"The Whole System Hangs like a Cobweb": The Grain Trade in an Era of Revolution

Brooke Hunter 

The lower Delaware River Valley area of the mid-Atlantic region in North America was one of the largest grain exporters in the Atlantic world during the eighteenth century. While the provision trade to the West Indies had been a staple of the mid-Atlantic economy since the late 1600s, the growth of that market plus new demand from Britain and Europe around mid-century led to significant changes in the organization of the grain trade. Part of a larger process of commercial development, the system of networks governing the grain trade became more intricate between 1750-1800. To meet the needs of an expanding marketplace, people increasingly specialized in the processes of production, distribution, and marketing of flour. A flour merchant emerged as one of the new specialties. This individual brokered the exchange of flour and grain between millers and provision traders, between the countryside and transatlantic markets. Examining the career of Levi Hollingsworth, one of the first to specialize in Philadelphia, illustrates the activities of a flour merchant, reveals the complexity of trading networks, and shows how an individual and a sector of trade met the challenges of an era of revolution.

[WP # 99018]