Free Trade, and Atlantic Expansion, and the US War for Independence, 1775–83

Historians have often viewed revolutionary Americans’ demands for British colonies during the War for Independence (1775-1783) as a precursor to Manifest Destiny—a desire to dominate the North American continent. The wartime motives to acquire maritime colonies such as Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Nova Scotia, however, challenge this conventional framework. This paper argues that revolutionary-era policymakers sought to acquire these maritime colonies to create an Atlantic-based, free-trading republic. Throughout the eighteenth century, Anglo-Americans had engaged in transatlantic discussions that celebrated the potential of free trade. Influenced by Enlightenment-era thinking, Anglo-Americans had touted the British Empire as a commercial enterprise in contrast to the conquest-centered Spanish Empire. After declaring independence, revolutionary Americans did not simply abandon this commercial outlook in favor of an “empire of liberty” in the west. During the War for Independence, U.S. policymakers attempted to mobilize their limited military resources and diplomatic influence to annex Atlantic colonies including Bermuda, the Bahamas, Nova Scotia, and the Floridas. By controlling valuable maritime colonies, U.S. officials hoped to usher in an era of free trade in the Atlantic world. Indeed, revolutionary policymakers faced east for empire—even as their republic expanded westward—to remain relevant in the Atlantic world’s commercial networks.