Anti-American Themes in British Radicalism from the “Tariff of Abominations” to the Crisis of Secession: The Case of Thomas Perronet Thompson

AbstractAmerica's self-perception has long been influenced by the opinions of America held by foreigners. Admiration for the United States was strong among British radicals in the early and mid-nineteenth century, but there was an alternative position, one that was negative toward America. While some historians have assumed that respect for the United States was a dominant fixture in British radicalism, others have shown that disinterest, or equivocation, or even hostility, was more prevalent. This article explores some of the reasons behind anti-Americanism. Special attention is given to economic matters, slavery, and foreign policy from the late 1820s to the early 1860s, and to the writings and speeches of the radical M.P. and political economist Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783–1869). Thompson's thoughts and activities repay consideration because they point to the range of responses – some of which have been underestimated by historians – that the United States could evoke.Keywords: Thomas Perronet ThompsonBritish radicalismslaveryforeign policy Notes on contributorMichael J. Turner is Roy Carroll Distinguished Professor of British History at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. He has published widely in the fields of reform politics in nineteenth-century Britain and modern British foreign policy.Manuscript CollectionsCobden Papers, British Library (BL), London.Peacock Papers, John Rylands Library (JRL), University of Manchester.Thompson Journals and Notebooks, Hull Central Library (HCL): 4 volumes, compiled in 1793 and 1800–15.Thompson Papers, Brotherton Library (BroL), University of Leeds.Thompson Papers, Brynmor Jones Library (BJL), University of Hull.West Yorkshire Archives (WYA), Bradford.Notes1. Brooks, America through Foreign Eyes, 3–13.2. Clarke, Mr. Churchill's Profession, chap. 3; Reynolds, In Command of History, 413, 421, 500–1.3. 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Epstein, "'America' in the Victorian Cultural Imagination," 115–16.5. Webb, Modern England, 94; Temperley, Britain and America, 43; Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 110; Hinde, Cobden: Victorian Outsider, 23; Thistlethwaite, Anglo-American Connection, 46, 74; Murphy, Land without Castles, 94–5; Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment, and Reform, 81–2.6. Epstein, "'America' in the Victorian Cultural Imagination," 107–23.7. Phillips, Cousins' Wars, 239; Lillibridge, Beacon of Freedom, xiii–xv, 28; "Introduction," in Leventhal and Quinault, Anglo-American Attitudes, 1. See also Greene, "Introduction: Empire and Liberty," 1–24; Onuf, "Federalism, Democracy, and Liberty," 132–59.8. Crook, American Democracy, 6–10, 199.9. Lillibridge, Beacon of Freedom, 41, 48; Temperley, Britain and America, 44.10. Bronstein, "From the Land of Liberty to Land Monopoly," 147–70; Claeys, "The Example of America," 66–80; Boston, Chartists in America, chap. 4.11. For example, Turner, "Chartism, Bronterre O'Brien, and the 'Luminous Political Example of America,'" 43–69.12. Roper, Democracy and its Critics, 3–16, 18–21, 28, 54–5, 80–3, 109–12, 138–9, 166–8, 193, 212–17.13. Saunders, Democracy and the Vote, 142–8.14. Finn, After Chartism, 307–12, 316.15. Taylor, Decline of British Radicalism.16. Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 140–1, and idem, English Public Opinion and the American Civil War.17. Finn, After Chartism, 198, 213; Harrison, Before the Socialists, 42, 55.18. Saunders, Democracy and the Vote, 142.19. Colley, Britons, 105, 134–8, 141–5, 148–9, 352–4.20. Parry, Rise and Fall of Liberal Government.21. Vernon, Politics and the People.22. Chase, Chartism; Stedman Jones, "Language of Chartism," 3–58; Taylor, "Rethinking the Chartists," 479–95.23. Epstein, "Constitutional Idiom," 553–74; Jones, Chartism and the Chartists, 37–40, 64, 186–7; Royle and Walvin, English Radicals, 169–70; Thompson, The Chartists, 105; Hollis, Pauper Press, viii, 100, 203–4, 207, 210, 218–58, 286–90, 293, 299, 302; Harrison and Hollis, "Chartism, Liberalism, and the Life of Robert Lowery," 503–35.24. Turner, Independent Radicalism, chaps. 