The Mark Twain House & Museum Hosts Virtual Conversation On 'Underwriters Of The United States'

The Mark Twain House & Museum is hosting a free virtual discussion for its final The Trouble Begins at 5:30 series installment of 2021 on Wednesday, December 15th at 5:30pm EST. The Mark Twain House & Museum's Beatrice Fox Auerbach Director of Collections Jodi DeBruyne sits down with author and historian Hannah Farber to discuss Farber's new book Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding. The topic of this significant work is of universal importance to Americans, but of particular interest to the City of Hartford, long dubbed "The Insurance Capital."

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.