So great a proffit : how the East Indies trade transformed Anglo-American capitalism

399 Pages·2010·2.73 MB·English

by  Fichter

So Great a Proffi t

So Great a Proffi t
HOW THE EAST INDIES TRADE
TRANSFORMED
ANGLO- AMERICAN CAPITALISM
JAMES R. FICHTER
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, Eng land 2010
Copyright © 2010 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Fichter, James R.
So great a proffi t : how the East Indies trade transformed
Anglo- American capitalism / James R. Fichter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 674- 05057- 0 (alk. paper)
1. United States— Commerce—Asia.
2. Asia—Commerce—United States.
3. United States— Foreign economic relations— Great Britain.
4. Great Britain—F oreign economic relations— United States.
5. Capitalism—United States— History. I. Title.
HF3118.F53 2010
382.0973'05—dc22 2009050549
Dedicated to my father,
the wisest man I know

The American commerce to the East,
will ere long rival En gland.
—Independent Chronicle,
Boston, MA, 1796

Contents
Introduction 1
1 Revolution 7
2 America Sails East 31
3 Commerce in a World at War 56
4 America’s Re- export Boom 82
5 Merchant Millionaires 111
6 Beyond the British Empire 149
7 The India Trade 173
8 America’s China and Pacifi c Trade 205
9 Death of the India Monopoly 232
10 American Capital and Corporations 252
Conclusion 278
Archival Sources 291
Abbreviations 293
Notes 295
Acknowledgments 373
Index 375