Political Activities of the American Fur Company, 1808-1842

This study is primarily designed to explore and determine the character of the relationships, formal and informal, between the American Fur Company and the federal government, including both legislative and administrative action for the Company's benefit. The illumination of the methods and techniques employed by one of the first great business monopolies of the nineteenth century to further its cause through the use of political influence contributes to a better understanding of certain political issues during the period in question, and furnishes a clue to the motives behind the actions of some of the more public figures of the time.