Trading Freedom: How Trade with China Defined Early America (American Beginnings, 1500-1900)

Trading Freedom explores the surprisingly rich early history of US-China trade and its unexpected impact on the developing republic. The economic and geographic development of the early United States is usually thought of in trans-Atlantic terms, defined by entanglements with Europe and Africa. In Trading Freedom , Dael A. Norwood recasts these common conceptions by looking to Asia, making clear that from its earliest days, the United States has been closely intertwined with China—monetarily, politically, and psychologically. Norwood details US trade with China from the late eighteenth through the late nineteenth centuries—a critical period in America’s self-definition as a capitalist nation—and shows how global commerce was central to the articulation of that national identity. Trading Freedom illuminates how debates over political economy and trade policy, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and the looming sectional struggle over slavery were all influenced by Sino-American relations. Deftly weaving together interdisciplinary threads from the worlds of commerce, foreign policy, and immigration, Trading Freedom thoroughly dismantles the idea that American engagement with China is anything new. Trading Freedom explores the surprisingly rich early history of US-China trade and its unexpected impact on the developing republic. The economic and geographic development of the pre-twentieth-century United States is usually thought of in trans-Atlantic terms, defined by entanglements with Europe and Africa. In Trading Freedom, Dael A. Norwood recasts these common conceptions by looking to Asia, making clear that from its earliest days, the United States has been closely intertwined with China--monetarily, politically, and psychologically. Norwood details US trade with China from the late eighteenth through the late nineteenth centuries--a critical period in America's self-definition as a capitalist nation--and shows how global commerce was central to the articulation of that national identity. He examines how much of the country's early growth and definition was influenced in important ways by its multifarious Chinese relations. Trading Freedom illuminates how crucial Federalist-era debates over political economy and trade policy, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and the looming sectional struggle over slavery were all influenced by Sino-American relations. Deftly weaving together interdisciplinary threads from the worlds of commerce, foreign policy, and immigration, Trading Freedom thoroughly dismantles the idea that American engagement with China is anything new "Dael Norwood reveals that much of America's early growth and self-definition was shaped by its multifarious relations with China. Correspondingly, he shows that America was not solely the product of its Atlantic engagements; the Pacific always played a critical role in economic, social, and cultural development. Norwood weaves together arguments about commerce, foreign policy, and immigration, connecting the growing US presence in the "China trade" with domestic developments, including Federalist-era debates over political economy and trade policy, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and the looming sectional struggle over slavery"-- Provided by publisher Introduction: America's Business with China -- Founding a Free, Trading Republic -- The Paradox of a Pacific Policy -- Troubled Waters -- Sovereign Rights, or America's First Opium Problem -- The Empire's New Roads -- This Slave Trade of the Nineteenth Century -- A Propped-Open Door -- Death of a Trade, Birth of a Market