The Wilmington merchant, 1775-1815
| Author(s) | Farris, Sara Guertler | |
| Date Accessioned | 2023-05-24T18:27:48Z | |
| Date Available | 2023-05-24T18:27:48Z | |
| Publication Date | 200 | |
| Abstract | In the years from 1775 to 1815 the community of Wilmington, Delaware, experienced a period of growth and commercial expansion carried on under the invigorating influences of a thriving. trade, an expanding flour-milling industry, and a vigorous and extensive maritime commerce. The Wilmington merchants who engaged in business in this age in which commerce dominated the economic life of America were largely responsible for the initial growth and development of the town in which they lived. The initiative and energy which they displayed in finding markets for the products of the Delaware area and in distributing the varied and sometimes exotic return cargoes were crucial stimuli in the metamorphosis which transformed Wilmington from "an upstart village lying on a Neighboring Creek," as a New castle minister termed it in 1750, into the "large town ,,, pleasantly situated on an eminence, commanding a view of every sail passing on the river," that it had become by 1795. ☐ The crest of Wilmington's importance as a commercial center was reached in the years from 1790 to 1807 when European wars stimulated a demand for American flour and provisions. Merchants and shipowners eagerly scanned the newspapers for news which might affect the course of their business. They sent cargoes to France, England, India, Java, Spain, China, and above all to the West Indies. Shipping such local products as flour, bread, beef, pork, cheese, and lumber, they brought back Irish linens; West Indian coffee, rum, molasses, and sugar; Indian cottons; Chinese tea, china, and silk; Eastern spices; and European wines. Wilmington thus served as a market center which drew produce to it for export and distributed imported goods over a wide area. Merchant families like the Hemphills, the Warners, and the Mendinhalls worked hand-in-hand with the Brooms, Shipleys, Tatnalls, and Leas of the Brandywine mills as shippers and commercial entrepreneurs in these years in which trade formed the lifeblood of Wilmington's economic life. ☐ In the early years of the nineteenth century, however, Wilmington underwent an economic transformation. By 1815 it was a young industrial center, "likely to become one of the most important manufacturing towns in the United States." Merchants, millers, and ocean ships no longer dominated the Wilmington scene. From 1807 to 1815 the community's commercial activity had declined as a result of the trade restraints imposed by the War of 1812 and by the hostility and tension leading up to the conflict. Manufacturing, on the other hand, was stimulated by the embargoes which temporarily removed foreign competition and by the tariff restrictions which followed the war. Wilmington became a center for the manufacture of gunpowder, paper, leather, and textiles, and continued to be an important flour-milling community. ☐ Although he had now lost his former pre-eminence to the industrialist, the merchant had played a leading role in the development of Wilmington. A fortunate combination of mills, markets, and transportation gave Wilmington the potential for growth, but it was the entreprenurial skill of its merchants and millers that helped it to realize the promise of its location. These early citizens laid the foundations for its future importance as an industrial city. | |
| Advisor | Lewis, W. David | |
| Degree | M.A. | |
| Department | University of Delaware, Department of History | |
| Unique Identifier | 1380015076 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/32786 | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Wilmington (Del.) -- Commerce -- History -- 19th century. | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Wilmington (Del.) -- Commerce -- Wilmington (Del.) -- Commerce ǂx History -- 18th century. | |
| Title | The Wilmington merchant, 1775-1815 | |
| Type | Thesis |