Trade, Diplomacy, and American Independence

The economic and trade conditions of the Confederation Era of United States history require further study. This essay follows the difficulties experienced by Albany, New York-based firm Cuyler, Gansevoort & Co. to view the political and economic hurdles American merchants faced outside of the British Empire. In part, Americans fought for independence to conduct free trade with merchants from other countries. However, as Cuyler and Gansevoort’s experiences reveal, being an American merchant during the Confederation Period proved to be a liability, not an advantage. Many foreign countries demonstrated reluctance to admit American goods into their ports. Some foreign merchants used their home legal systems to take advantage of American merchants. All the while, American merchants sought to overcome the liquidity problems of the United States by searching for new trade opportunities that would provide them with the ready money they needed to pay their bills.