He UC-NRLF CD >-- An Outline of the Economic Development of the United States REVISED EDITION NEW YORK CHAPTER AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BANKING New York, 1924 An Outline of the Economic Development of the United States By EDWARD MEAD EARLE Assistant Professor of History, Columbia University Educational Supervisor, New York Chapter of the American Institute of Banking REVISED EDITION NEW YORK CHAPTER AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BANKING New York, 1924 /03 FIRST EDITION, Copyright 1921 REVISED EDITION 1924 by NEW YORK CHAPTER, INC. AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BANKING INTRODUCTORY NOTE THE story of the development of the United States from the thirteen colonies to a modern industrial world power is one which loses none of its fascination in the telling. As here outlined, it has been studied by students in New York Chapter of the American Institute of Banking for several years. Teaching experience has demonstrated that the present method of approach is sufficiently satisfactory to require only a few minor changes in the Outline since its original publication in 1921. In connection with each section of the topical outline the instructor will assign text-book readings. The student who has the time and disposition, however, will find it valuable to read additional material on the subjects of classroom discussion. As an aid in the selection of supplementary readings, suggestions have been appended to each main division of the outline. A list of the books thus cited follows : Beard, C. A. and M. R., History of the United States (1921). Cited as Beard. Bogart, E. L., The Economic History of the United States (Revised Edition, 1923). Cited as Bogart. Dewey, D. R., Financial History of the United States (Revised Edition, 1922). Cited as Dewey. Lippincott, I., Economic Development of the United States (1921). Cited as Lippincott. Magee, J. S., Introduction to Economic Problems (1922). Cited as Magee. Thompson, C. M., History of the United States, Political, Social, Economic (Revised Edition, 1922). Cited as Thompson. Van Metre, T., Economic History of the United States (1921). Cited as Van Metre. West, W. M., History of the American People (1918). Cited as West. White, H., Money and Banking (Fifth Edition, 1914). Cited as White. To the student who wishes to acquire a small library dealing with the history of the United States the following books are recommended in addition to those previously cited : D. S. Muzzey, The United States of America, in two volumes (1924) ; William MacDonald, Three Centuries of American Democracy (1923) ; Max Farrand, The Development of the United States from Colonies to a World Power (1918). A small series of works on American history is the admirable Riverside History of the United States in four compact volumes. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Alfred C. Bryan and Mr. L. Brewster Smith in the revision of this outline and to pay tribute to their efficiency and their contagious enthusiasm in their work as instructors in New York Chapter of the American Institute of Banking. EDWARD MEAD EARLE New York, May 1, 1924 609042 An Outline of the Economic Development of the United States I. THE SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF ECONOMIC HISTORY A. Relationship of economic history to economics. 1. Definition of economics. 2. Topics included in economics; problems of production, ex- change, consumption, distribution. 3. History a record of past experiences: the value of considering contemporary problems in relation to their historical back- ground. 4. Frequent overemphasis upon political and military history at expense of adequate consideration of economic history. B. The world of to-day compared with the world of Columbus. 1. Economic organization of the sixteenth century compared with that of the twentieth century. Relative importance of agriculture, commerce, industry. Business organization and methods. Social conditions: the medieval manor and town contrasted with the modern farm and industrial city. 2. These remarkable changes can be understood and appreciated only by a consideration of how they came about. 3. The phenomenal development of America since its discovery. C. Factors in the economic development of the American people. 1. Natural resources of the land. Climate, soil, plant and animal life. Mineral wealth. Coast line and navigable rivers. 2. The American people and American institutions. Influence of American political institutions. The importance of education and social institutions. D. Outline of the purposes and plan of the course. Van Metre, Chap. I; Lippincott, Chap. I. II. THE EUROPEAN BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN HISTORY A. European commerce and industry in the later fifteenth century. 