I.The Economy of Colonial America (Pre-1776)

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 448.

A History of the US Economy

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A History of the US Economy

Unit 1

economy superpower, recession, expansion, agricultural economy, industrial infrastructure, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, commerce, currency, mass production, “military-institutional complex”, labor union, consumer confidence, dot.com industries, global marketplace, unemployment

Once the world's leading economic superpower, in the twentieth century America assumed the role of financial capital of the world. As America's trade deficit continues to increase, much of America's massive debt is now controlled by China, and a transfer of power seems to be in progress. But even amidst recession, the model of the American Dream still exists. Whether America and her dream can emerge unscathed in the coming years remains to be seen. It is a complex economic question, and one that cannot be separated from the global economy.

Colonial America was a predominately agricultural economy. Even as the economy expanded over the decades of the eighteenth century, the colonies only moved slowly toward industrialization by the year of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776. Dynamic economic expansion occurred with population growth from births and immigration, but colonial Americans had naturally become increasingly self-sufficient.

Northern prosperity from the fur industry and fishing boosted the local economy .

By 1776, the standard of living of free white American society was already high, with abundant food and land supporting a comparatively high income. Officially sanctioned as a sovereign nation with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the global economy of the United States of America is born.