fortunately, they are willing to sell at low prices. All in all, we are tempted to say, there is still enough cheap land to exert in the West that influence upon industry, wages, and the distribution of wealth generally which has come to be the distinguishing mark of the American social economy. But this is a matter of dispute. Fifteen sixteenths of the population reside in the eastern half of the United States, and in the East land has become costly, trade and manufactures taken together have outstripped agriculture, and a large majority of the people lack the inclination and necessary training, even if they possessed the courage and energy to avail themselves of the cheap land of the West. Whatever the amount of this cheap land, its importance has diminished and must continue to diminish, as an outlet for the population upon whose economic condition it formerly exerted so salutary an influence. Considering the population as a whole, the conclusion seems irresistible that we have reached, if indeed we have not already passed, the parting of the ways; and the assistance that in the past free land rendered in maintaining wages and restraining the evil tendencies of the modern system of capitalistic production must in the future be secured from other sources. The distinctive Americanism of the past was generated, as has been said, in the performance of our national task "of winning a continent from nature and subduing it to the uses of man";1 it was a product of the frontier. But the frontier has now disappeared. QUESTIONS 1. What peculiar characteristics mark the economic stages of the United States? 2. Is the pastoral stage through which the people of our Great Plains have passed essentially different from the pastoral stage through which the people of Israel passed? 3. Enumerate the great sectional struggles which have disturbed the United States. Why does radicalism accompany the frontier? 4. Has the frontier and the work of settlement left a permanent impress upon the American people? Of what kind? 5. How rapidly is the population increasing at the present time? Are the richer or poorer classes multiplying more rapidly? Can you state the reason? 1 Bogart, Economic History of the United States, p. 1. 6. What are the distinctively economic factors of the negro problem? 7. When did the immigration problem first alarm residents of this country? What charges are directed against the "newer immigrants"? 8. Have we shown an ability to assimilate all kinds of immigrants? What has been the historical policy of this country toward immigration? 9. What part did the public domain play in bringing about and preserving the Union? in maintaining wages? 10. How does the growing size of the country modify the influence exerted by free land? REFERENCES BOGART, E. L. Economic History of the United States. Contains bibliography. BRUCE, P. A. Economic History of Virginia. COMAN, KATHERINE. The Industrial History of the United States. Contains bibliography. COMMONS, J. R. Races and Immigrants in America. ELY, R. T. Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society. EMERY, H. C. "Economic Development of the United States," in The Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 7, Chap. XXII. LIBBY, O. G. "The Geographical Distribution of the Vote of the Thirteen States on the Federal Constitution," 1787-1788, Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, Economics, Political Science, and History Series, Vol. 1, No. 1. MCMASTER, J. B. A History of the People of the United States. MCVEY, F. L. Modern Industrialism, Part I, Chap. III. SEMPLE, ELLEN C. SHALER, N. S., Ed. American History and its Geographical Conditions. TURNER, F. J. "The Significance of the Frontier in American History.” CHAPTER VI THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES (Continued) IN the preceding chapter attention was confined to certain fundamental and peculiarly American conditions which have influenced the economic development of this country. They form the background and setting of the picture. When we come to fill in the details, however, the general effect is very similar to that produced by the description of English industrial development given in Chapter IV. There are differences, of course, - differences important enough to make this separate discussion of American economic evolution necessary. But, on the whole, it is surprising how rapidly we have developed the industrial maladies and economic problems of the old world. Mercantilism in America. - In the American colonies, as in England itself, the Industrial Revolution was preceded by a period in which trade and industry were subject to minute regulation by the government. Bounties were freely offered in several colonies for the manufacture of leather, iron, paper, silk, and cloth; land grants were made and taxes remitted particularly in the support of the iron industry; and in order to encourage the home manufacture of shoes, for instance, the General Court of Massachusetts in 1640 commanded that every hide "be sent to a tannery under penalty of a £12 fine," while "leather searchers" were appointed to see that the law was obeyed. This early colonial regulation was restrictive as well as protective. In the New England colonies, in the seventeenth century, laws were repeatedly passed prohibiting idleness, fixing the hours of labor, and prescribing rates of wages, with appropriate penalties for workmen who took or employers who paid more than the legal rate. In the Boston Town Records of 1635, for instance, we find this resolution: "That Mr. William Hutchinson, Mr. William Colborne and Mr. William Brenton shall sett pryces upon all cattel, comodities, victuals and labourers and Workmen's Wages and that noe other prises or rates shalbe given or taken." But the restrictive laws, in general, failed dismally. The abundance of cheap land and the independent spirit generated by the pioneer life prevented the enforcement of obnoxious colonial laws, and eventually led the colonists into armed resistance against the restrictive legislation of the English government. - English Colonial Policy and the Navigation Acts. In accordance with mercantilist views of colonial relationships, English statesmen of this period looked upon a colony as a community which was to supply raw materials for the industries of the mother country, secure its manufactured goods from the mother country, and so far as trade with the rest of the world was concerned, buy and sell through the mother country. In accordance with this general policy, England gave bounties for the production in America of raw materials such as flax, indigo, naval stores, barrel staves, and the like, but restricted manufacturing proper — by prohibiting, for instance, the erection of mills for slitting or rolling iron, and furnaces for making steel and fettered our commerce in a variety of ways. It is unnecessary to enter into the details of this conflict, which is familiar to every student of American history. The English laws were not so severe as might be inferred from our brief statement of their nature and purpose; they were laxly enforced; and it is to be remembered that England encouraged some industries while she attempted to destroy others. English colonial policy of this period was not so much malicious as mistaken. The important points for us are these: that it did not seriously hamper the development of American industry in general, while it did strengthen and stimulate in the American people that spirit of individualism which the industrial opportunities of the new world and the frontier conditions of the time combined to create. As a consequence the new nation, created in 1789, was 1 Governor Winthrop's Journal, printed at Hartford, 1790, p. 188; reprint of 1853, pp. 377-381. pledged to the doctrine of individual liberty, and its constitution contained specific guarantees of personal freedom not only in matters political, but in industrial and social relationships as well. American Industries in 1776. — When the Revolutionary War broke out, American industry was still in a primitive stage. The extractive industries were, relatively, the most advanced. Large quantities of lumber and timber products were exported to Europe; the fisheries were in a prosperous condition; and shipbuilding had reached a really remarkable stage of development, — in 1775 "nearly one third of the tonnage afloat under the British flag had been built in American dockyards." Agriculture, however, was carried on in the most wasteful and unscientific way, owing to the cheapness and fertility of the soil; and manufacturing was still in the household stage. In the Middle and New England Colonies spinning and weaving, the manufacture of shoes and food products, were carried on within the home; and, in fact, the typical farm household of this period constituted almost an independent economic unit, raising or making what its occupants consumed, and buying little save salt and a few necessary iron implements. Of manufacturing for sale and export, however, there was little worth mention. The absence of adequate means of transport was largely responsible for this state of affairs. The roads were little more than widened Indian trails. Some years later, when conditions were considerably improved, the roads were still so poor that "Madison spent a week going from New York to Boston by stage, while the cost of cartage of a cord of wood for a distance of twelve miles was three dollars." Agriculture, however, was the dominant industry of the country. In 1787 less than one eighth of the working population was engaged in manufactures, fishing, navigation, and trade combined. The Industrial Revolution in America. The Industrial Revolution was sudden, and in its consequences momentous in America as well as in England. The Revolutionary War, by interrupting trade with Europe, threw the American people upon their own resources: goods that had hitherto been imported had now to be manufactured at home; a large number of new industries sprang up rapidly; and the idea became prevalent that the new nation |