Sign-In
Cart
Philadelphia Merchants on Western Waters: Commerce and Empire in the Riverine West, 1750-1803
Hardcover
General Racism & Ethnic StudiesGeneral World HistoryRegional: Middle Atlantic
ISBN13: 9781421452159
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: Sep 9 2025
Pages: 208
Weight: 1.00
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
How Philadelphia merchants forged trade networks that fueled America's westward expansion.
Finalist for 2026 Hagley Prize in Business History from the Hagley Museum and Library and the Business History Conference
Why did the Midwest become part of the United States instead of remaining under English, Spanish, or Native control? In Philadelphia Merchants on Western Waters, historian Kim M. Gruenwald reveals commerce and trade, rather than war and political conflict, as the driving force behind America's westward expansion.
Through meticulous research into business records, Gruenwald brings to life the daring ventures of Philadelphia merchant companies like Baynton, Wharton & Morgan, who sought to dominate the Illinois fur trade, and Reed & Forde, who expanded trade routes while speculating in land warrants. Their efforts laid the foundation for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which unified both banks of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers under one nation and set the stage for America's continental empire. Studying international dealings with French, Spanish, and Native powers, as well as the complexities of river commerce, Gruenwald paints a vivid portrait of a transformative era between the colonial Atlantic world and America's westward push to the Pacific.
Commercial expansion into what Gruenwald dubs the Riverine West represents a unique era in American history between the Atlantic of the colonial British Empire and the overland journeys of Americans heading across the Great Plains to California and Oregon in the nineteenth century. This book redefines our understanding of how a fledgling republic secured control of its western frontier--not through military conquest but through entrepreneurial spirit.
Also in
Regional: Middle Atlantic
A Light in Dark Times: The New School for Social Research and Its University in Exile
Friedlander, Judith
Paperback
Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital
Musgrove, George Derek
Asch, Chris Myers
Paperback
History Hiding Around Broadway: Backstage Lore, Secrets & Surprises from New York's Famed Theater District
Dvornik, Teale
Hardcover
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars
Collins, Paul
Paperback
Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball
Epplin, Luke
Hardcover
Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale
Earls, Averill
Handley-Cousins, Sarah
Rhodes, Marissa C.
Hardcover
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
Shorto, Russell
Paperback
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
Shorto, Russell
Hardcover
First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands
Stager, Curt
Fadden, David Kanietakeron
Paperback
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Blum, Deborah
Paperback
Hidden Histories of Jazz Age New York: From the Suppressed to the Strange
Goldman, Jonathan Ezra
Paperback
The Only Plane in the Sky (Revised and Expanded Edition for the 25th Anniversary): An Oral History of 9/11
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution
Kilmeade, Brian
Yaeger, Don
Paperback
The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Paperback
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
Shorto, Russell
Paperback
Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America
Gross, Kali Nicole
Paperback
The Worst Day: A Plane Crash, a Train Wreck, and Remarkable Acts of Heroism in Washington, DC
Goldfarb, Bruce
Paperback
Spooky Pennsylvania: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy
Moore, Robin
Paperback
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City
Mahler, Jonathan
Paperback
Into the Night: A Jailbreak and Double Homicide on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Fowler, Stephanie L.
Paperback
All Roads Lead to Hastings-on-Hudson: A History of the Lower Hudson River Valley and New York City
Lillard, Jonathan Foster
Paperback
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation
Cannell, Michael
Hardcover
The Maid and the Socialite: The Brave Women Behind Green Bay's Scandalous Minahan Trials
Drews, Lynda
Paperback
Cycling the Erie Canal: A Guide to 360 Miles of Adventure and History Along the Erie Canalway Trail
Parks & Trails New York
Paperback
More Punk Than the Public Library: The Adventures of a Little Free Punk Rock Bookstore
Bennett, J. Hunter
Paperback
The Sewards of New York: A Biography of a Leading American Political Family
Slaughter, Thomas P.
Hardcover
A Monument of Charity: St. Vincent's Hospital and Catholic Health Care in New York City
Rzeznik, Thomas F.
