Andrew Cochrane of Brighouse (1693 – 1777) was a Scottish merchant who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow three times, more than any other person: 1744/5, 1748/9, and 1760/1. Cochrane Street in central Glasgow was renamed in his honour in 1799; the street previously being known as Cotton Street.
66-688: The Tobacco Lords were a group of Scottish merchants active during the Georgian era who made substantial sums of money via their participation in the triangular trade , primarily through dealing in slave-produced tobacco that was grown in the Thirteen Colonies . Concentrated in the port city of Glasgow , these merchants utilised their fortunes, which were also partly made via the direct ownership of slaves, to construct numerous townhouses , churches and other buildings in Scotland. In 1707,
132-507: A commission. The Scots, on the other hand, bought the crop at pre-arranged prices and made large (and potentially risky) loans to their customers. Prior to 1740, the Tobacco Lords were responsible for the import of less than 10% of America's tobacco crop, but by the 1750s Glasgow handled more of the trade than the rest of Britain's ports combined. Heavily capitalised, and taking great personal risks, these men made immense fortunes from
198-467: A growing evangelical, revivalist faction, the "Low Church". Its leaders included William Wilberforce and Hannah More . It reached the upper class through the Clapham Sect . It did not seek political reform, but rather the opportunity to save souls through political action by freeing slaves, abolishing the duel, prohibiting cruelty to children and animals, stopping gambling, and avoiding frivolity on
264-544: A large and powerful Royal Navy, which not only protected the British colonies but threatened the colonies of the other empires, and sometimes seized them. The colonies were captive markets for British industry, and the goal was to enrich the mother country. Most of the companies earned good profits, and enormous personal fortunes were created in India, but there was one major fiasco that caused heavy losses. The South Sea Bubble
330-544: A million sterling a year. Glasgow merchants made such fortunes that they adopted the style of aristocrats in their superior manner and in their lavish homes and churches. The merchants' Calvinist background made sure, however, that display was always of rich but sober materials – black silk clothes, (though startlingly set off by scarlet cloaks), black three-cornered hats, silver- (or even gold-) tipped ebony canes, mahogany furniture, and classical architecture in their domestic and public use. Their mansions were laid out on
396-616: A new era of poetry, characterised by vivid and colourful language, evocative of elevating ideas and themes. The paintings of Thomas Gainsborough , Sir Joshua Reynolds and the young J. M. W. Turner and John Constable illustrated the changing world of the Georgian period – as did the work of designers like Capability Brown , the landscape designer . Fine examples of distinctive Georgian architecture are Edinburgh's New Town , Georgian Dublin , Grainger Town in Newcastle upon Tyne ,
462-536: A ready market in Europe. The triangle involved merchants carrying manufactured goods from Europe to West Africa to sell or exchange for slaves which they transported to America and the Caribbean. On the third leg back to Europe they carried tobacco, rum, cotton, sugar and the like. From 1710, Glasgow became the centre of an economic boom which lasted nearly fifty years. The Tobacco Lords personified this boom and were
528-399: A share to £1,000, with insiders making huge paper profits. The Bubble collapsed overnight, ruining many speculators. Investigations showed bribes had reached into high places—even to the king. The future prime minister Robert Walpole managed to wind it down with minimal political and economic damage, although some suffering extreme loss fled to exile or committed suicide. The beginning of
594-575: Is being restored at 42 Miller Street. St Andrew's Parish Church in St Andrew's Square, built 1739–1756 by Alan Dreghorn was the Tobacco Lord's ostentatious parish church, in a prestigious area being laid out by such merchants as David Dale (who was not involved in the tobacco trade). In the same area was the grand house of Alexander Speirs. St Andrew's in the Square still survives today and
660-625: Is considered one of the finest classical churches in Britain, Today it is Glasgow's Centre for Scottish Culture, promoting Scottish music, song and dance. The church is located in St Andrew's Square , near Glasgow Cross and Glasgow Green , on the edge of the City's East End. The church, inspired by St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, was built between 1739 and 1756 by Master Mason Mungo Naismith. It
726-656: Is sometimes still referred to as such; see Georgian Poetry . Andrew Cochrane He was born in Ayr in 1693 the son of David Cochrane. He moved to Glasgow in 1722. In 1723/4 he went into partnership with his brother-in-law John Murdoch (1709-1776) creating the Virginia trading company of Cochrane, Murdoch & Company . In 1743 he founded the Political Economy Club whose members included Adam Smith . In 1745 in his role as Lord Provost he had
