Philhellenes Clash with American Commerce

Abstract

This chapter examines the internal conflict that emerged over popular support for the Greek cause. In 1815, after the War of 1812 and the Barbary Wars ended, American merchants hoped they had finally secured the ability to freely conduct business abroad. The goal had always been to advance an American perspective of commerce. National intervention had indeed secured a treaty, but popular intervention on the part of the philhellenes as well as European politics had prolonged the process. American officials not only had to navigate a geopolitical landscape, then dominated by less-than-friendly empires and monarchies, but they also struggled to explain to their Ottoman counterparts the nature of a republican society: some members of the American public may have supported Greek independence, but the United States government desired a friendly and lucrative relationship with the Sublime Porte. By the end of negotiations, the Greek Revolution had served as the backdrop for early American efforts at communicating their political identities to a larger world.