1. Trade with the Orient: its extent and importance. 2. Problems of transportation: the trade routes to the East. 3. Industry under the gilds. 5 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UNITED STATES Economic motives for exploration: the Commercial Revolution. 1. Aids to exploration. a. Progress of geographical knowledge. b. Development of navigation: maps and nautical instruments. c. Invention of printing. 2. Desire of the Spaniards and Portuguese for new trade routes. 3. The era of exploration: "The discovery of America an ac- cident." ,4. Role of the trading companies. * 5. Rise of national monarchies and need of royal revenues. C. Economic motives for colonization. 1. Motives of the individual colonist. a. The desire for riches and the spirit of adventure. b. Relief from pressing economic misery at home: unemploy- ment prevalent after changes in agricultural methods, for example. c. Promise of a sure and happy living in a new country rich in opportunities. 2. Motives of the colonizing nations. a. Colonies as a source of supply for the national stock of gold and silver. b. As a source of supply for raw materials. ^c. As a market for manufactured articles. d. As an outlet for "surplus population." 3. The economic motives for colonization must not be allowed, however, to obscure the importance of other motives. a. Political: national and dynastic rivalries. b. Religious. 1. The missionaries. 2. Desire to escape religious persecution. D. The colonization of North America. 1. Failure of the rivals of England in the appropriation of the New World. a. Faulty colonial policy of Spain. b. Failure of the Dutch in New Netherlands. c. The rise and fall of the French colonial empire. 2. The success of the English as colonizers. a. Reasons for this success. 1. Attitude of the home government. 2. Character of the settlers. 3. Homogeneity and compactness of settlements. b. Establishment of the thirteen English colonies. Van Metre, Chaps. II and III. Thompson, Chaps. I and II; Lip- pincott, Chap. Ill; Bogart, Chap. I. III. COLONIAL AMERICA, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC A. Predominance of agriculture over all other occupations of the English colonists. 1. Primitive agricultural methods in the colonies. a. Modelled on backward European methods. b. Crude implements, showing practically no improvement over those used thousands of years before. c. "Earth butchery": failure to preserve qualities of soil by rotation or fertilization. d. Indian culture. 6 k COLONIAL AMERICA 2. Experimentation and adaptation. a. Successful introduction of European crops. b. Native American plants of the utmost importance. 1. Indian corn, the potato, timothy, pumpkin and squash, etc. 2. Tobacco. c. Other crops successfully grown: rice, cotton, indigo. Characteristics of colonial agriculture: sectional differences. a. New England. 1. Comparatively poorly adapted to agriculture. Poor soil and short season for cultivation. Required intensive cultivation. 2. The New England farm a self-sufficing economic unit. b. Middle colonies. 1. Better soil and better supply of labor responsible for larger holdings. c. The Southern colonies and the plantation system. d. Social and economic effects of these sectional differences, particularly as regards land tenure and systems of labor. I B. Colonial industries. 1. Lumbering, shipbuilding, naval stores. 2. Pishing. a. Influence of fishing in development of American sea-going commerce. 3. Pur-trading. a. Importance to the colony of New York. b. Influence as initial incentive to westward expansion. L The household industries and their importance. 5. Other industries: textile manufactures, iron, hats, rum. xC- Colonial commerce. 1. Local trade. W 2. Obstacles to intercolonial trade. 3. The development of foreign commerce. ^D. Colonial money and banking. 1. Scarcity of money and the reliance upon barter^ 2. Colonial monetary experiments: commodity money, a. Wampjum and other experiments in New England. * b. Tobacco and rice as monetary standards in the South. c. Purs as money in New York. 3. The deficiencies of colonial commodity moneys. 4. Circulating media in the colonies. a. Coins: English coins; the Spanish dollar; "pine tree shill- ing;" etc. b. Paper money: bills of credit, public and private. 5. Colonial "banking." . t\ E. Colonial labor problems. Is Scarcity of hired labor; abundance of free land and consequent ability of all but least resourceful to become independent farmers. 2. White servitude in the colonies. a. Classes of indented servants: voluntary and involuntary. b. Advantages and disadvantages of indented servitude. 