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Abstract
In 1785 the first Philadelphia trade directory was published; a reflection of the pride and confidence of the city's people on Independence. This article uses the directory to detail a far wider trading community than simply elite (male) merchants. By comparing the Philadelphia trading community with its British counterpart, Liverpool, it is argued that in 1785 Philadelphia still had the economy of a colonial port. Importantly, because of this, its distribution process operated very differently from that of Liverpool. However, further analysis in 1791 and 1805 highlights signs of diversity with important ramifications for the ability of lesser traders, both men and women, to contribute to the economy.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Bernard Bailyn, John Haggerty, Graeme Milne and Ken Morgan for their constructive comments on previous versions of this paper. An early version of this paper was presented at the Harvard International Seminar on the History of the Atlantic World, 1500–1825 in 2002. I would like to thank all the participants who provided lively discussion on this topic. The comments of the anonymous referees were extremely helpful in strengthening this article.
Notes
1 White, ed., The Philadelphia Directory.
2 Corfield, “‘Giving Directions to the Town’,” 22–35, and the discussion in Appendix A.
3 Steele, The English Atlantic 1675 – 1740, 273.
4 Breen, “Marketplace of Revolution.”
5 Shammas, The Pre-Industrial Consumer, chapter five.
6 Wells, Wretched Faces, 21.
7 Egnal, “The Economic Development,” 201–208.
8 Price, “New Time Series,” 322–325 and Mitchell and Deane, Abstract of British Historical Statistics, 313.
9 Shepherd and Walton, Shipping, Maritime Trade, and the Economic Development, 138; Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 108.
10 See for example Sheridan, “The British Credit Crisis of 1772,” and Hyde, Parkinson and Marriner, “The Port of Liverpool.”
11 Historical Statistics of the United States, 552–553.
12 See Engerman, “Mercantilism and Overseas Trade.”
13 See Smith The “Lower Sort,” 42; Lemon, The Best Poor Man's Country, 14; Lawton, “From the Port of Liverpool,” 1 – 13, 2, 7.
14 Jones, The Quakers in the American Colonies; Hyde, Liverpool and the Mersey.
15 Liverpool's first dock was opened in 1715 after agitation by the merchant-led council. Power, “Councillors and Commerce,” 301.
16 Warner, The Private City, 9–11; Vigier, Change and Apathy, 45–47.
17 This does not include those which did not traverse between them directly, many stopped off in Jamaica or Ireland. Haggerty, thesis, 175.
18 Philadelphia traders assessed as 84 per cent of Liverpool traders, as was the case 1785–1805.
19 Historical Society of Pennsylvania (hereafter HSP), Claude W. Unger (hereafter CWU) and Simon Gratz Collections (hereafter SG), Andrew Clow Papers; Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 245.
20 Haggerty, thesis, conclusion.
21 See for example Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit; Hancock, Citizens of the World; Matson, Merchants and Empire. Price is one of the few people to expressly acknowledge that the term trader in this period encompassed people ranging from hucksters to elite merchants. Price, “Economic Function,” 138–139.
22 Anderson argues that merchants were pivotal in credit provision. Anderson, “Money and the Structure of Credit,” 93, 97. However, Hudson argues that women were very important in the provision of capital and credit at the regional level. Hudson, Genesis, 212.
23 Sheridan, A General Dictionary.
24 Please note that factors and itinerant dealers are not included further in this discussion. Very few were listed in the trade directories. This was partly a function of the fact that these roles were often not city-based occupations and partly of their rare use by contemporaries (factors usually called themselves merchants). They do not directly affect the central discussion here. Haggerty, thesis, chapters two and three.
25 Haggerty, “Trade and the Trans-Shipment of Knowledge.”
26 The directories used were: White, The Philadelphia Directory, 1785; Biddle, Clement, ed., The Philadelphia Directory, 1791 (Philadelphia: Printed by James & Johnson, 1791); Robinson, James, ed., The Philadelphia Directory, 1805 (Philadelphia: Printed for the Publisher, 1805); Bailey, William, ed., Liverpool Trade Directory, 1787 (Liverpool: Printed for William Bailey, 1787); Gore, John, ed., Liverpool Trade Directory, 1796 (Liverpool, 1796); Gore, John, ed., Liverpool Trade Directory, 1805 (Liverpool: Printed by John Gore, 1805). My thanks to Paul Laxton for electronic copies of the 1796 and 1805 Liverpool Directories.
27 See Appendix B for which occupations were included in which sector.
28 Davis, A Commercial Revolution, 14.
29 Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 96. In England about £5,000 was required to set up your own business, or ‘house’. Campbell, The London Tradesman, 336.
30 Westerfield, Middlemen in English Business, 332.
31 Johnson, Dictionary.
32 Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 20, 88.
33 Hyde, Parkinson and Marriner, “The Port of Liverpool,” 366; Matson cites nearly 400 wholesalers in New York in the 1750s. Merchants and Empire, 3.