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#1732780449941792-405: The nouveau riche of the mid-eighteenth century. Arguably the most successful of these merchants was either Andrew Buchanan of Drumpellier or John Glassford . Glassford entered the tobacco trade in 1750 and soon acquired a fleet of vessels and many tobacco stores across New England . Celebrated in his lifetime, Glassford was the most extensive ship owner of his generation in Scotland and one of
858-534: The Church of England gained strength in the late 18th and early 19th century. The movement challenged the traditional religious sensibility that emphasised a code of honour for the upper class, and suitable behaviour for everyone else, together with faithful observances of rituals. John Wesley (1703–1791) and his followers preached revivalist religion, trying to convert individuals to a personal relationship with Christ through Bible reading, regular prayer, and especially
924-844: The Tower of London and overthrow the government. This too was thwarted, with the conspirators executed or transported to Australia. Historians have long explored the importance of the Scottish Enlightenment, as well as the American Enlightenment, while debating the very existence of the English Enlightenment. English historian Peter Gay argues that the Scottish Enlightenment "was a small and cohesive group of friends – David Hume, Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, and others – who knew one another intimately and talked to one another incessantly". Education
990-685: The Treaty of Union between Scotland and England gave Scottish merchants access to the English colonies , especially in North America . Glasgow 's position on the River Clyde , where the westerlies hit Europe as well as in other places like Bristol, Nantes, or Bordeaux, may have been an opportunity for its merchants. The French monarchy granted Glasgow in 1747 a monopoly for the importation of tobacco into French territories. The deepening of
1056-572: The humanist and rationalist outlook of the European Enlightenment of the same time period, the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment asserted the importance of human reason combined with a rejection of any authority that could not be justified by reason. In Scotland, the Enlightenment was characterised by a thoroughgoing empiricism and practicality where the chief values were improvement, virtue, and practical benefit for
1122-606: The macaroni style that was soon to become fashionable at the time. It was a time of immense social change in Britain, with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution which began the process of intensifying class divisions , and the emergence of rival political parties like the Whigs and Tories . In rural areas, the Agricultural Revolution saw huge changes to the movement of people and
1188-594: The "Clockwork Operation" of fast ships coupled with ruthless dealmaking and the manipulation of credit. Planters in Maryland and Virginia were offered easy credit by the Tobacco Lords, enabling them to buy European consumer goods and other luxuries before harvest time gave them the ready cash to do so. But when the time came to sell the crop, the indebted growers found themselves forced by the traders to accept low prices for their harvest in order to stave off bankruptcy. At his Mount Vernon slave plantation, future President of
1254-422: The 1640s and 1650s saw a revived economy characterised by growth in manufacturing, the elaboration of financial and credit instruments, and the commercialisation of communication. The gentry found time for leisure activities, such as horse racing and bowling. In the high culture important innovations included the development of a mass market for music, increased scientific research, and an expansion of publishing. All
1320-789: The 1791 Priestley Riots in Birmingham, the mob targeted Dissenters, including the prominent Radical Joseph Priestley . The Black Act of 1723 , sponsored by Robert Walpole, strengthened the criminal code for the benefit of the upper class. It specified over 200 capital crimes, many with intensified punishment. The crime of arson, for example, was expanded to include of burning or the threat of burning haystacks. The legal rights of defendants were something different from today. For example, suspects who refused to surrender within 40 days could be summarily judged guilty and sentenced to execution if apprehended. Local villages were punished if they failed to find, prosecute and convict alleged criminals, due to
1386-607: The Clyde in 1768 provided a further advantage because Glasgow ships were built specifically for the Atlantic crossing and were generally bigger than those of other ports. The tobacco trade was part of broader trade that linked exports of consumer and manufactured goods from Europe with the North American and Caribbean colonies. Operated on plantation economies fueled by slave labour, these colonies supplied products that found
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#17327804499411452-640: The Georgian Quarter of Liverpool and much of Bristol and Bath . The music of John Field , Handel , Haydn , Clementi , Johann Christian Bach , William Boyce , Mozart , Beethoven and Mendelssohn was some of the most popular in England at that time. The height of the Grand Tour coincided with the 18th century and is associated with Georgian high society. This custom saw young upper-class Englishmen travelling to Italy by way of France and
