Old dominions and industrial commonwealths: The political economy of coal in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1810--1875.

摘要

This dissertation explores the role of state governments in industrialization by comparing the political economies of coal in Virginia and Pennsylvania from 1810 to 1875. As the two leading coal-producing states of the early nineteenth century, Pennsylvania and Virginia's state governments attempted to nurture their respective coal trades through policies such as corporate chartering practices, internal improvement programs, and the commissioning of geological surveys. The comparison of these state-level policies---both their origins in the political institutions of Virginia and Pennsylvania and their subsequent impact upon mineral development---forms the crux of this study.;In Pennsylvania, a democratic approach to economic policy-making overcame corruption, partisan bickering, and regional animosities in its legislature to create one of the most dynamic industrial regions in the United States. Pennsylvania's liberal corporation laws, its extensive geological survey, and its ambitious system of internal improvements reflected the flexible nature of its political system and spurred the growth of its coal trade. In Virginia, however, where coal reserves rivaled Pennsylvania's in value and proximity to urban markets, the Old Dominion's oligarchic political system skewed policies in favor of preserving slave-based agriculture at the expense of industrial pursuits such as a coal trade. The stultification of Virginia's coal trade thus demonstrated the political clout of eastern planters and the suffocating effects of slavery upon industrial development. The creation of West Virginia in 1863 freed Virginia's western coal counties from slavery's political dominance, but postwar market conditions combined with the rise of laissez-faire ideology among state politicians negated the development of strong regulatory regimes. As a result, both Virginias exported coal to out-of-state manufacturing centers and could not emulate Pennsylvania's success in developing a vibrant industrial economy based upon cheap mineral fuel. Using the coal industry as a barometer of economic change, this dissertation thus examines the relationship between state-level politics and divergent industrial growth in both a northern and southern context.