Merchants and Traders in the American Revolution

Introduction: The Colonial Context

The American Revolution occurred during the 1700s as the early settlers underwent a profound period of change. During this time, settlers in the Americas gained religious freedom, became prosperous merchants, and worked to establish a more democratic government. At the same time, however, they were increasingly controlled and taken advantage of by England.

The American War of Independence was fought from 1775 to 1783, yet the American Revolution began long before the war. John Adams captured the sentiment of the Revolution when he stated: "But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was affected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people… This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution."

The American Revolution was fought by the colonists — many of whom were merchants and traders — to obtain a new economic, political, and social order. In order to understand the context of the Revolution, it is essential to examine the preexisting conditions of the colonies.

The colonial economy was broadly divided into three parts: New England, where commerce was predominant; the South, where cash crops formed the major economic order; and the middle colonies, which combined both commerce and agriculture.

The Colonial Economy and Trade Routes

Merchants and traders of this era experienced a prosperous agricultural and commercial economy in the colonies, which helped pave the way for the independence movement. This economic system was built on wheat, cattle, corn, tobacco, and rice, all of which were shipped to the West Indies, Britain, and Europe.

Southern agriculture centered on tobacco, wheat, and corn in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, and on rice and indigo in South Carolina and Georgia. There was great demand for these crops in Europe, making the trade highly profitable. Wheat was the major cash crop of the mid-Atlantic colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. These colonies, along with those in New England, exported wheat, corn, cattle, horses, fish, and timber. The British and French planters of the Caribbean, exploiting a predominantly African labor force, mostly produced sugar for export to Europe and imported many European manufactured goods.

The Northern mainland prospered from this vast transatlantic division of labor. In payment for supplies shipped to the West Indies, Northern merchants received bills of exchange from merchant houses in Great Britain, which were then used to purchase British manufactured goods.

The two most important trade routes were dominated and controlled by British merchants: the tobacco trade and the sugar trade. American merchants controlled two smaller routes — the export of rice to Europe and the export of supplies from the Northern mainland to the West Indies. However, American participation in these subsidiary trade routes undermined the British policy of mercantilism, which depended on raw materials being shipped from the colonies to Great Britain and subsequently exported as finished products. This policy discouraged any colonial trade except with Great Britain.

American merchants and traders' participation in transatlantic trade fueled the rise of major port cities — Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newport, and Charleston. These cities eventually provided commercial services such as insurance and wholesale trade, as well as small-scale industries including rope and sail manufacture and shipbuilding, all necessary to sustain a merchant fleet. The independence movement took root in these cities.

Role of Merchants and Traders in Resisting British Control

The settlers' growing dissatisfaction with England's control, combined with shifts in the social, economic, and political structure of the colonies, ultimately caused the American Revolution. The British had colonized America since the 1600s, when many settlers came seeking religious freedom and a more prosperous life. Merchants came to America to profit from the land, which was either free or very cheap, and to enjoy greater success than they could achieve in England.

The Atlantic Ocean created a significant communications barrier between England and the colonies. Because of this isolation, settlers developed a strong sense of independence. Many merchants and traders also encountered protests against British injustice printed in newspapers and books. Local colleges offered instruction in the writings of Enlightenment philosophers — including John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau — which reinforced the belief that all men were created equal.

England, however, curtailed the settlers' sense of freedom by demanding that America serve British economic interests, regulating nearly every action that merchants and traders took. For much of the 1600s, American merchants accepted these regulations and, for example, refrained from manufacturing goods that would compete with British products. In the 1700s, however, the relationship shifted. England failed to support the American colonies during several wars with France, and the colonies achieved military victories without British assistance.

After the French and Indian War, the British government feared that the colonies were becoming too powerful. The Treaty of 1763 gave England control of Canada and the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. The thirteen colonies hoped to live peacefully under this new arrangement. Yet Prime Minister George Grenville refused to grant the colonists additional political rights. Instead of rewarding the colonies with greater freedom, England sought ways to make them more profitable at the least possible expense to the Crown.

At the same time, new settlers were moving onto land won through the war, which enraged Native American tribes and triggered a series of attacks. England anticipated a long and costly conflict, and responded by issuing the Proclamation of 1763 to appease the Indians. This agreement prevented settlers from purchasing property beyond a line running through the headwaters of rivers flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, effectively showing favoritism to Native Americans and fur traders at the expense of colonists whose charters granted them claims to interior lands stretching westward to the Mississippi River. England also stationed a large army on the frontier east of the Proclamation Line and decided that the colonies should help fund this protection through taxes paid to Parliament.

The American merchants and traders, now accustomed to self-government, opposed England's new laws — particularly the tax laws. The Sugar Act imposed a three-penny tax on each gallon of molasses imported into the colonies from ports outside the British Empire. Many merchants and traders had profitable industries that depended on imported molasses, and they strongly opposed these taxes, which would inevitably reduce their profits.

The Quartering Act ordered colonists to provide English soldiers with housing, fuel, candles, food, and drink. The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on all newspapers printed in the colonies and on all business documents, outraging merchants and traders and sparking riots. The colonists argued that the right of taxation belonged solely to the people and their elected representatives, and they asserted that Parliament had no authority to tax the colonies since the colonies had no representation in Parliament — giving rise to the famous slogan, "no taxation without representation."

Conclusion: Legacy of the Revolutionary Merchants

Relations between the colonists and England deteriorated steadily between 1763 and 1775, as Parliament passed a succession of laws designed to increase England's revenue from the colonies. The colonists were furious and took increasingly drastic measures to resist. Living far from Britain and accustomed to managing their own affairs, they viewed these new policies as a direct threat to their hard-won freedoms. In late 1774, King George III declared, "The die is now cast, the colonies must either submit or triumph." Shortly afterward, the Revolutionary War broke out.

The American War of Independence lasted from 1775 to 1783, after which the American government was established through the Constitution of the United States in 1787. The war achieved independence from Great Britain and created a new republican form of government in which the American people held sovereign power.

The economic transformations witnessed by the merchants and traders of the American Revolution provided a strong foundation for an independent nation with representative political institutions. The Revolutionary period was an exciting and productive era for American commerce. The American Revolution brought an end to nearly two centuries of British rule in the colonies and gave rise to the modern United States of America — a nation built on commerce and trade.