Preferred Name
Jay Feyerabend
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Date of Graduation
5-6-2021
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Department of History
Second Advisor
Kevin Hardwick
Third Advisor
William Van Norman
Abstract
The Merchants and sailors of the small port town of Stonington, Connecticut capitalized on the chaos of the American Revolution by transforming their town into a prosperous hub of privateering and trade while the larger neighbor city of New York was occupied by British forces. The study of the experience of port towns in the American Revolution broadly has overshadowed the diverse experiences of different port towns and largely neglected the war-time relationship between smaller ports and their larger neighbors. By highlighting the financial success of Stonington and illustrating its context within the larger Atlantic World, this work highlights the ways individual actors, who were often motivated by their own financial well-being, were able to serve an important strategic and financial role in the American War effort as well as trace the regions slow return to the pre-war order in the decade after the war.
