thompson and Betty Wood also gave invaluable feedback on my thesis. Experts in British history have helped fill many gaps in my knowledge of the mother country and opened up new lines of enquiry, and I am especially grateful to Bob Harris, Joanna Innes, Erica Charters, Stephen Hague, and Benjamin Heller for their advice and recommendations. The camaraderie of RAI s graduate community, especially Ken Owen, Will Pettigrew, David Sim, Joe Merton, Ursula Hackett, Tom Packer, Sebastian Page, and Steve Tuffnell, too helped make this a thoroughly enjoyable project.
I benefited from the friendliness, helpfulness, and expertise of staff in all the libraries where I spent time doing research for this project. Top of the list must be Jane Rawson and her colleagues-Judy Warden, Martin Sutcliffe, Johanna O Connor, and Richard Purkiss-at the Vere Harmsworth Library in Oxford for tracking down books and innumerable visits to the stacks on my behalf. This book would also not have been possible without the assistance of librarians at the South Caroliniana Library in Columbia, the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the National Archives in London, and the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Graham Duncan and Brian Cuthrell at the South Caroliniana, Mary Jo Fairchild at the S.C. Historical Society, and Juan Gomez at the Huntington merit special mention for making their institutions such welcoming places.
Research led me to many new and fascinating places. I ve been blessed with great hospitality on my travels. First and foremost, Vennie Deas-Moore and Keith Moore have been wonderful hosts, making Columbia, S.C., a home away from home; thanks too to Joe Renouard in Charleston, and to Louise McLaren and Phil Killingley, and Gavin Pape for accommodation and good company on visits to the National Archives in southwest London.
Financially, grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council made my research possible, supplemented by an invaluable writing-up scholarship from the Rothermere American Institute. I am grateful to both institutions for their assistance, and at the RAI for the support and encouragement of Vyvyan and Alexandra Harmsworth, David and Maria Willetts, Nicolas Ollivant, and the anonymous donor who funded my writing-up grant. Travel awards from Lincoln College, Oxford; the College of Charleston; and the Huntington Library have been vital in supporting visits to far-flung archives.
I was honored to receive the Hines Prize for the manuscript of this book in 2015. I am very grateful to Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World Program at the College of Charleston and the prize committee for reading my work and awarding me the prize, and in particular to Samuel Hines for so generously creating the prize. Thanks go also to Bill Adams, Linda Fogle and their colleagues at the University of South Carolina Press and especially the two anonymous readers whose insightful comments on the manuscript have much improved it.
Friends have listened patiently and with apparent interest to my stories of historical detective work. A special mention here to Seth and Kate Sinclair, Robert and Laura Burley, and David and Carin Peller-Semmens. Louisa Hotson injected love, laughter, and irrepressible enthusiasm into the final push. Finally, and above all, the love and support of my parents, Rhys and Susan David, have been instrumental. Early trips to castles, churches, and museums laid the foundations for a fascination with history and proved to be time very well spent. For that, and for so much else, I will always be grateful.
NOTES ON THE TEXT
During the eighteenth century the words Carolina and South Carolina were used synonymously, particularly in Britain. North and South Carolina were formally made separate colonies in 1712; before and after the separation, Carolina generally referred in Britain to South Carolina, the wealthier of the two and, in its interaction with the British state, the more prominent. The term Carolina traders, for example, was used to denote merchants trading specifically to South Carolina.
After the Revolutionary War, Charles Town became Charleston. For authenticity, I have followed this change and use Charles Town when referring to the town before the Revolutionary War and use Charleston afterward.
Prices are given in pounds sterling unless otherwise stated. Throughout the period between about 1730 and the end of British control, one pound sterling was equivalent to about seven pounds in South Carolina currency (see John J. McCusker, Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775: A Handbook ).
To retain authenticity, spellings in quotations from primary sources have not been corrected unless essential to convey meaning. Italicization and underlining are from the original texts. Any words added to quotations appear in brackets.
CHRONOLOGY
1660
First Navigation Act is passed, governing the terms of trade within the British Empire. Further acts in 1663, 1673, and 1696 codify and reinforce the strictures.
1670
Foundation of North and South Carolina follows the granting of land between Virginia and Spanish Florida by King Charles II to eight English aristocrats, the Lords Proprietors, and the arrival of the first English settlers.
1680
Charles Town, named in honor of the king, is relocated from its original site at Albemarle Point on the Ashley River to its current site on a peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers.
