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The End of British Control
Technically, the British colonies were only supposed to trade with the Mother Country. This, though, was not strictly enforced by the Crown. The Industrial Revolution had come early to Great Britain and the resulting finely manufactured products needed buyers. And yet, the colonies had little to offer to purchase these fine goods. To generate the income to purchase them; the merchants in the America’s conducted open and clandestine trade with other countries, often with many who were enemies of England. Each side of the Atlantic then richly benefited from such an arrangement.
The effort by Parliament to tax the colonizers to help pay for the French and Indian War was also accompanied by a crackdown of smugglers. Conflict was invited because at the same time American traders were told to only do business with merchants from the United Kingdom; Parliament enacted tariffs on American goods making them not competitive with domestic buyers. In the American businessmen’s eyes, the King was attempting to enslave them through poverty!
The World was their Oyster!
Once the American Revolution concluded, the entire world was now open to be freely traded. The origin of the term “Yankee” has several different and plausible explanations but was finally assigned to New Englanders. The earliest record in print was British General James Wolfe made the earliest recorded use of the word “Yankee” in 1758 when he referred to the New England soldiers under his command. “I can afford you two companies of Yankees, and the more, because they are better for ranging and scouting than either work or vigilance”. The traders that issued forth from the northeast were strict, shrewd Congregationalists largely and their dealings around the world soon earned them, sometimes derisively, the term “Yankee Trader”. Only as the centuries progressed, has the term now been assigned to all Americans by England and several other countries.
Often, the captain served as Supercargo (from the Spanish Sobrecargo). A supercargo is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner’s trade, selling the merchandise in ports to which the vessel is sailing, and buying and receiving goods to be carried on the return voyage. The supercargo has control of the cargo unless limited by other contracts or agreements. Sometimes, a separate individual under control of the owners of the ship will manage apart from the captain freeing up the management of the ship from the important diplomacy and negotiations for securing the goods.
Yankee traders spread out all over the world but especially in the lucrative and rich Asian markets of China and Japan.
Under the Ming Dynasty, goods would often ship up and down the Pearl River and trading was wide open. Later in the 17th century, the Manchu Dynasty began to be more restrictive, and this would translate in the designated ports that were allowed to be visited.
The captains would often visit other ports in Europe and Africa to load up many merchant cargos in preparation of selling in the Far east. The Chinese were fickle in their desire of goods, so it was important that the holds were filled with products that were of interest to them.
In the meantime, American and European consumers couldn’t get enough of the porcelain to display and use in their dining rooms. The beautiful silk became a huge market in itself flooding the domestic market here in the United States.
In return, the Chinese and Japanese began to modify their manufactured goods to appeal to a European market creating furniture for example that would only be found commonly in England or France. They would instill their oriental flavor into chairs and tables.
Another common practice was to consign cargos. A space would be rented and the cargo sent to a particular port. Then goods would be loaded up for another port, and this allowed for many times in profit and thus minimized lengthy and highly risky port to port trading missions. It was the negotiating deals in each port that began to secure the reputation of Yankee Traders often with shrewd arrangements for maximum profits. Local natives would often find that the ‘deal’ that was struck left most of the profit in the hands of the owner of the vessel.
International trade was fraught with danger. Pirates were a constant threat. More often than not, these were not the pirates of common lore but natives from Java and other southeast Asian countries. They would sneak up on the merchant ship and attempt to board by surprise. Traders would often keep constant guard during voyages to prevent such a disaster. The greatest danger were the pirates that lurked in the many tiny islands off China. There were reports at time that as many as 50,000 natives would try to intercept ships before they entered into Canton, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Ships would try to dissuade attacks by painting gun portals on the side of the ship to make them look like warships.
In the end, the Federal warehouses along the wharves of Newburyport became filled with international goods found nowhere else and making huge profits for local merchants. It was obligated for incoming ships to stop first at the custom house at Somersby’s Landing (Below present-day Green Street) and later in 1825 at the new Robert Mills custom house at Custom House Way. A tariff would be levied based on the manifest for the ship.
It was at this time, that widow’s roosts were installed on many a Federal mansion. Not for mourning wives vainly keeping watch for their returning husbands but as lookout posts. Once a merchant spotted an incoming ship, it was important to be the first to reach it to negotiate for the products which were largely unknown until docked. It was known that Lord Timonthy Dexter had a lookout at his mansion for that exact reason. He would hire a servant to be stationed there for the sole purpose of notifying when a ship was cited. Other merchants created tunnels under the mud-filled streets that allowed them early access without notifying the competition.
One of the earliest international traders was Patrick Tracy, born 1711 and died 1789. He was so wealthy that he built a magnificent mansion that is today the Newburyport Public Library. Unfortunately, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he converted much of his fleet into privateers to cut off the supply lines at the Battle of Boston. By the time of the peace treaty, most of his fleet had either been seized by the British or sunk. A patriot that died in poverty suffering the ultimate sacrifice for the birth of a new nation.