3–4.25. Thompson, Exercises, vol. 1, 306–7.26. Thompson's own radicalism arose not from class identity or religious beliefs but personal experience and intellectual persuasion; and his supporters (taking those who voted for him in parliamentary elections as a guide) tended to be men of independent spirit, especially shopkeepers, grocers, tradesmen, and skilled craftsmen. Turner, Independent Radicalism, 1–4, 6–8, 237–8.27. Parry, Politics of Patriotism, 2, 4, 35, 73, 387.28. The fascination began at a young age. There are extracts from Thomas Jefferson on government and political economy, and from the writings of travelers in America, in Thompson's journals and notebooks, HCL. For broader accounts of Thompson's public career, see Turner, Independent Radicalism; Johnson, General T. Perronet Thompson; Morrison, "Perronet Thompson."29. Crook, American Democracy, 37–8, 42, 45, 56, 58–9, 63.30. Thompson Papers DTH 4/22, BJL.31. Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 70–1; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 395–410; Pincus, Pressure Groups, 10; Thornton and Ekelund, Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation, 9–26; Watson, Liberty and Power, 88–9, 126–31; Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 134–297, and idem, Road to Disunion, vol. 1, 257–61, 277–82; Ellis, The Union at Risk, 41–51, 158–77; Remini, Andrew Jackson, 8–44; Divine et al., America Past and Present, 164–5; McDonald, States' Rights, 95, 103–10; Ratcliffe, "The Nullification Crisis," 1–30. On the development of free trade ideas and policy in Britain, see Gordon, Economic Doctrine and Tory Liberalism; Hilton, Corn, Cash, Commerce; Sykes, Rise and Fall of British Liberalism; and Howe, Free Trade and Liberal England.32. Todd, "John Bowring," 377–8.33. T.P. Thompson to J. Bowring, March 5, 1833, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/5, BJL.34. Briggs, Age of Improvement, 339; Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 67–8, 70, 72; Temperley, Britain and America, 34–6. Some British radicals thought of the "Walker Tariff" of 1846, which cut duties, as a response to Britain's repeal of the Corn Laws and an indication that the U.S. government was headed in the right direction, but Thompson was not so sure. For the background see James and Lake, "The Second Face of Hegemony," 1–29.35. "Essays on the Pursuit of Truth," "Radical Reform," "Great Britain and France," "East India Trade," "Prospects of Reform," "Ireland," Westminster Review 11, no. 22 (October 1829): 488; 12, no. 23 (January 1830): 231; 13, no. 25 (July 1830): 249; 14, no. 27 (January 1831): 100; 17, no. 33 (July 1832): 259; 18, no. 36 (April 1833): 501–2; Thompson, Exercises, vol. 1, 63, 228, 296, 350, vol. 2, 236, 419. See also Thompson's introduction to the Westminster Review 22, no. 43 (January 1835): i–iv, in which he used a constitutional crisis and change of ministry in Britain to compare the British and U.S. political systems.36. Thompson, Exercises, vol. 4, 474; idem, A Catechism on the Corn Laws, 16–17.37. "Renewal of Bank Charter," "McCulloch's Edition of The Wealth of Nations," Westminster Review 17, no. 33 (July 1832): 210, no. 34 (October 1832): 279–80; Thompson, Exercises, vol. 2, 217, 250.38. Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 74–5; Temperley, Britain and America, 43.39. "Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society," Westminster Review 14, no. 28 (April 1831): 290–1; Thompson, Exercises, vol. 1, 410. On some linkages between Thompson's antislavery and his political reform and other commitments, see Fladeland, Abolitionists and Working-Class Problems, 93–110.40. "Free Trade," "Program to the Westminster Review for 1 October 1832," "Economy of Paying Twice Over," "Philanthropic Economy," Westminster Review 12, no. 23 (January 1830): 166; 20, no. 39 (January 1834): 257–8; 23, no. 45 (July 1835): 24–6; Thompson, Exercises, vol. 1, 218, vol. 2, 237–8, vol. 3, 66–7, 276–8.41. Thompson to Bowring, September 26, 1834, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/6, BJL; "John Hopkins's Notions on Political Economy," Westminster Review 22, no. 43 (January 1835): 1–8; Thompson, Exercises, vol. 3, 162.42. America disregarded British copyright laws and British writers could not expect royalties on sales of their work in the United States unless they had an American publisher. A separate copyright agreement was needed in each nation. Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 45, 59, 62, 64; Temperley, Britain and America, 49.43. Thompson to Bowring, December 24, 1835, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/6, BJL.44. Thompson, Exercises, vol. 4, 221, vol. 6, 122, 179; Hull Advertiser, March 10, 1837; Leicestershire Mercury, February 13, 1841; Leeds Times, March 6, 1841.45. Thompson, Exercises, vol. 4, 211, vol. 5, 90; Hull Advertiser, March 3, 1837; Leeds Times, August 15, 1840.46. Thompson, Exercises, vol. 5, 214, 236–9; Bolton Free Press, October 31, November 7, 1840.47. Thompson, Exercises, vol. 5, 347–9, 410, 412, 418, 448–50, 456, vol. 6, 9–10, 28, 175, 226; Nottingham Review, December 4, 1840; Sheffield Iris, December 15 and 29, 1840; Bolton Free Press, December 26, 1840, March 6, 1841; Leicestershire Mercury, January 2 and 9, 1841; True Scotsman, January, 9, March 20, 1841. On the wider transatlantic debates about slavery and free trade in this period, see Morgan, "Anti-Corn Law League and British Antislavery," 87–107, and Huzzey, "Free Trade, Free Labor," 359–79.48. Divine et al., America Past and Present, 206–8, 210–16; Temperley, Britain and America, 53–4; Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 126–8; Henderson, Glorious Defeat, 75–101, 140–7; Haynes, James K. Polk, 53–4, 92, 105–10, 121–2; Hietala, Manifest Design, 17–20, 36–7, 40, 43–4, 47, 49, 51–3, 77–8, 85–6, 123–7, 217–20; Pletcher, Diplomacy of Annexation, 4–5, 66–76, 168–70, 204–7, 229–32, 236–8, 241, 246–50; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, chap. 17; Remini, Andrew Jackson, chaps. 23, 32; McDonald, States' Rights, 122, 136, 150; Winders, Crisis in the Southwest, 10–88; Reichstein, Rise of the Lone Star, 127–47, 166–80; McComb, Texas, 37–55; Campbell, Gone to Texas, 128–86.49. Thompson's draft letter to constituents, March 11, 1837, Thompson Papers, DTH 5/23, BJL; Thompson, Exercises, vol. 4, 160–1, 224; "To the Secretary of the Hull Reform Association," Hull Advertiser, March 17, 1837. See also Hull Advertiser, August 12, 1836.50. For the speeches see Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser., vol. 37 (1837), cols. 191–202.51. Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser., vol. 37 (1837), col. 201.52. For example, Thompson, Exercises, vol. 5, 313–15, 326, 329; Leicestershire Mercury, November 28, 1840; Suffolk Chronicle, November 28, 1840; True Scotsman, November 28, 1840.53. Hull Advertiser, April 1, 1842; Sheahan, Kingston upon Hull, 685–6. Thompson had previously cooperated with Hull Whigs and used the Hull Advertiser as an outlet, but by the end of the 1830s he had broken with the Whig Party locally and nationally, because he came to doubt its commitment to reforms.54. Thompson to Bowring, January 11, February 24, March 16, 17, 20 and 22, April 1, 1840, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/9, 5/25, BJL; Hull and East Riding Times, March 13 and 27, 1840; Fladeland, Abolitionists and Working-Class Problems, 106.55. Thompson to Bowring, February 2, 1838, Thompson Papers, DTH 5/24, BJL; Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 85, 105, 128–31; Fladeland, Men and Brothers, 195–6, 198, 200, 202, 206–14, 216, 218; Turner, "Radical Agitation and the Canada Question," 90–114; Temperley, Britain and America, 39–40, 50–1; Thompson, Exercises, vol. 4, 221, vol. 6, 194, 197, 211–12, 214–15, 217–18; Hull Advertiser, March 10, 1837; Leeds Times, March 13, 20, 1841; Manchester and Salford Advertiser, March 13, 