Merchants of Independence: International Trade on the Santa Fe Trail, 1827–1860 by William P. O’Brien (review)

William O’Brien’s book looks at what would become the southwestern United States through the experiences of the town of Independence, Missouri, and the Santa Fe Trail. He uses the economic experience of the town as a microcosm for international trade between the United States and Mexico during this period. This new interpretation of the significance of the Santa Fe Trail allows O’Brien to draw a larger significance from what much of the historiography has considered a regional story. His central argument is that an inquiry into the economic and social experiences of Independence’s role in the Santa Fe Trail can reveal much about this history of the Southwest and the nature of international trade during the first half of the nineteenth century.

The Santa Fe Trail serves more as a persistent theme than the focus of O’Brien’s book. He uses the trail and the growth of Independence to show that the nature of international trade meant embracing social and racial differences for the purpose of economic gain. In this version of the narrative, O’Brien argues that the pursuit of profit necessitated the cooperation of groups that normally would be at odds with each other. This argument dominates his book. His discussion includes whites from across the United States, free blacks, Mexicans, and American Indians all working towards their own economic benefit. Without this cooperation, O’Brien argues, the Santa Fe Trail would not have been such a significant part of the international trade with Mexico. O’Brien extrapolates from the example of racial cooperation in Independence that international trade at this time could only be facilitated by those willing to set aside nationalistic and ethnic differences.

This experience on the frontier of the United States that O’Brien argues is so telling of international trade is reminiscent of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis. O’Brien makes a similar argument: the regional experience of Independence and the merchants of the Santa Fe Trail is significant despite such a small part of the population directly experiencing the trade. While O’Brien never makes as comprehensive a claim as Turner, he establishes a basis for using this particular experience as a benchmark for understanding international trade in the early nineteenth century.

O’Brien’s book convincingly ties the experience of international trade in the Southwest to both the national and international experience. Although this is ostensibly a local history of a Missouri town, it also tells the story of the United States in the early 1800s. This frontier town served as a crossroads for the international trade and a microcosm of the changes shaping the United States. This book contributes to the historiographies of not only the Southwest and of economic history but also the United States at large. O’Brien did a remarkable job with such a small volume.