Liverpool Merchants and American Shipping: William Brown and the Cope Line of Philadelphia-Liverpool Packets, 1822–1880

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ALTHOUGH BRITAIN had by far the largest mercantile marine in the early nineteenth century, American ships dominated most transatlantic trade, and were the largest and smartest vessels entering Liverpool. They sailed on schedule to capture the most passengers and high quality manufactured goods taken across the Atlantic. They also carried the largest bulk import - raw cotton from the Southern states and New York. These ships were mostly owned by wealthy merchants in the leading east coast seaports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, usually in alliance with leading British firms who superintended their interests in Liverpool.! This article examines the changing relationship between one such owner, Thomas Cope of Philadelphia, and his Liverpool agents for fifty years, the leading Liverpool merchants and bankers, William and James Brown [henceforth W&JB] later Brown-Shipley [BS]. It is based on the Cope collection in the Pennsylvania Historical Society [PHS] which holds all the Copes' out-letters including many to the Browns, and many letters from the Browns to Copes. The problem is to explain the origin and development of the relationship in a satisfactory factual and theoretical way.2 The Cope line was America's second packet line started in 1822 by Thomas Cope as Philadelphia's response to the New York to Liverpool Black Ball line. The Black Ball had been established in 1818 by New York and Leeds merchants in the Yorkshire woollen trade. The Black Ball and other lines were so successful that New York trade expanded at the expense of Philadelphia and the other east coast cities, 1815-60, and