The Imperialism of Free Trade

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

“…Acknowledging the imperial foundation of Astoria, historians have described Astor's project as following “from the expedition of Lewis and Clark as the flight of an arrow follows on the release of a bow string” (DeVoto, , p. 539). Cushing's pride in the Astorian romance might be thought of as an American version of what twentieth century historians later termed free trade imperialism to characterize British trade policy that developed in the wake of the mercantile policies in the mid‐nineteenth century as Britain fostered “complementary satellite economies, which would provide raw materials and food for Great Britain, and also provide widening markets for its manufacturers” (Gallagher & Robinson, , p. 9). The corporate form facilitated not only the logistics of commercial endeavors but also narrative accounts of representative heroes fighting to sustain the revolutionary virtues of free trade.…”

American Empires: Past and Present*

“…He says we must go beyond ''metrocentric'' explanations based on the core, like the Hobson/Lenin theory of imperialism, the ''gentlemanly capitalism'' thesis of Cain and Hopkins (1986), or an exceptionalism located in distinctive American traditions. Ditto with ''pericentric'' explanations focused on the periphery, like Gallagher and Robinson's (1953) explanation of informal empire in terms of instability in the periphery luring imperial expansion forward. Ditto with ''structural realist'' theories reducing empires to the systemic properties of international relations.…”

American imperialism?

“…Formal and informal imperialism: modern empires, like that of England, could be 'informal' (Gallagher and Robinson 1953). 'Formal' imperialism occurs where, as a result of Log c or rec, usually VLog c or rec, there is explicit addition of regions to an empire's periphery.…”