3. Beginnings of negro slavery, a. Growth of the slave trade. ^b. Territorial distribution of negro slaves. 7 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UNITED STATES F. Social conditions in the colonies. 1. Rapid growth of population in the English colonies. 2. Foundation of education in America. a. Leadership of the churches: Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Co- lumbia, William and Mary, and other colleges founded as religious institutions. b. Progress of the idea of compulsory education. 3. Social institutions. a. Social distinctions and aristocracy: contrast between North and South in this respect. b. Colonial ideas of "liberty" and "democracy." Van Metre, Chaps. IV and VI; Lippincott, Chap. IV; Beard, Chaps. II and III; Thompson, Chaps. Ill and IV; Bogart, Part I. IV. BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES A. Factors contributing to the development of mercantilism in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 1. Political conditions: growth of powerful nations of the At- lantic seaboard; religious, dynastic, colonial wars; dependence of kings upon money rather than feudal dues. 2. Economic conditions: .expansion of commerce and industry; in- crease in population; more extended use of money and de- creasing reliance upon barter. B. The tenets of mercantilism. 1. Importance of amassing and maintaining national stock of gold and silver. 2. Encouragement . of national shipping, a. For increasing naval strength. t>. For maintenance of "favorable balance of trade." 3. Promotion of agricultural self-sufficiency. 4. Encouragement of manufacturing and export trade. C. The implications of mercantilism. 1. Colonies exist for the benefit of the mother country. 2. Colonies therefore obliged to regulate their economic activities in the interest of self-sufficiency and economic power of mother country. D. The operation of mercantilism in the English colonies in America. 1. Effects on colonial shipping and commerce. a. The Navigation Acts. b. Interference with intercolonial trade. c. Limitations on foreign commerce: "enumerated" and "non- enumerated articles." d. The Molasses Act of 1733. e. Summary of effect on colonial commerce. Help or hindrance? 2. Colonial agriculture and the mercantilist system. 3. Mercantilist restrictions on colonial manufacturing. a. Discouragement and prohibition of industries likely to com- pete with English goods in the colonial market or abroad. b. Bounties and preferential tariffs on certain products con- sidered essential to mother country. c. Estimate of the extent to which these restrictions consti- tuted an economic hardship to the colonists. 4. Colonial disregard for the mercantilist regulations: smuggling. British policy of "salutary neglect" in enforcement of the law. 8 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION E. The mercantilist system paves the way for the American Revolution. 1. Accession of George III (1760) and his attitude toward colonial government and "salutary neglect." 2. Effects of the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The problem of taxation. 3. Effect of economic conditions in England. Van Metre, Chaps. V and VII; Bogart, Chaps. VI and VII; Lip- pincott, Chap. V; Thompson, Chaps. V and VI. V. ECONOMIC PHASES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION A. A consideration of the economic causes of the Revolution. 1. Colonial resistance to the enforcement of the mercantilist regulations. a. The Stamp Act, 1765, and the powerful interests it affected newspaper publishers, lawyers, merchants, bankers. b. The cry of "Taxation without Representation"; the non- importation agreements. c. Increasing agitation against enforcement. 2. Extent to which political factors increased colonial discontent. 3. Failure of British attempts at conciliation and the beginnings of organized resistance. The First Continental Congress, 1774. 4. Outbreak of the Revolution. "Taxation without Representa- tion" or "No Taxation?" B. Fiscal history of the Revolutionary period. 1. Financial chaos at the outbreak of hostilities. 2. Methods of financing the war. a. "The Continentals." Amounts issued by nation and states. Depreciation and attempts to arrest it. Effects of the Continentals on economic conditions. b. State requisitions and taxation. c. Domestic and foreign loans. d. Futile attempts to secure national taxes. 3. Robert Morris, financier and statesman. a. Services of Robert Morris as Superintendent of Finance, 1781-1784. b. The organization and success of the Bank of North America. Its foundation, 1781, marks the beginning of American - banking. C. Industrial conditions during the war. 1. Isolation as an encouragement to agriculture and manu- facturing. 