Sibling Rivalry: The Fairfax Resolves and British and American Mercantile Competition on the Eve of Revolution

Abstract: In the century prior to beginning of the American Revolution, merchants based in colonial North America largely followed logical and economically viable trade routes that were not always in line with British policies that regulated colonial trade and commerce. Following the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, British-based merchants began to pressure the British government, with dozens of petitions, to place more controls and limits on what they perceived as the encroaching competition from American merchants, complaining of losing profits thanks to both legal and illegal trade passing through American ships and merchants. In response to British efforts to enforce restrictions on American trade, the Fairfax Resolves provides evidence of a growing self-confidence in the American economy and its importance to the British Empire. This article examines the growing rivalry between American and British merchants for preeminence within the Atlantic basin and, using the Fairfax Resolves and other similar documents, explores how American resistance against mercantilism transitioned from nonchalant avoidance of trade rules and restrictions into an existential war for independence.