34 Many trades also had expensive apprenticeships which prejudiced women. See Campbell, London Tradesman, passim.
35 Philadelphia women could only trade feme sole if their husbands were at sea. There was no Court of Chancery (which often found on the woman's behalf), except for a very brief period; and separate estates were frowned upon as attempts to defraud creditors. See Salmon, Women and the Law, 24–35, 92–104, 160–8.
36 Crane, Ebb Tide, chapter three, esp. 103.
37 Campbell, London Tradesman, 35.
38 HSP, Mifflin and Massey Ledger 1760–1763, f. 1.
39 Mui and Mui, Shops and Shopkeeping, 47–8.
40 Those that were listed as wholesale grocers were included in the wholesaler sector.
41 Philadelphia Federal Tax List, 1783, Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd Ser., No.16; HSP, Margaret Moulder Ledger 1794–1799.
42 This section relies heavily on Mui and Mui, Shops and Shopkeeping. Shops of artisans were not included.
43 See Price, “Economic Function.”
44 Johnson, Dictionary, quoting Temple.
45 Slop shops sold second-hand clothes. Lemire, “Disorderly Women,” 95–120, 107–109.
46 Taylor, “The Court and Cellar Dwelling,” 75–76.
47 Johnson, Dictionary.
48 Warehouses of merchants have not been listed here. See Appendix A.
49 Williamson's Liverpool Advertiser; 19 Feb. 1787; 22 July 1774; 8 April 1774.
50 Auctions were professionalized by James Christie in 1766. Wall, “The English Auction,” 4–10.
51 Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 171.
52 Nash, The Urban Crucible, 203; Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 171.
53 Cleary, “‘She will be in the shop’,” 184, 193.
54 Campbell, London Tradesman, 335–336. These traders are grouped together due to the high entry requirements and related status.
55 Protective measures made the linen trade unprofitable for merchants. Harte, ‘The Rise of Protection,” 74–112, esp. 86–96.
56 Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 123–124.
57 Keith, ‘Relaxations in the British Restrictions.”
58 Craig, “Contraband Coffee,” 3, 33.
59 Pennsylvanian flour was also important in the famines that shook Europe at the turn of the century. Hunter and Clemens, “The Mid-Atlantic Grain Trade.”
60 Liverpool Record Office, Sparling and Bolden Letterbook 1788–1799, Sparling and Bolden to John Lawrence, 14 Feb. 1793.
61 My thanks to Silvia Marzagalli for this information.
62 Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, chapter 7.
63 Jeremy, “British Textile Technology.”
64 Pitkin, A Statistical View, 37.
65 Smith, “Inequality in Late Colonial Philadelphia,” 633.
66 Ascott, thesis, Table 5.2, 202.
67 The others were Mease and Miller (1767 – 1774) and Jeremiah Warder and Sons/Warder Parker and Co. (1774–1805). See trade directories for the period and Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, 22 Oct. 1767, 11 May 1774; Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, 2 Oct. 1787; Philadelphia Gazette and Universal Daily Advertiser, 15 Oct. 1796; Relf's Gazette and Daily Advertiser, 1 Oct. 1805; 10 Dec. 1805.
68 Haggerty, thesis, 176.
69 Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 85–88.
70 McCusker, “Sources of Investment Capital,” 154.
71 Craig and Jarvis, Liverpool Registry, Table 26.
72 Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit, 296–310, p. 304.
73 Wright, “Bank Ownership,” 40, 52.
74 Wright, “Women in Finance.”
75 HSP, Bank of North America Individual Ledgers, 1791.
76 Liverpool received its town charter in 1207.
77 HSP, William and John Sitgreaves Letterbook 1783–1794, Sitgreaves to Thomas Powell, 24 Sept. 1783, ff. 24–26.
78 Hunter and Clemens, “The Mid-Atlantic Grain Trade,” 33.
79 HSP, CWU, Folder Jan.–Sept. 1784, passim; Folder 1785–1798, Alder to Clow & Co., 25 April 1790.
80 Morgan, ed., An American Quaker, 81–82, 232.
81 Hudson, “Capital and Credit,” 69–99, 84–92, and chapter six.
82 Winterthur Library, Wilmington, Delaware, Miscellaneous Collection, Barber to Plumstead, 14 July 1801; Morgan, “Business Networks,” 36–62.
83 McCusker and Menard, The Economy of British America, 367.
84 Corfield, “‘Giving Directions to the Town’,” 28–29.
85 Smith found for Philadelphia that around 20 per cent of the free working population were mariners. Smith, The “Lower Sort,” 64, 212. Lewis found that mariners accounted for 20–30 per cent of the male working population of Liverpool. Lewis, thesis, 66, Fig. 3.4.
86 They often still defined themselves in terms of their relation to male relatives. Hunt, The Middling Sort, 128–129.
87 For a discussion of the issues regarding the use of trade directories see; Davies, Giggs and Herbert, “Directories”; Duggan, “Industrialisation and the Development”; Goldin, “The Economic Status of Women.”