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Full Description
This text describes the little-known history of the earliest example of American overseas expansion. Guano was the 19th century's most important fertilizer and in 1856 Congress, believing that American farmers were being gouged on guano sales by foreign monopolists, authorized US citizens to claim and exploit unowned guano-rich islands around the world. The legacy of this decision is a strange group of American "appurtenances", ranging from Haiti to the central Pacific and with a highly diverse subsequent history, from the notorious near-slavery of guano-miners on Navassa Island to the contemporary issue of the Johnston Atoll chemical weapon destruction plant. This book provides insights on both 19th-century America and the history of a key commodity. It also establishes that, contrary to the American free enterprise myth, this success has always been based on the close cooperation between business and government.
Contents
Preface - Supply, Demand, Price, and Politics - The Entrepreneur and Daniel Webster - Turtles and Birds: Cases of Mistaken Identities - Seward's Outhouse - Pacific Appurtenances, 1856-1865 - Caribbean Appurtenances, 1856-1865 - Shrinking Empire, 1866-1902 - Peddling It: The Aroma of Profit - Shovelling It: Life and Labour on Guano Islands - Navassa Island - Guano Happens - Appendices: Guano Island Act(s) - Places Claimed and/or Acquired Under the Guano Act - Notes - Bibliography - Index
