Trading language: British merchants and political economy between 1793--1815

This thesis explores a source base on early political economy which historians have seldom considered, texts written by British merchants between 1793 and 1815. I argue that merchants helped to shape political economy, and that their political language was an important force in the rise of free trade. I draw my conclusions from merchant texts that deal with the major economic policy questions of the early nineteenth century: the monetary system, imperial protection, colonial monopoly, and the slave trade. I explore how merchants repeatedly buttressed their arguments with language that was not necessarily economic in origin, but which helped to legitimise the theories and discipline of political economy. Merchants on all sides of all of the policy questions effectively employed the language of patriotism and science. They used patriotic language to help protect themselves from accusations of treason and greedy self interest. Similarly, they appealed to science to add cogency and legitimacy to their claims in an age where science held significant cachet. I argue that while the tensions over science and between inductive and deductive proofs were vital in forming the discipline of political economy, these tensions were not a major factor in the rise of free trade economics. I conclude that the powerful political, social, and cultural trends swirling around the leitmotif of liberty were key factors in galvanising popular and political support for merchants who demanded an end to monopoly trade. Furthermore, the tension between liberty and justice encouraged the entrenchment of an international free market tempered by human rights, as a defining feature of capitalist society.