2. Commerce and "privateering." 3. General economic conditions unsatisfactory because of un- stable currency. D. Unsatisfactory character of the Confederation a handicap to economic progress. Van Metre, Chap. VIII; Thompson, Chap. VII; Beard, Chap. V. VI. THE NEW NATION AND ITS PROBLEMS A. Economic and political readjustment during the critical period 1783-1789. 1. Defects of the Articles of Confederation. 9 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UNITED STATES a. Impotence of Congress and excess power of states in matters of finance, commerce, industry, foreign affairs. b. Inherent defects of organization; consequent governmental inefficiency. 2. Economic conditions making imperative the adoption of a new constitution. a. Collapse of the national credit. b. Depreciation of the currency: the question of "hard" versus "soft" money; Shay's Rebellion. c. Question of protection to American commerce and industry. d. Interstate trade restrictions hampering economic de- velopment. 3. The adoption of a new Constitution. a. Character of the Annapolis Convention of 1786 and the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787. b. The framing of the Constitution and its adoption by the States. 4. Provisions of the new Constitution of great economic im- portance. a. Far-reaching powers of Congress in the regulation of finance, industry, interstate and foreign commerce. b. Significant limitations on the powers of the states. B. Certain outstanding facts of the economic situation in 1789. 1. Population. a. Total number about 4,000,000 of whom 1/6 were negroes. b. Distribution. Relative position of North and South and West. The cities: only 6 with a population in excess of 7,500; New York largest with 33,000. 2. Agriculture still the basic industry, occupying some 90% of the population. 3. Hamilton's reports as indicating the character of the problems facing the new government. C. Governmental protection to American shipping. 1. Protective features of the Navigation Act of 1789; preferential features of the Tariff Act of 1789; protection to American sea- men by act of 1790. 2. Effects of this legislation. D. Protection and stimulation of American industries. 1. American market flooded with foreign goods after the war. 2. Protective features of the tariff of 1789. 3. Patent Law of 1790. 4. Hamilton's Report on the Manufactures advocates a construc- tive policy toward American industry. E. Problems of public finance and their solution. 1. Establishing the national credit. a. Funding and redemption of the domestic and foreigft debt. b. Solution of the problem of certificates of indebtedness and bills of credit. 2. Establishment of a monetary system: the Mint and Coinage . Act of 1792. 3. Provision of a national revenue. a. Revenue features of the Tariff and the Navigation Act of 1789. b. Excise duties and direct taxes. Unpopularity of these taxas: the Whiskey Tax, 1791, and the Whiskey Rebellion, 1794. 10 _ STRUGGLE FOR ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE _ 4. Establishment of a banking system (treated fully in Section IX below). a. Banks of New York, North America, and Massachusetts. b. Establishment of the First Bank of the United States, 1791. Van Metre, Chaps, IX and X; Thompson, Chap. VIII; Lippincott, Chap. VI; Beard, Chap. VII; Dewey, Ohap. III. VII. THE STRUGGLE FOR ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE, 1789-1815 A. European affairs and their effects upon American economic life. 1. The upheaval in Europe occasioned by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. 2. Initial effect of European disturbances on American condi- tions: bright pro&pects during first years of the new nation, 1789-1806. - a. Agricultural prosperity: great increase in value of products because of wider marKet in Europe; consequent increase in land values. b. The colossal growth of the carrying trade in American ships. -c. Beginnings of the development of American industry. 3. Bitterness of the European strife compromises American in- terests. a. As early as 17^3 Great Britain stopped profitable carrying trade of American ships between West Indies and France. b. In 1806, with the British Orders in Council, began a series of invasions of the rights of neutral ships at sea: Napoleon's Berlin and Milan Decrees and the retaliatory British Orders in Council; privateering and the seizure of neutral vessels; impressment of American seamen. c. Effect of these measures on American trade, agriculture, industry. 4. Similarity of these conditions with those of 1914-1917. B. American retaliation and the effort to preserve neutrality. 