Trans-Atlantic Exchange: the impact of cultural and commercial relationships forged in North America between 1836-1857 by the London tradesman and banker James Morrison

When the Governor of Ohio declared, in 1837, ‘Credit has bought our land, built our cities, cleared our fields, founded our churches, erected our colleges and schools’, he was in part referring to the role played by British investors, in particular the elite group of seven Anglo-American financial houses who together financed almost the whole of American trade and investment in the country’s infrastructure – by 1837 British capital invested in the US amounted to some 174 million dollars. James Morrison (1789-1857) was at the head of one of the houses. A self-made man, he rose through trade in textiles and investments to become the richest commoner in 19th century Britain - his trading activities had a global reach.

This paper focused on two interconnected themes - commerce and culture – using material from the extensive but largely unpublished Morrison family archive, in particular letters sent home from America by Morrison’s two sons, Alfred and Charles, who travelled across the U.S., Canada and Cuba in 1841-45. By way of comparison it is fortuitous that Charles Dickens made his first visit to the States at exactly the same time – his experiences emerging as ‘American Notes’ and the novel ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’.