The Conspiracy of Free Trade: The Anglo-American Struggle Over Empire and Economic Globalisation, 1846-1896

334 Pages·2016·5.9 MB·English

by  Marc-William Palen

The “Conspiracy” of Free Trade
FollowingtheSecondWorldWar,theUnitedStateswouldbecomethe
leading“neoliberal”proponentofinternationaltradeliberalization.Yet
for nearly a century before, American foreign trade policy had been
dominated by extreme economic nationalism. What brought about
thispronouncedideological,political,andeconomicabout-face?How
diditaffectAnglo-Americanimperialism?Whatweretherepercussions
for the global capitalist order? In answering these questions, The
“Conspiracy”of FreeTrade offersthe first detailed account of thecon-
troversialAnglo-Americanstruggleoverempireandeconomicglobali-
zation in the mid to late nineteenth century. The book reinterprets
Anglo-American imperialism through the global interplay between
Victorianfree-tradecosmopolitanismandeconomicnationalism,unco-
veringhowimperialexpansionandeconomicintegrationweremiredin
politicalandideologicalconflict.Beginninginthe1840s,thisconspir-
atorialstruggleoverpoliticaleconomywouldripaparttheRepublican
party,reshape the Democratic,and redirect Anglo-Americanimperial
expansionfordecadestocome.
MARC-WILLIAMPALENisLecturerinHistoryattheUniversityof
Exeter,andaResearchAssociateattheUSStudiesCentre,Universityof
Sydney.

“ ”
The Conspiracy of Free
Trade
The Anglo-American Struggle over Empire
and Economic Globalization, 1846–1896
Marc-William Palen
UniversityofExeter
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107109124
©Marc-WilliamPalen2016
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2016
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Palen,Marc-William,author.
The“conspiracy”offreetrade:theAnglo-Americanstruggleoverempire
andeconomicglobalization,1846–1896/Marc-WilliamPalen.
Cambridge,UK;NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2016.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
LCCN2015030769|ISBN9781107109124
LCSH:Freetrade–UnitedStates–History–19thcentury.|Freetrade–
GreatBritain–History–19thcentury.|UnitedStates–Foreign
economicrelations–GreatBritain.|GreatBritain–Foreigneconomic
relations–UnitedStates.|UnitedStates–Commercialpolicy–History–
19thcentury.|GreatBritain–Commercialpolicy–History–19thcentury.
LCCHF1755.P2352016|DDC382/.71094109034–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2015030769
ISBN978-1-107-10912-4Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listoffigures pagevii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xii
Listofabbreviations xiv
Introduction xv
1 Globalizingideologies:economicnationalismandfree-
tradecosmopolitanism,c.1846–1860 1
2 “Themostsuccessfullieinhistory”:theMorrillTariff
andtheConfederacy’sfree-tradediplomacy 33
3 Mobilizingfreetrade:ThepostbellumAmericanfree-
trademovement,foreignpolicy,and“conspiracy,”
1866–1871 56
4 Fightingoverfreetrade:partyrealignmentandthe
imperialismofeconomicnationalism,1872–1884 84
5 TheGreatDebate:thefirstClevelandpresidency,free-
tradeculture,andtheanti-imperialismoffreetrade,
1884–1889 116
6 ThecosmopolitandemandforNorthAmerican
commercialunion,1885–1889 150
7 “Aseaoffire”:theMcKinleyTariffandtheimperialism
ofeconomicnationalism,1889–1893 172
8 Freetradeinretreat:theglobalimpactoftheMcKinley
TariffupontheBritishEmpire,1890–1894 206
9 Republicanrapprochement:Cleveland’sfreetraders,
Anglo-Americanrelations,andthe1896presidential
elections 237
v
vi Contents
Conclusion 267
Selectbibliography 280
Index 282
Figures
1.1 FriedrichList page5
1.2 RichardCobden 13
1.3 PeelandPolk 26
2.1 BeforeandAftertheMorrillTariff 42
4.1 CobdeniteInsignias 91
5.1 LashingHimselfintoFeverHeat 122
5.2 ClevelandWillHaveaWalk-Over 142
5.3 UnderwhichEmblem? 143
5.4 TheTransfusionofBlood–AProposedDangerous
Experiment 144
6.1 TooThin! 155
7.1 AllSheHastoHangonto 190
7.2 AMapoftheUnitedStatesMayLookLikeThisAfterthe
AnnexationofCanada 192
7.3 DanielO’Connell 201
9.1 WilsonWearsIt 249
9.2 TheOld‘Cobden’BoatMustKeepOffShore 263
vii

Preface
Neoliberal policies of free trade and deregulation have become synon-
ymous with economic globalization. As the close-knit global economy
becomesevermorefrayed,thesesamepoliciesarealsoincreasinglycom-
ing under fire.1 Protectionism, the preferred political economic choice
throughout the longue durée of world history, is now once again in
fashion.2 From this longer historical perspective, the international turn
totradeliberalizationsincetheSecondWorldWar–fromGATTtothe
WTO–representstherareexceptiontotheprotectionistrule.Asidefrom
thenotablecaseofFreeTradeEngland,mostnationsinthelatterhalfof
the nineteenth century sought safety from the gales of modern global
marketcompetitionbehindeverhighertariffwalls,buttressedwithgov-
ernmentsubsidiestodomesticindustriesandimperialexpansion.
Few did so with more gusto than the United States, which from the
1860s adhered to stringent economic nationalist policies at home while
increasingitsimperialproclivitiesabroad.Notuntilthe1930sunderthe
directionofFDR’sStateDepartmentwouldfreetradebegintodisplace
protectionismasthepreferredpolicyforAmericaneconomicexpansion.
The inspiration for this book arose in seeking to explain this sizeable
political,economic,andideologicalabout-facewithinthehistoryofmod-
ern US domestic and foreign policy, a neoliberal turn that continues to
perplexpundits,politicalscientists,historians,andeconomistsalike.The
originsawaiteddiscoverywithinthenineteenthcentury,hiddenamidthe
1See,forinstance,GerardDumenil,TheCrisisofNeoliberalism(Cambridge,MA:Harvard
UniversityPress,2011);DouglasA.Irwin,FreeTradeUnderFire(Princeton:Princeton
UniversityPress,2009[3rded.]).
2HenrykSzlaijfer,EconomicNationalismandGlobalization,trans.byMariaChmielewska-
Szlajfer(Leiden:Brill,2012);DaniRodrik,TheGlobalizationParadox:Democracyandthe
FutureoftheWorldEconomy(NewYork:W.W.Norton,2012);AnthonyP.D’Costa,ed.,
GlobalizationandEconomicNationalisminAsia(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2012);
Ha-JoonChang,BadSamaritans:TheMythofFreeTradeandtheSecretHistoryofCapitalism
(NewYork:BloomsburyPress,2008).
ix