Trading With The Enemy: How Irish merchants fanned the flames of revolution in America

There eventually came a point where the colonists wondered why they needed to maintain their relationship with the British. That is what led to the American Revolution. Of course, this likely would have happened whether or not Waddell Cunningham and his cronies defied the British and traded with the enemy. Still, their actions served as a kind of test run for the American colonists. Whether they did it out of bravery or greed, Cunningham and his fellow Irish merchants wrote one of the earliest chapters of Irish-American history on the crowded streets of New York in the 1760s.

 

CAPTIONS:

Opposite page: Waddell Cunningham, an Irish merchant who traded with the French. Above:

Merchants Coffee House near the docks, right, served as a meeting place for Irish traders.

IA

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