Hardcover
Pepperpot City: Philadelphia and the Foundation of American Cuisine, an Illustrated History
Weaver, William Woys
Hardcover
The Hudson Valley: The First 250 Million Years: A Mostly Chronological and Occasionally Personal History
Levine, David
Paperback
Forty-Four Years, the Life of a Hunter: Being Reminiscences of Meshach Browning, a Maryland Hunter and Trapper
Browning, Meshach
Paperback
A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family
Bruno, Debra
Hardcover
A Century of Music Under the Stars: A History of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and Robin Hood Dell
The Mann Center for the Performing Arts
McCarthy, Jack
Hardcover
Georgetown's Retail Past: Generations of Shops and Restaurants in One of America's Great Historic Neighborhoods
Peters, Kenneth G.
Paperback
They Said It Couldn't Be Done: The '69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History
Coffey, Wayne
Paperback
The Mayor: One Poor City's Fight to Bring Back Government and Save the Nation's Soul
Alexander, Brian
Hardcover
We're Not Leaving: 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice, and Renewal
Luft, Benjamin J.
Paperback
150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Facts from America's Most Historic Racing City
Carter, Allan
Kane, Mike
Hardcover
The Bowery Boys: Adventures in Old New York: Historic Streets, Hidden Spots, and Iconic Neighborhoods in Manhattan
Young, Greg
Meyers, Tom
Paperback
The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution
Taylor, Alan
Paperback
Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
Hortis, C. Alexander
Hardcover
Into the Night: A Jailbreak and Double Homicide on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Fowler, Stephanie L.
Hardcover
Cornell '77: The Music, the Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead's Concert at Barton Hall
Conners, Peter
Hardcover
Fighting for New York: Activism for Health and Social Justice Since the 1960s
Freudenberg, Nicholas
Paperback
Brooklynites: The Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities That Shaped a Borough
Kanakamedala, Prithi
Hardcover
Queen of Bohemia Predicts Own Death: Gilded-Age Journalist Zoe Anderson Norris
Kahn, Eve M.
Hardcover
The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty
Hogeland, William
Paperback
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation
Cannell, Michael
Paperback
Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital
Oshinsky, David
Paperback
97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement
Ziegelman, Jane
Paperback
Rhythms of Resistance and Resilience: How Black Washingtonians Used Music and Sports in the Fight for Equality
Jackson, Maurice
Hardcover
Battles at Annapolis: Two Remarkable Football Games in the Army-Navy Rivalry
Gendell, David
Paperback
City Tavern: The Founding Table--Colonial Dining, Revolutionary History, and the Restaurant at the Center of It All
Diamond, Becky Libourel
Paperback
The Big Book of New Jersey Ghost Stories
Stansfield, Charles A., Jr.
Martinelli, Patricia A.
Paperback
The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom
Gronningsater, Sarah L. H.
Paperback
The Ancient House: Constructing Community in the Seventeenth-Century New York Borderlands
Kramer, Erin B.
Paperback
Nights in Fairyland: Gossip, Blackmail, and the Many Lives of "Broadway Brevities"
Straw, Will
Paperback
Ring the Bell: How the Philadelphia Phillies Built Baseball's Best Fan Base
Fritz, Jack
Reavy, Kevin
Hardcover
The Water Carriers: A Journey Through Cherokee History and the Secret Life of Rivers
Smithers, Gregory D.
Hardcover
Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs
Kadinsky, Sergey
Paperback
Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park
Rossen, Jake
Mulvihill, Andy
Paperback
Deadly Gamble: The Wreck of Schooner Levin J Marvel, The true story of Chesapeake Bay's worst sailing disaster
Smith, Kathy Bergren
Paperback
Main Street to Mainframes: Landscape and Social Change in Poughkeepsie
Griffen, Clyde
Flad, Harvey K.
Paperback
A Lady in the Lake: The True Story of Death and Discovery in Lake Placid
Ortloff, George Christian
Paperback