1518-623: The Georgian era witnessed rioting by Jacobite and High Church mobs in protest against the Hanoverian succession and which included attacks on the Dissenters ' places of worship. These included the 1714 coronation riots , which occurred on the day of George I's coronation, and the riots of 1715 . In response, Parliament passed the Riot Act , which granted the authorities greater powers to put down rioting. Although religious toleration
1584-535: The Government a petition. The Luddites destroyed and damaged machinery in the industrial north-west of England. The Peterloo Massacre in 1819 began as a protest rally which saw 60,000 people gathering to protest about their living standards, but was quelled by military action and saw eleven people killed and 400 wounded. The Cato Street Conspiracy of 1820 sought to blow up the Cabinet and then move on to storm
1650-532: The Netherlands for intellectual and cultural purposes. Notable historian Edward Gibbon remarked of the Grand Tour as useful for intellectual self-improvement. The journey and stay abroad would usually take a year or more. This would eventually lead to the basis for the acquisition and spread of art collections back to England as well as fashions and paintings from Italy. The custom also helped popularise
1716-467: The Netherlands overwhelmed Britain, which stood alone without allies. The loss of the 13 American Colonies was a national disaster. Commentators at home and abroad speculated on the end of Britain as a great power . In Europe, the wars with France dragged on for nearly a quarter of a century, 1793–1815. Britain organised coalition after coalition, using its superb financial system to subsidise infantry forces, and built up its Navy to maintain control of
1782-630: The Sabbath; they read the Bible every day. All souls were equal in God's view, but not all bodies, so evangelicals did not challenge the hierarchical structure of English society. As R. J. Morris noted in his 1983 article "Voluntary Societies and British Urban Elites, 1780-1850," "[m]id-eighteenth-century Britain was a stable society in the sense that those with material and ideological power were able to defend this power in an effective and dynamic manner," but "in
1848-743: The Ship Bank. In 1761 he was a joint founder (with 25 others) of the Glasgow Arms Bank and also became a partner in Bell's Tanyard which served the curious twin function of bank and tannery. He died in Glasgow in 1777. A monument to his memory is in the nave of Glasgow Cathedral . In 1723 he married Janet Murdoch (1699-1786), daughter of Peter Murdoch of Rosehill Lord Provost from 1730 to 1732, and sister of John Murdoch of Rosebank . They had no children. The Maitland Club published
1914-514: The United States George Washington saw his liabilities swell to nearly £2,000 by the late 1760s (equivalent to £350,162 in 2023). Thomas Jefferson , on the verge of losing his own slave plantation Monticello , accused British-based merchants of unfairly depressing tobacco prices and forcing Virginia planters to take on unsustainable debt loads. In 1786, he remarked: A powerful engine for this [mercantile profiteering]
1980-668: The West Indies. China would be next on the agenda. Other powers set up similar monopolies on a much smaller scale; only the Netherlands emphasized trade as much as England. Mercantilism was the basic policy imposed by Britain on its colonies. Mercantilism meant that the government and the merchants became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires. The government protected its merchants—and kept others out—by trade barriers, regulations, and subsidies to domestic industries in order to maximise exports from and minimise imports to
2046-748: The Young Pretender and his army. Cochrane was deeply upset by this and following the defeat of the Jacobite army at the Battle of Culloden he went to London with his brother-in-law George Murdoch (a Bailie and future Lord Provost ) to lobby for compensation, eventually being successful the town received £10,000 in 1749. In 1750 he was one of the first patrons of the odd bank, the Glasgow Tanwork Company (also known as Bell's Tanyards) which combined tanning and banking. It later became
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2112-571: The architecture of Robert Adam , John Nash and James Wyatt and the emergence of the Gothic Revival style, which hearkened back to a supposed golden age of building design. The flowering of the arts was most vividly shown in the emergence of the Romantic poets, principally through Samuel Taylor Coleridge , William Wordsworth , Percy Bysshe Shelley , William Blake , John Keats , Lord Byron and Robert Burns . Their work ushered in
2178-404: The arduous task of negotiating a levy on the town placed by Bonnie Prince Charlie to support the Jacobite cause, all the harder as Cochrane was a Hanoverian sympathiser. Whilst the ex Lord Provost Andrew Buchanan of Drumpellier (as part of the commission of people resolving the issue) negotiated a drop in the demanded levy from £15,000 to £5,500 the town nevertheless ended paying £14,000 to host
