The Colonial Rum Trade

FAIN: FA-11624-76

John James McCusker
Trinity University (San Antonio, TX 78212-4674)

To present an integrated analysis of the economic, social, and political aspects of the colonial rum trade in a book length study, showing for instance the existence of a considerable imperial discrimination against North American involvement in the rum trade. Though the laws and custom; regulations that incorporated discriminatory provisions had their origins beginning in the years after 1713, such treatment of the colonist's interests increased in intensity after 1750. Colonial merchants recognized what was happening and responded first with protests and petitions and later with boycotts and bayonets.