Join the NYG&B for a discussion with Hannah Farber about her new book, Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding on Thursday, November 18, 2021, at the NYG&B offices and online, at 7pm ET.
Unassuming but formidable, American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation.
The international information they gathered and the capital they generated enabled them to play central roles in state building and economic development. During the Revolution, they helped the U.S. negotiate foreign loans, sell state debts, and establish a single national bank.
Afterward, they increased their influence by lending money to the federal government and to its citizens. Even as federal and state governments began to encroach on their domain, maritime insurers adapted, preserving their autonomy and authority through extensive involvement in the formation of commercial law.
Leveraging their claims to unmatched expertise, they operated free from government interference while simultaneously embedding themselves into the nation’s institutional fabric. By the early nineteenth century, insurers were no longer just risk assessors. They were nation builders and market makers.
Deeply and imaginatively researched, Underwriters of the United States uses marine insurers to reveal a startlingly original story of risk, money, and power in the founding era.
A limited number of tickets will be available to view this talk at the NYG&B office, 36 West 44th Street, and it will also be livestreamed on Zoom.
Please be advised that in-person attendees will be asked to show proof of vaccination per New York City law. Masks will be required.
Hannah Farber is an assistant professor of history at Columbia University.