20, 1841; Dundee Chronicle, March 20, 1841.56. Tyne Mercury, August 13, 1845; Sunderland Herald, August 8 and 15, 1845.57. Thompson to G. Wilson, December 22, 1845, MS. 277/1, Thompson Papers, BroL; Thompson to H.B. Peacock, December 31, 1845, Eng. MS. 1180/107, Peacock Papers, JRL; Thompson to R. Cobden, March 4, 1846, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/11, BJL, and Cobden Papers, Add. MS. 43663/104-5, BL.58. Temperley, Britain and America, 39–41; Divine et al., America Past and Present, 212–13; Woodward, Age of Reform, 304–5; Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 117–18, 125–6, 131–5; Bourne, Britain and the Balance of Power, chaps. 4–5; Jones, Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 161; Jones and Rakeshaw, Prologue to Manifest Destiny, chaps. 6–10; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 702–22; McDonald, States' Rights, 150–4; Hietala, Manifest Design, 47, 71–83, 85–6, 123, 154–5, 163, 180, 204, 215–20, 230–9; Pletcher, Diplomacy of Annexation, 73–85, 88, 102–5, 113, 123, 130–1, 136–7, 137–49, 169, 175–8, 191–2, 222–3, 248, 320, 329–30, 334–5, 395, 413–17, 581, 607–8; Haynes, James K. Polk, 61, 70, 99, 116–38.59. Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 115–17; Meed, The Mexican War, 12, 18, 69; Weems, To Conquer a Peace, 43–4, 64, 68, 92–3, 95, 117–18, 163–4, 173, 175, 182; Henderson, Glorious Defeat, 104–5; Dykstra, Shifting Balance of Power, 115.60. Freehling, Road to Disunion, vol. 1, 455–61; Divine et al., America Past and Present, 213–16; Meed, The Mexican War, 88–91; McDonald, States' Rights, 153; Henderson, Glorious Defeat, 147–63, 172–8; Campbell, Gone to Texas, 187–9; McComb, Texas, 56–8; Winders, Crisis in the Southwest, 93–130, 134–8; Haynes, James K. Polk, chaps. 9–10; Mahin, Olive Branch and Sword, 151–81, 193–9; Wheelan, Invading Mexico, 76–80, 99–100, 396–412; Griswold del Castillo, Guadalupe Hidalgo, chap. 7. On U.S. responsibility for the war, see also Gleijeses, "A Brush with Mexico," 223–54; Graebner, "The Mexican War," 405–26.61. Temperley, Britain and America, 54.62. Thompson to Bowring, April 29, May 7, 1847, January 12, 1848, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/12, 13, BJL; Thompson to Peacock, October 20, November 4 and 7, 1847, Eng. MS. 1180/140-2, JRL.63. Thompson's draft letter to constituents, February 8, 1848, Thompson Papers, DTH 3/30, BJL; "To the Secretary of the Bradford Reform Association," London Evening Sun, February 9 and 23, June 19, 1848; Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser., vol. 96 (1848), cols. 7–79, 84–168. Quarrels about sugar and slavery are also examined in Howe, Free Trade and Liberal England, 17–18, 50–2; Taylor, Decline of British Radicalism, 179–83. On slavery and the slave trade in Anglo-American diplomacy, see Fladeland, Men and Brothers, chaps. 13–14.64. Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser., vol. 96 (1848), cols. 1132–1242.65. Thompson's draft letters to constituents, February 23 and 28, 1848, Thompson Papers, DTH 3/30, BJL; "To the Secretary of the Bradford Reform Association," London Evening Sun, February 28, March 6, 1848.66. Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser., vol. 97 (1848), cols. 775–846, vol. 99 (1848), cols. 728–92, 1414–70, vol. 100 (1848), cols. 310–80; Thompson's draft letters to constituents, February 23, March 22, 27, June 19, 24, July 3, 7, 10, 1848, Thompson Papers, DTH 3/30, BJL; "To the Secretary of the Bradford Reform Association," London Evening Sun, February 23, March 22, April 3, June 21, 26, 28, July 3, 5, 10, 12, 1848.67. Thompson's draft letters to constituents, August 1848 and February 1849, Thompson Papers, DTH 3/30, BJL; "To the Secretary of the Bradford Reform Association," London Evening Sun, August 14 and 16, 1848, February 28, 1849; Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser., vol. 102 (1849), cols. 1218–1300.68. Taylor, Decline of British Radicalism, 180; Fladeland, Abolitionists and Working-Class Problems, 96–7.69. Warner, The Idea of Continental Union, v–viii, 3, 