Caleb Cushing and the corporate romance of free trade imperialism in Washington Irving's Astoria (1836)

Abstract

In 1838 the Massachusetts congressman Caleb Cushing's invoked Washington Irving's Astoria (1836) in a Congressional speech that warned against the tyranny of British corporate monopolies and pleaded for the annexation of Oregon. This essay compares Cushing's and Irving's views on the viability of US commerce in the Far East and Far West and considers the rhetorical force of corporate form in nationalising commercial activity through narratives that portray merchant princes as heroes of free trade imperialism.