Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1999

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

History

Major Professor

Arthur G. Haas

Committee Members

John Bohstedt, Vejas G. Liulevicius, Robert Peterson

Abstract

The early German-American relationship does not lend itself easily to traditional diplomatic history. American scholarship has neglected the subject entirely, perhaps because the most important actors not only were not Americans, but were operating far beneath the official channels of statesmanship. Hanseatic merchants opened the doors to the German-American relationship, and kept those doors open for fifty years until diplomats finally caught up to them. With the subtlety of bees cross-pollinating distant flowers, these men made German-American ties an economic fait accompli long before national governments saw the need to codify the relationship in treaties and endow it with well-staffed embassies.An emerging liberal bourgeoisie in the seaports of North Germany and the youngUnited States established economic and social connections which drew their two societies together, despite a long period of revolution and warfare. The result was a cultural linkage far more important than the paper agreements of statesmen and leaders, because it led to the movement of goods, ideas about free-trade and capitalism, and ultimately millions of immigrants. This work draws together the historical records of diplomats, merchants,statesmen, magistrates, immigrants, and literati in both Germany and the United States, to illustrate the ways in which Germans and Americans "discovered" each other in a time of great political upheavals, and what came of these discoveries.Although American and German statesmen made occasional overtures in each other's direction, and although the United States signed three treaties with Prussia, these proved to be little more than pleasantries. The economic connections established between the American seaports and the Hanse cemented German-American relations during the first half-century of American independence. The efforts of many small, independent entrepreneurs combined to develop into social, cultural, and ultimately political connections by the time of the great German emigrations of the mid-19th century.

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