2244-484: The culture had accepted political liberalism, philosophical empiricism and religious toleration of the sort that intellectuals on the continent had to fight for against powerful odds. The coffee-house culture provided an ideal venue for enlightened conversation. Furthermore, England rejected the collectivism of the continent, and emphasized the improvement of individuals as the main goal of enlightenment. The British sponsored numerous scientists who made major discoveries in
2310-619: The decline of small communities, the growth of the cities and the beginnings of an integrated transportation system but, nevertheless, as rural towns and villages declined and work became scarce there was a huge increase in emigration to Canada, the North American colonies (which became the United States during the period) and other parts of the British Empire . In England, the evangelical movement inside and outside
2376-593: The demise of classical architecture. Victorians typically were disapproving of the times of the previous era. By the late 19th century, the "Georgian era" was a byword for a degenerate culture. Charles Abbey in 1878 argued that the Church of England: Note: In the twentieth century, the period 1910–1936 was informally called the Georgian Era during the reign of George V (following the Edwardian Era ), and
2442-461: The detriment of planters in Maryland and Virginia, who by the time of the outbreak of war in 1775 had accumulated debts of around £1,000,000, a huge sum at the time (equivalent to £191 million in 2023). These debts, as much as the taxation imposed by Parliament, were among the colonists' most bitter grievances. It was this extension of cheap credit that made the Tobacco Lords different. English merchants simply sold American tobacco in Europe and took
2508-478: The exact ending, with the deaths of George IV in 1830 or William IV in 1837 as the usual marker. In most social and cultural trends, the timing varied. The emergence of Romanticism and literature began as early as the 1780s, but religious changes took much longer and were incomplete until around a century later. The 1830s saw important developments such as the emergence of the Oxford Movement in religion and
2574-408: The four merchants who laid the foundation of the commercial greatness of Glasgow through the tobacco trade. Tobias Smollett wrote of a meeting with Glassford in 1771: I conversed with Mr G--ssf--d, whom I take to be one of the greatest merchants in Europe. In the last war, he is said to have had at one time five and twenty ships with their cargos – his own property – and to have traded for above half
2640-532: The grandeur of the Tobacco Lords' houses - which often dramatically punctuated the ends of the streets named after them – can be had in the original core of Glasgow. The Gallery of Modern Art , which today occupies the (greatly expanded and embellished by later reconstruction as the Exchange) mansion built for William Cunninghame in 1780, at a cost of £10,000 (equivalent to £1.68 million in 2023). A more modest Tobacco Merchant's House (by James Craig , 1775)
2706-535: The homeland from invasion) was building a worldwide trading network for its merchants, manufacturers, shippers and financiers. This required a hegemonic Royal Navy so powerful that no rival could sweep its ships from the world's trading routes, or invade the British Isles. The London government enhanced the private sector by incorporating numerous privately financed London-based companies for establishing trading posts and opening import-export businesses across
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2772-492: The illness of his father George III. The transition to the Victorian era was characterized in religion, social values, and the arts by a shift in tone away from rationalism and toward romanticism and mysticism. The term Georgian is typically used in the contexts of social and political history and architecture . The term Augustan literature is often used for Augustan drama , Augustan poetry and Augustan prose in
2838-647: The increase in crime at the time. With the ending of the War with France in 1815, Great Britain entered a period of greater economic depression and political uncertainty, characterised by social discontent and unrest. The Radical political party published a leaflet called The Political Register , also known as "The Two Penny Trash" to its rivals. The so-called March of the Blanketeers saw 400 spinners and weavers march from Manchester to London in March 1817 to hand
2904-775: The individual and society as a whole. Among the fields that rapidly advanced were philosophy, economics, history, architecture, and medicine. Leaders included Francis Hutcheson , David Hume , Adam Smith , Dugald Stewart , Thomas Reid , William Robertson , Henry Home, Lord Kames , Adam Ferguson , John Playfair , Joseph Black and James Hutton . The very existence of an English Enlightenment has been debated by scholars. The majority of textbooks and standard surveys make no room for an English Enlightenment. Some European surveys include England, others ignore it but do include coverage of such major intellectuals as Joseph Addison , Edward Gibbon , John Locke , Isaac Newton , Alexander Pope and Joshua Reynolds . According to Derek Hirst ,
