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Economic history of the United States. The economic history of the United States is about characteristics of and important developments in the U. S. The emphasis is on economic performance and how it was affected by new technologies, the change of size in economic sectors and the effects of legislation and government policy. Specialized teams and business history are covered in American business history. Colonial economy to 1. Population growth was responsible for over three- quarters of the economic growth of the British American colonies. Downloadable swing trading course that focuses on stock trading. Includes trading software. The free white population had the highest standard of living in the world. Settlers had to depend on what they could hunt and gather plus what they brought with them and on uncertain shipments of food, tools and supplies until they could build shelters and forts, clear land and grow enough food and build gristmills, sawmills, iron works and blacksmith shops to be self- supporting. They also had to defend themselves against hostile Native Americans. After permanent settlements were established population growth of the North American British colonies was very rapid due to high birth rates (8 children per family versus 4 in Europe) and lower death rates than in Europe, and immigration. The warmer climate of the colonies compared to Europe also contributed to longer life expectancy; however, the death rate from diseases was higher in the warm, humid southern colonies than in New England. The higher birth rate was due to better employment opportunities. Many young adults in Europe delayed marriage for financial reasons. Also there were many servants in Europe who were not permitted to marry. In 1. 69. 0 there were an estimated 1. The population grew at an annual rate of over 3% throughout the 1. The three most populated colonies in 1. Virginia, with a 2. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts with 1. The economy. Farm households also were engaged in handicraft production, mostly for home consumption, but with some goods sold. The most important agricultural exports were raw and processed feed grains (wheat, Indian corn, rice, bread and flour) and tobacco. Dried and salted fish was also a significant export. North Carolina was the leading producer of naval stores, which included turpentine (used for lamps), rosin (candles and soap), tar (rope and wood preservative) and pitch (ships' hulls). Another export was potash, which was derived from hardwood ashes and was used as a fertilizer and for making soap and glass. The colonies depended on Britain for many finished goods, partly because laws prohibited making many types of finished goods in the colonies. These laws achieved the intended purpose of creating a trade surplus for Britain. The colonial balance trade in goods was heavily in favor of Britain; however, American shippers were able to offset roughly half of the goods trade deficit with revenues earned by shipping between ports within the British Empire. Also at the time of the revolution the colonies produced about 1. Wood in Britain was becoming scarce and coke was beginning to be substituted for charcoal; however, coke made inferior iron. Towns were located on or near the coasts or navigable inland waterways. Even on improved roads, which were rare during the colonial period, wagon transport was very expensive. Economical distance for transporting low value agricultural commodities to navigable waterways varied but was limited to something on the order of less than 2. Except for slaves, standards of living were generally high—higher, in fact, than in England itself. All the provinces and many towns as well, tried to foster economic growth by subsidizing projects that improved the infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, inns and ferries. They gave bounties and subsidies or monopolies to sawmills, grist mills, iron mills, pulling mills (which treated cloth), salt works and glassworks. Most important, colonial legislatures set up a legal system that was conducive to business enterprise by resolving disputes, enforcing contracts, and protecting property rights. Hard work and entrepreneurship characterized the region, as the Puritans and Yankees endorsed the . The rapidly growing population led to shortages of good farm land on which young families could establish themselves; one result was to delay marriage, and another was to move to new lands farther west. In the towns and cities, there was strong entrepreneurship, and a steady increase in the specialization of labor. Wages for men went up steadily before 1. The region bordered New France, and in the numerous wars the British poured money in to purchase supplies, build roads and pay colonial soldiers. The coastal ports began to specialize in fishing, international trade and shipbuilding—and after 1. Combined with growing urban markets for farm products, these factors allowed the economy to flourish despite the lack of technological innovation. The American Revolution cut off imports from Britain, and stimulated a manufacturing sector that made heavy use of the entrepreneurship and mechanical skills of the people. In the second half of the 1. In agriculture there was a shift from grain to animal products. He argues they grew from small villages to take major leadership roles in promoting trade, land speculation, immigration, and prosperity, and in disseminating the ideas of the Enlightenment, and new methods in medicine and technology. Furthermore, they sponsored a consumer taste for English amenities, developed a distinctly American educational system, and began systems for care of people meeting welfare. The cities were not remarkable by European standards, but they did display certain distinctly American characteristics, according to Bridenbaugh. There was no aristocracy or established church, there was no long tradition of powerful guilds. The colonial governments were much less powerful and intrusive and corresponding national governments in Europe. They experimented with new methods to raise revenue, build infrastructure, and solve urban problems. Contrasted to Europe, printers (especially as newspaper editors) had a much larger role in shaping public opinion, and lawyers moved easily back and forth between politics and their profession. Bridenbaugh argues that by the mid- 1. He characterizes them as . The colony of South Carolina was settled mainly by planters from the overpopulated sugar island colony of Barbados, who brought large numbers of African slaves from that island. In explaining the importance of the cities in shaping the American Revolution, Benjamin Carp compares the important role of waterfront workers, taverns, churches, kinship networks, and local politics. Nash emphasizes the role of the working class, and their distrust of their betters, in northern ports. He argues that working class artisans and skilled craftsmen made up a radical element in Philadelphia that took control of the city starting about 1. Democratic form of government during the revolution. They held power for a while, and used their control of the local militia disseminate their ideology to the working class and to stay in power until the businessmen staged a conservative counterrevolution. The colonial powers of England, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic tried to protect their investments in colonial ventures by limiting trade between each other's colonies. Spain clung to old style mercantilism, primarily concerned with enriching the Spanish government by accumulating gold and silver. The Dutch and particularly the British approach was more conducive to private business. Adam Smith used the colonies as an example of the benefits of free enterprise. England's success at colonizing what would become the United States was due in large part to its use of charter companies. Charter companies were groups of stockholders (usually merchants and wealthy landowners) who sought personal economic gain and, perhaps, wanted also to advance England's national goals. While the private sector financed the companies, the king also provided each project with a charter or grant conferring economic rights as well as political and judicial authority. The colonies did not show profits, however, and the disappointed English investors often turned over their colonial charters to the settlers. The political implications, although not realized at the time, were enormous. The colonists were left to build their own governments and their own economy. Taxation. An early tax was the Molasses Act of 1. In the 1. 76. 0s the London government raised small sums by new taxes on the colonies. This occasioned an enormous uproar, from which historians date the origins of the American Revolution. The issue was not the amount of the taxes—they were quite small—but rather the constitutional authority of Parliament versus the colonial assemblies to vote taxes. Historians have debated back and forth about the cost imposed by the Navigation Acts, which were less visible and rarely complained about. The Americans attempted resistance through boycotts of British manufactured items, but the British responded with a rejection of American rights and the Intolerable Acts of 1. The British tried to crush the American economy with a blockade of all ports, but with 9. American economy proved resilient and able to support a sustained war, which lasted from 1. The cartoon represents the commercial status of the US during the Revolution. The American Revolution (1. The Treasury borrowed 4. The British made the situation much worse by imposing a tight blockade on every American port, which cut off almost all imports and exports. One partial solution was to rely on volunteer support from militiamen, and donations from patriotic citizens. Another was to delay actual payments, pay soldiers and suppliers in depreciated currency, and promise it would be made good after the war. Indeed, in 1. 78. Not until 1. 78. 1, when Robert Morris was named Superintendent of Finance of the United States, did the national government have a strong leader in financial matters.
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