Changes

Marc-William Palen's new book ''[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1107109124/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1107109124&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=OAYPG2MJ64PVWSHK The "Conspiracy" of Free Trade: The Anglo-American Struggle over Empire and Economic Globalisation, 1846-1896]'' is relevant not only to historians of imperialism, capitalism, and economics, but to the 2016 American presidential primary election. Once again, free trade has become a central campaign issue during a presidential election. While Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have discussed the consequences of free trade, they have provided very little historical context to help voters understand the rationales behind free trade and protectionism. Palen's book explores a world when American extreme economic nationalism came into conflict with Britain's advocacy of global free trade. Palen's book focuses "upon the ideological debates surrounding free trade and protectionism" within the United States and Great Britain.<ref>https://imperialglobalexeter.com/2016/03/01/the-conspiracy-of-free-trade/</ref>

So instead of 1865, I ended up beginning my story in 1846, a pivotal year marked by multiple economic, geopolitical, and imperial events: Britain’s turn to free trade; a temporary US turn to trade liberalization; an upswing in transatlantic antislavery activism; alongside a US war with Mexico and the threat of another war between the United States and the British over the Oregon Territory.

'''As you were researching this book, what surprised you the most?'''