2970-707: The most prominent of the many explorers and geographers using the resources of the Royal Navy to develop the Empire and make many scientific discoveries, especially in Australia and the Pacific. Instead of trying to recover the lost colonies in North America, the British built up in Asia a largely new Second British Empire. That new empire flourished during the Victorian and Edwardian eras which were to follow. The era
3036-569: The period 1700–1740s. The term Augustan refers to the acknowledgement of the influence of Latin literature from the ancient Roman Republic . The term Georgian era is not applied to the time of the two 20th-century British kings of this name, George V and George VI . Those periods are simply referred to as Georgian . Georgian society and its preoccupations were well portrayed in the novels of writers such as Daniel Defoe , Jonathan Swift , Samuel Richardson , Henry Fielding , Laurence Sterne , Mary Shelley and Jane Austen , characterised by
3102-947: The primary enemy. Major episodes included the Seven Years' War , known in America as the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802), the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). The British won most of the wars except for the American Revolution, where the combined weight of the United States, France, Spain and
3168-494: The realm. The government had to fight smuggling, which became a favourite American technique in the 18th century to circumvent the restrictions on trading with the French, Spanish or Dutch. The goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses, so that gold and silver would pour into London. The government took its share through duties and taxes, with the remainder going to merchants in Britain. The government spent much of its revenue on
3234-614: The revival experience. Wesley himself preached 52,000 times, calling on men and women to "redeem the time" and save their souls. Wesley always operated inside the Church of England, but at his death, his followers set up outside institutions that became the Methodist Church . It stood alongside the traditional Nonconformist churches, Presbyterians, Congregationalist, Baptists, Unitarians, and Quakers. The Nonconformist churches, however, were less influenced by revivalism. The Church of England remained dominant in England but it had
3300-588: The seas. Victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and the Battle of Waterloo (1815) under Admiral Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington brought a sense of triumphalism and political reaction. The expansion of empire in Asia was primarily the work of the British East India Company , especially under the leadership of Robert Clive . Captain James Cook was perhaps
3366-418: The small laboratories. Joseph Priestley investigated electricity. Chemist Henry Cavendish identified hydrogen in 1772. Daniel Rutherford isolated nitrogen in 1774, while Priestley discovered oxygen and ammonia. Antiquarians and archaeologists mapped the past. In medicine, in 1717 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduced inoculation against smallpox to Britain, and by 1740 it was in wide usage. Guy's Hospital
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#17327804499413432-465: The trends were discussed in depth at the newly established coffee houses . Education was also a priority in England. English institutions expanded rapdly, including the formation of the Royal Society , which is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. Roy Porter argues that the reason for the neglect was the assumption that the movement was primarily French-inspired, that it
3498-563: The triangular trade, particularly cotton in the British West Indies . The impact of the Tobacco Lords on Glasgow's architectural heritage remains today. St Andrew's in the Square is today Glasgow's Centre for Scottish Culture, promoting Scottish music, song and dance. William Cunninghame's (greatly expanded and embellished) mansion now houses the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art. Georgian era The Georgian era
3564-682: The twenty years after 1780, this consensus structure was broken." Anglican Evangelicalism thus, as historian Lisa Wood has argued in her book Modes of Discipline: Women, Conservatism, and the Novel After the French Revolution , functioned as a tool of ruling-class social control, buffering the discontent that in France had inaugurated a revolution; yet it contained within itself the seeds for challenge to gender and class hierarchies. The Georgian period saw continual warfare, with France
3630-645: The western boundaries of the 18th century city, where they gave their names to later streets in what modern Glasgow now calls the Merchant City . Other streets recall the triangular trade more directly, with modern streets bearing names like Virginia Street and Jamaica Street. Among the important Tobacco Lords whose mansions gave their names to streets were Andrew Buchanan , James Dunlop , Archibald Ingram , James Wilson , Alexander Oswald , Andrew Cochrane , and John Glassford. The Virginia Mansion of Alexander Speirs gave Virginia Street its name, and Alexander gave his surname to Speirs Wharf in Port Dundas . Some idea of
