Focusing on the crucial period of 1820 to 1860, Grand Emporium,
Mercantile Monster examines the strong economic bonds between the
antebellum plantation South and the burgeoning city of New York
that resulted from the highly lucrative trade in cotton. In this
richly detailed work of literary and cultural history, Ritchie
Devon Watson Jr. charts how the partnership brought fantastic
wealth to both the South and Gotham during the first half of the
nineteenth century. That mutually beneficial alliance also cemented
New York's reputation as the northern metropolis most supportive of
and hospitable to southerners. Both parties initially found the
commercial and cultural entente advantageous, but their
collaboration grew increasingly fraught by the 1840s as rising
abolitionist sentiment in the North decried the system of chattel
slavery that made possible the mass production of cotton. In an
effort to stem the swelling tide of abolitionism, conservative
southerners demanded absolute political fealty to their peculiar
institution from the city that had profited most from the cotton
trade. By 1861, reactionary circles in the South viewed New York's
failure to extend such unalloyed validation as the betrayal of an
erstwhile ally that in the words of one polemicist deemed Gotham
worthy of being "blotted from the list of cities." Drawing on
contemporary letters, diaries, fiction, and travel writings, Grand
Emporium, Mercantile Monster provides the first detailed study of
the complicated relationship between the antebellum South and New
York City in the decades leading up to the Civil War.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Southern Literary Studies |
Release date: |
June 2023 |
Authors: |
Ritchie Devon Watson Jr
• Scott Romine
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
264 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-7933-8 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8071-7933-7 |
Barcode: |
9780807179338 |
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