New Nations, New Connections: Spanish American Privateering from the United States and the Development of Atlantic Relations

The early nineteenth century has often been cited as a crucial period of Atlantic history in which the ties that had bound together the people of the Atlantic world began to unravel, in no small part because of the Age of Revolutions. The rise of new independent states is seen as part and parcel of the decline of the Atlantic world. Another story, however, emerges from the experience of the men who sailed from the United States as privateers commissioned by the new nations of Spanish America. These privateers formed new connections between North and South America as they acquired commissions and returned to port with cargoes. In between, they also developed new loyalties. Following the actions of Spanish American privateers, therefore, shows the transformation of the Atlantic world in action as privateering encouraged people to make new ties, sometimes in spite of the emergence of new nations and, sometimes, because of it.