Canadian Entrepreneurs and the Preservation of the Capitalist Peace in the North Atlantic Triangle in the Civil War Era, 1861-1871

Smith, A and Mussio, L (2015) Canadian Entrepreneurs and the Preservation of the Capitalist Peace in the North Atlantic Triangle in the Civil War Era, 1861-1871. Enterprise & Society: The International Journal of Business History.

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Abstract

Since the 1990s, many scholars of International Relations and International Political Economy have argued that the mutual economic interdependence characteristic of global capitalism reduces the likelihood of war. This paper will use the theory of the capitalist peace as a point of departure for understanding a turning point in the relationships between Britain, the United States, and the British colony of Canada. In the 1860s, the British Empire and the United States came to the brink of war. This article argues that Canadian entrepreneurs played an active and important role in preserving peace between the United States and the British Empire during a tumultuous period surrounding the American Civil War. Rather than being informed by religious pacifism of the type espoused by Quakers and the Amish, the thinking of Canada’s anti-militarist entrepreneurs was informed by the Enlightenment-derived theory that the best way to avoid war was to increase trade. Canadian publications, entrepreneurs, and politicians vigorously pushed this perspective throughout the 1860s. Their efforts to promote the idea of peace through trade continued even after the signing of the 1871 the Treaty of Washington, which settled a broad range of disagreements between the United States and the British Empire.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Embargo period until 2020
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain E History America > E151 United States (General) F History United States, Canada, Latin America > F1001 Canada (General) J Political Science > JZ International relations
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2015 10:45
Last Modified:	01 Jan 2020 02:30
URI:	http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/2043382

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