3696-400: The world. Each was given a monopoly of trade to the specified geographical region. The first enterprise was the Muscovy Company set up in 1555 to trade with Russia. Other prominent enterprises included the East India Company , and the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. The Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa had been set up in 1662 to trade in gold, ivory and slaves in Africa; it
3762-465: Was a business enterprise that exploded in scandal. The South Sea Company was a private business corporation supposedly set up much like the other trading companies, with a focus on South America. Its actual purpose was to renegotiate previous high-interest government loans amounting to £31 million through market manipulation and speculation. It issued stock four times in 1720 that reached about 8,000 investors. Prices kept soaring every day, from £130
3828-416: Was a period in British history from 1714 to c. 1830–1837 , named after the Hanoverian kings George I , George II , George III and George IV . The definition of the Georgian era is also often extended to include the relatively short reign of William IV , which ended with his death in 1837. The subperiod that is the Regency era is defined by the regency of George IV as Prince of Wales during
3894-422: Was a priority in Scotland, both at the local level and especially in four universities. The Enlightenment culture was based on close readings of new books, and intense discussions that took place daily at such intellectual gathering places in Edinburgh as The Select Society and, later, The Poker Club as well as within Scotland's ancient universities ( St Andrews , Glasgow , Edinburgh and Aberdeen ). Sharing
3960-450: Was extensive by the standards of continental Europe, hostility to religious minorities was widespread in Britain during the eighteenth century and sometimes expressed itself in rioting. The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 was repealed a year after it had been passed because of widespread opposition and the 1780 Gordon Riots in London were directed against Catholics after the Papists Act 1778 removed some of their legal disabilities. During
4026-421: Was founded in 1721; the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1729; Queen Charlotte's maternity hospital in 1739 and the Middlesex Hospital in 1745. Asylums for the mentally ill were established, notably Bethel Hospital in Norwich (1713); a ward for incurable lunatics at Guy's Hospital (1728); and lunatic hospitals in Manchester (1766) and York in (1777)—York was the first to be called an asylum. Historians debate
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#17327804499414092-467: Was largely a-religious or anti-clerical, and it stood in outspoken defiance to the established order. Porter admits that after the 1720s, England could claim thinkers to equal Diderot, Voltaire or Rousseau. Indeed, its leading intellectuals, such as Edward Gibbon , Edmund Burke and Samuel Johnson were all quite conservative and supported the standing order. Porter says the reason was that Enlightenment had come early to England, and had succeeded so that
4158-482: Was prosperous as entrepreneurs extended the range of their business around the globe. By the 1720s Britain was one of the most prosperous countries in the world, and Daniel Defoe boasted: While the other major powers were primarily motivated towards territorial gains, and protection of their dynasties (such as the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, and the House of Hohenzollern ), Britain had a different set of primary interests. Its main diplomatic goal (besides protecting
4224-482: Was re-established as the Royal African Company in 1672 and focused on the slave trade. British involvement in each of the four major wars, 1740 to 1783, paid off handsomely in terms of trade. Even the loss of the 13 colonies was made up by a very favourable trading relationship with the new United States of America. British gained dominance in the trade with India, and largely dominated the highly lucrative slave, sugar, and commercial trades originating in West Africa and
4290-469: Was the first Presbyterian church built after the Reformation , and was commissioned by the city's Tobacco Lords as a demonstration of their wealth and power. During the 1760s, tensions grew between Britain and its North American colonies , among which were economic stresses arising out of the perceived unfairness of the Anglo-American tobacco trade. The market in tobacco was dominated by the Tobacco Lords, who American colonists claimed manipulated prices to
4356-455: Was the giving of good prices and credit to the planter till they got him more immersed in debt than he could pay without selling lands or slaves. They then reduced the prices given for his tobacco so that…they never permitted him to clear off his debt. After the war, few of the enormous debts owed by American colonists would ever be repaid. Despite these setbacks, after the war the Tobacco Lords switched their attention to other profitable parts of
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