7–9, 12–13, 15–16, 28–9, 33–6, 40–3, 45, 49–51.70. Thompson to T.P.E. Thompson (his son), October 27, 1849, to Bowring, November 23, 1849, August 19, 1850, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/13, BJL. As well as an expanding economy the United States had a rapidly growing population, one that overtook Britain's during the 1840s. By 1850 the U.S. population was 23 million compared to Britain's 20.8 million. In 1900 the figures were 76 million and 37 million respectively. Temperley, Britain and America, 37.71. Thompson to Bowring, September 19, 1851, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/14, BJL.72. For mentions of Cuba in parliament in July and August 1851, see Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser., vol. 118 (1851), cols. 5–21, 661–93, 987–1031, 1395–1468, 1824–40. On Lopéz and his supporters in the United States, see Chaffin, Fatal Glory, and May, Southern Dream, chap. 2. Lopéz had been active in Cuba from the mid-1820s, fleeing to the United States in 1848 to avoid arrest by the colonial authorities. He was eventually captured by the Spanish and executed.73. Phillips, Cousins' Wars, 347–8.74. Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 119, 123–4, 136; Temperley, Britain and America, 38–9.75. Thompson to G. Wilson, March 2, 1861, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/15, BJL. Howe, "Free Trade and the International Order," 142–67. Howe argues that there was a "free trade tradition" in the United States, that idealistic economic internationalism had deep roots, and that between 1846 and the early 1870s "there was in the United States a strong strand of free trade cosmopolitanism, tied very closely to the British model," but it is not clear that such a tendency existed to the degree that Howe thinks. During and after the American Civil War, the United States repeatedly raised its protective tariffs; and by the end of the nineteenth-century Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii were being incorporated into the U.S. system, with the Philippines likely to follow. This was a serious blow to Britain and its empire, and there was also the fear that Canada would be drawn even further, economically, into the U.S. sphere. Another concern for London was that Washington took a restrictive view of economic bargaining, preferring to grant favors only on a reciprocal basis, not applying them more broadly as was the British practice. On this see Trentmann, Free Trade Nation, 144–5. U.S.-Canadian trade is discussed in Pletcher, Diplomacy of Trade and Investment.76. See Bradford Advertiser, March to April 1861, and Thompson, Audi Alteram Partem, vol. 3, 162, 165.77. Thompson to Bowring, January 19, 1851, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/14, BJL.78. Thompson to Rev. T. Barker (his brother-in-law), February 23, 1853, Thompson Papers, DTH 4/14, BJL; Woodward, Age of Reform, 307; McDonald, States' Rights, 161–2; Fladeland, Abolitionists and Working-Class Problems, 109.79. Freehling, Road to Disunion, vol. 2, 11–12.80. The Times, September 3, 4 and 15, November 11, 1852; Passmore Edwards, Uncle Tom's Companions; Blackett, Divided Hearts, 45–6, 81, 113–14; Temperley, British Antislavery, 224–8, and idem, Britain and America, 51; Turley, Culture of English Antislavery, 103; Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 62–4; Meer, Uncle Tom Mania, 163; Sundquist, "Introduction," 18; Bennett, London Confederates, 33.81. Fladeland, Men and Brothers, 342–76.82. Campbell, Unlikely Allies, 137–9; Temperley, Britain and America, 52–3; Figes, Crimean War, 313–14; Humphreys, "Anglo-American Rivalries," 174–208; Ross, "Mosquito Indians," 220–33.83. Thompson to Peacock, 17 December 1845, November 30, 1854, Eng. MS. 1180/106, 203, JRL; Thompson, "The Right Divine of Slavery," original draft, July 1860, DB6, Case 5, No.3, WYA; see also the Bradford Advertiser for July 1860 and March 1861 and Thompson, Audi Alteram Partem, vol. 3, 56–9, 153.84. Lillibridge, Beacon of Freedom, 65, 75.

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