Irish-American Trade, 1660–1783

Thomas M. Truxes (Cambridge, 1988)

From the introduction

There was little to distinguish mercantile life in Ireland from that in British America.  Merchants in both places shared a common language, common navigation laws, common financial mechanisms (particularly with regard to a common dependence upon London), and a common set of service institutions.  To an experienced sea captain, other than the fact that Ireland contained ports vastly larger than any in North America, the most striking difference between the two sides of the Atlantic was the greater vigilant of Irish customs officers.

Trade between Ireland and the American colonies was essentially inter-colonial commerce, with activities of both partners carefully structured to serve the interests of the mother country.  In a mercantile frame of reference, the British Empire was like a wheel, with England, the Metropolitan Center, located at the hub and the colonies on the rim.  Ideally, trade moved up and down the spokes, but it might move along the rim as well.  “considering Ireland therefore as a colony,” Aston Edward long of Jamaica, and astute contemporary observer, Ireland occupied, along with the American colonies, a position on the rim of the wheel.