The Early American Economy

In the sixteenth century,settlers from England,a part of Britain, began to colonize North America.These colonies remained under British control until the American Revolution,which occurred at the end of the eighteenth century.The economic theory of mercantilism that was dominant from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century held that colonies should benefit the mother country by helping her become self-sufficient and wealthy.Beginning in the 1650s,the British Parliament passed a series of laws relating to the American colonies that were designed to advance those goals.Colonists were required to buy goods only from English merchants using English ships operated by English crews.The laws stated that certain products, such as tobacco,rice,and indigo,could be sold only in England and nowhere else.On the other hand,colonial agricultural products that competed with those produced by English farmers,such as wheat or meat,could not be sold in England.

The mercantile system was designed to profit the colonizers-not the colonies-and Americans grumbled about some aspects of it and evaded some of its regulations.But on balance,the colonies probably benefited from it.For one thing,it gave colonial producers of protected goods a monopoly in the British market,and English economic energy and strength maintained a vigorous resale trade in American commodities on the European continent.Also,the producers of some commodities received the inducement of a cash subsidy,called a bounty,that profited them immensely.Finally,all American trade benefited from a strong British commercial and financial infrastructure and from the physical protection provided by the powerful British navy,which controlled the North Atlantic.The British connection was especially helpful in the second third of the eighteenth century,when English and European prosperity and population growth led to increased demand for American products. The British even lowered their barriers to American foodstuffs, creating a new market for colonial farmers.

This prosperity had a generally positive,if uneven,effect on American standards of living.As productive people enjoying extensive use of a rich resource base and taking advantage of growing market opportunities,the colonists probably lived as well as any people anywhere.For the colonies as a whole,per capita wealth on the eve of the Revolution was only slightly lower than in England, and in some places-—Pennsylvania,for example-was actually higher.

As a consequence,Americans were progressively better fed, clothed,and housed.They drank coffee,tea,and rum,flavored their food with sugar and spices,and wore clothes constructed from imported textiles.They enjoyed luxuries their parents and grandparents had been unable to acquire,such as glass windows, china,silver candlesticks,and lace.Especially attractive to colonial consumers were luxury foods for the table,an indication that they were entertaining guests and perhaps that women were playing an important role in purchasing decisions.

Prosperity fueled expectations among colonists and prospective colonists.Immigrants poured in to share the American bounty,not only from England but from Ireland,Scotland,and Germany.Farmers bought and cleared more land and hired labor.Planters went into debt for luxuries,assuming that the upward economic trend minimized their risk.

The problem with discussing broad trends in economies or the economic behavior of people in the aggregate is that it leads us to lose sight of important qualifications and distinctions.The first and perhaps the most important qualification that must be made involves farmers’behavior and intent.Virtually all colonial farmers-including even most substantial planters-practiced a safety-first agriculture that was modified only slowly and incompletely by growing commercial opportunities.The essential goal of most farmers was not to fill a market demand but to provide a sufficiency for their families and dependents.It was their first priority to feed their families from their own flocks and fields,clothe their families with thread spun and cloth woven at home,and warm their families from their own woodlots.Self-sufficiency is not the same as subsistence,however, and most farmers produced some sort of surplus for market most of the time.Market involvement was necessary because few farmers could produce enough of everything their families consumed.Hence, one might sell surplus wheat to purchase another’ s surplus apples or to buy a cooking pot.Moreover,farmers needed a surplus to generate profits to pay taxes,and they wanted a surplus in order to buy those luxuries that would make their lives more attractive.?

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?In the sixteenth century,settlers from England,a part of Britain, began to colonize North America.These colonies remained under British control until the American Revolution,which occurred at the end of the eighteenth century.The economic theory of mercantilism that was dominant from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century held that colonies should benefit the mother country by helping her become self-sufficient and wealthy.Beginning in the 1650s,the British Parliament passed a series of laws relating to the American colonies that were designed to advance those goals.Colonists were required to buy goods only from English merchants using English ships operated by English crews.The laws stated that certain products, such as tobacco,rice,and indigo,could be sold only in England and nowhere else.On the other hand,colonial agricultural products that competed with those produced by English farmers,such as wheat or meat,could not be sold in England.?

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