America's Economic Boom (module 6)

According to the textbook Out of Many, the United States hasn’t always been the epitome of booming economic success. There was a time when we were an undeveloped country. There were other countries that were far more powerful than us. The year was 1800 and those commanding nations were Britain and France. In 1800, the United States was mostly farm land used for agriculture. Ninety-four percent of Americans lived in very small communities and four out of five families farmed the land. (pg. 242)

At this point in time, the main objective of farming was to provide for their own families. The idea of selling was not even an option at this time. Britain and France both had no great need for American raw materials and heavily taxed American ships. It seemed that the United States might never be an integral part of trading with these commanding countries.
The economic boom, as it’s called, began around the time of the French Revolution. Because these two countries were at war they depended on the United States to do their exporting for them, this was known as reexports. America got the advantage because they were neutral in the warfare. “Reexports amounted to half of the profits in the booming shipping trade.” (pg. 243) America also profited from a long string of European wars which allowed them to be a vital part of the China trade.

This period, called the National Period, was a very important time in our history. The United States was once a country dominated by others. These events in international trading were the foundations of what would become of our great nation.