Papers presented by Stuart Anderson-Davis since 2019

2025 Atlanta, Georgia

""Erroneous Statements and False Representations" – Frauds, Fronts, and Deceptions in Early Corporate America"

Abstract:

This paper will examine the work of several nineteenth century promoters who embraced new techniques to promote their business endeavors by any means necessary. I will consider the careers of men like George Francis Train, Francis O. J. Smith, Duff Green, John Novell, Amos Kendall, P.T. Barnum, and Albert Grant, across fields such as banking, railways, communications, and media. The paper will examine the tactics employed to generate support from politicians, investors, and the general public – including the use of misleading prospectuses, press advertising and “puffery,” media corruption, and lobbying operations that included inducing legislators with shares/board positions to pass bills and project respectability. These case studies will demonstrate how deceptive methods were employed to position personal interests as essential public utilities – part of a developing trend of 18th and 19th century Anglo-American business history, in which companies emphasized (and exaggerated) their broader societal benefit as a means to secure much-needed legitimacy and legal/commercial support (for example, to gain legislative approval for a corporate charter). The behavior of men like Train, Green, and Barnum contributed to an atmosphere of suspicion that pervaded mid-19th century American life – as depicted in works like Melville’s The Confidence Man (1857) and Barnum’s own Humbugs of the World (1866) – and the growing sense that deception was a feature of commercial and political life. This paper is based on my dissertation on deception, disinformation, and “front” organizations in the Anglo-American world, 1776-1865. Title quote: Anon., “The Law,” Daily National Intelligencer, Nov. 25, 1834.