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Concept
Francis Cabot Lowell
Summary
Francis Cabot Lowell (April 7, 1775 – August 10, 1817) was an American businessman for whom the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, is named. He was instrumental in bringing the Industrial Revolution to the United States.
Francis Cabot Lowell was born in the city of Newburyport, Massachusetts. His father was John Lowell, member of the Continental Congress and judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. His mother was Susanna Cabot. He had an aptitude for mathematics in his youth.
In 1786, Lowell graduated from Phillips Academy. In 1793, he graduated from Harvard College.
In July 1795, after graduation, Lowell set out on a merchant ship carrying cargo to various places including Basque Country in Spain and Bordeaux, France. He went to learn about shipping and being a merchant, but used the trip to learn about France. He spent a year touring France, gripped in revolution. In July 1796, he returned to Boston and set up as a merchant on Long Wharf.
From 1798 to 1808 Lowell was engaged in overseas trade, importing silks and tea from China and hand-spun and hand-woven cotton textiles from India. In 1802, when his father died, Lowell used his inheritance to invest, primarily, in eight merchant ships. Starting in 1802, with Uriah Cotting, Harrison Gray Otis and others, Francis Cabot Lowell developed India Wharf and its warehouses on Boston Harbor, which became the center of the trade with Asia. Later, the same group of investors developed the Broad Street area for the retail trade. To enlarge his fortune, Lowell bought a rum distillery, importing molasses from the Caribbean sugar-producing islands. Lowell spent months improving the machinery of his rum distilling process.
Despite political independence, the United States remained dependent on imports for manufactured goods. The conflicts between the European Powers and the Embargo of 1807 severely disrupted trade between the United States, Great Britain, France and Asia. Lowell reached the conclusion that to be truly independent, the United States needed to manufacture goods at home.
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