The wildest of the International Traders was Lord Timothy Dexter, born in 1743 in Malden, Massachusetts. Largely uneducated, he became a local businessman setting up shop at the bottom of present-day Green Street. What he lacked in knowledge he made up with an uncanny sense of business. Starting off with buying up worthless continental dollars just before Alexander Hamilton had them converted to the new money. He suddenly became incredibly wealthy. He leveraged it again in incredible clever means gathering up bed pans and sending them down to the Caribbean to be used to filter the suger cane into molasses. He then acquired his mansion on High Street. His peculiarities such as taking on the term “Lord” from his wife’s maiden name, surrounding his house with statues of famous people of his day alienated him from high society Newburyport. Due to the town never acknowledging him as he saw fit, he died an alcoholic in 1806.
One of the most successful of the early Yankee Traders was John Bromfield, born 1779 and died 1849. He took on the role of supercargo out of Boston and was heavily in the China Trade as well as other East Asia ports. By the time he returned to New England, he had amassed a vast fortune and became a major financier in Boston. The financial district’s main street is named after him. Being a native of Newburyport, he was famous for creating the brick, granite and street tree motif that makes the City so distinctive by his famous Bromfield Fund.
Newburyport’s greatest international trader was William Bartlet, born 1748 and died in 1841. It was said that he had at one time a hundred ships at sea with extensive connections in other major cities such as New York and Philadelphia as well as prominent southern ports. He operated out of Newburyport with his main docks at the end of present-day Federal Street. He in turn lived in a magnificent mansion just up from his business activities. Due to his vast wealth, he donated much money to educational institutions as well as being the co-founder of the Andover Theological Seminary near Lowell, Massachusetts as well as being on the first mission board that sent out missionaries outside of the United States.
One of the later traders was William Cushing, born in 1823, graduated from Harvard in 1843 and then spent time traveling in the American West and Hawaiian islands (Sandwich Islands). Back in Newburyport, Cushing joined his father and brother in their merchant business. Cushing served three terms as mayor of Newburyport, was a representative in the state Legislature, and president of Ocean Bank. His magnificent mansion is now the home of the Museum of Old Newbury. He died in 1875.
Diplomacy creates a global market for Yankee Traders!
Under the direction of President Tyler, Caleb Cushing of Newburyport was sent out to negotiate open trade policies with the Chinese Ports. A significant aspect of Caleb Cushing’s long and distinguished career was his service as a US Commissioner to China in 1844 and the Treaty that was concluded through his negotiations over a 6-month period while residing in that country.
The “China Market” was always a significant lure for American merchants who had engaged in trade with the empire since the 18th century. Following the conclusion of the First Opium War in 1842, Britain forced China to grant it special privileges, including exclusive British use of coastal ports. Not wanting to miss out on similar opportunities, President John Tyler appointed Caleb Cushing to undertake a mission to open Chinese ports to American trade. In 1844, Cushing negotiated the Treaty of Wang Hiya (Wanghsia), the first treaty between the United States and China in Canton. This treaty granted to American merchants the same rights as Britain based upon the “most-favored nation” principle.
The communist government of today, the People’s Republic of China, still honor the Wanghsia because Caleb Cushing guaranteed to the Chinese government that no American would trade Opium.
The treaty with Japan would have to wait until the Perry Expedition in 1852-4.
In a sense, Cushing and Perry occupied very similar roles. However, while Perry used force and the might of a US Naval squadron, Cushing employed persuasion and diplomacy without resorting to the clear threat of military force.
The Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854 opened access to Japan. Instead of only one port, many areas of Japan were now open giving an opportunity for Nipponese goods to flood New England seaport markets.
The World passes by the City
International trading in Newburyport warehouses was common for most of the 19th century. As steamships and deeper ports lured business away, the role of the grand Federal warehouses became less important. Newburyport switched from international trade by the turn of the twentieth century into a center for local coastal shipping in commodities such as coal, granite; and increasingly a source for local recreational fishing and pleasure crafts.
There is still one last Federal warehouse in the city which has been renovated and houses many local businesses. Aside from the Custom House, it is the last remaining indication of the importance of international trade in Newburyport.
References:
A sketch of the history of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury, from 1635 to 1845, by Joshua Coffin, 1845
“Caleb Cushing and the Treaty of Wanghia, 1844.” The Journal of Modern History 5, no. 1 (1933): 34-54.
Exotic Cargo: Yankee Merchants as Collectors with Treasures from China and Japan, presented by The Custom House Maritime Museum, by Mark J. Sammons, Executive Director, Janet K. Marcus & Alan R. B. Collachicco, Newburyport Press, Inc. 2001.
History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, by John J. Currier
History of Newbury, Mass., 1635-1902, by John J. Currier
The Life of Caleb Cushing, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1923. (2 vols.) Kuo, Ping Chia.
“The Life of Lord Timothy Dexter, with Sketches of the Eccentric Characters that Composed his Associates,” Samuel L. Knapp, 1858