1. The Embargo Act, 1807. a. Effect of the embargo to close American harbors and to allow ships to remain idle and products to rot at the wharves; unemployment of men and capital. b. Opposition to the embargo and its repeal, 1809. 2. The Non-Intercourse Act, 1809. a. Prohibition of trade with the belligerents. b. Almost as disastrous to Americans as embargo, but without perceptible effect upon warring nations. 3. Failure of other measures of retaliation, such as arming of merchantmen. C. The Second War with Great Britain, 1812-1814. Van Metre, Chap. XI; Bogart, Chap. VIII; Thompson, Chap. IX. VIII. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1806-1860 A. The American Industrial Revolution. 1. Reasons for the slow development of American industry, a. High cost of labor and scarcity of capital in United States. b. Abundance of free land. c. Profitable opportunities in agriculture and commerce. 11 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UNITED STATES 2. "Industrial .Isolation," 1807-1815, and its results. a. Isolation from Europe provides opportunity for American goods to replace those formerly imported. to. Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts caused stagnation in commerce and losses in agriculture; labor and capital di- verted to manufacturing. c. The War of 1812-1814 completes industrial isolation and supplies additional impetus to industry in the demand for war materials. 3. What is meant by the term Industrial Revolution. a. A great increase in industrial production. b. Changes in the methods of production. 4. General features of the American Industrial Revolution. a. Tremendous development of certain industries, notably the textile and iron and steel industries. b. Abandonment of the domestic system in these industries and the beginnings of the factory system; introduction of machinery. B. Phenomenal development of certain industries. 1. The textile industries: manufactures of cotton and wool. a. Importance of the invention of cotton gin by Eli Whitney (1793). b. Subsequent introduction of machines from England, in spite of English embargo on their export. c. Tremendous growth in production of cotton and woolen goods. d. Rapid rise of factory towns devoted to manufacture of textiles. e. Effect of development of textile industries on prosperity of the South and the settlement of the West. 2. The coal and iron industries. a. Centered in anthracite coal fields: early growth of Pittsburgh. b. Factors in growth of iron industry. Great natural resources. Influence of the railroads and the demand for rails and other equipment; demand of the new factories for tools, machinery, hardware. Demand for agricultural implements increased as settle- ment of West proceeded. * C. Social effects of the Industrial Revolution. 1. Development of an employee class in the factory industries. 2. Growth of factory towns. 3. Stimulation to immigration. 4. Replacement of skilled by unskilled labor. D. Government protection of manufacturing. 1. Demands for protection of "infant industries" after the war; the Tariff Act of 1816. 2. Policy of increasing tariff protection. a. The Act of 1821. b. The "Tariff of Abominations," 1828. c. The Act of 1832. 3. The compromise Tariff of 1833. 4. A temporary epoch of free trade, 1846-1860. a. Economic conditions during this period. 5. Consideration of relations between this protective policy and the industrial progress of the nation. Van Metre, Chaps. XII and XIII; Bogart, Chaps. X, XI; Thompson, Chap. XII; Lippincott, Chap. IX. 12 BANKS OF THE UNITED STATES IX. FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1789-1860 A. Review of the financial situation in the United States in 1789. 1. Limited banking facilities. 2. Absence of a uniform currency of stable value. 3. Unsatisfactory state of the national credit. 4. The arguments for a national bank as set forth by Hamilton's Report of 1790. B. The First Bank of the United States, 1791-1811. 1. Opposition in Congress to establishment of the Bank gradu- ally overcome. 2. Established by law of February, 1791. 3. The Bank in operation. a. Chief features of its charter. b. Main office opened in Philadelphia, December, 1791; branches in eight other cities soon after. c. Great financial success of the Bank from very start. 4. The Bank as a national asset. a. Its services to the federal government. b. Its services to the business community. c. Its establishment of a stable circulating currency. 6. Opposition to the renewal of the Bank's charter. a. Antagonism of the state banks. b. Political considerations. 6. Dissolution and liquidation. C. Fiscal history of the War of 1812. 1. Inadequate financial preparation for the War. a. Dissolution of Bank of the United States a serious handicap. b. Exportation of over $7,000,000 to pay off foreign stockholders of Bank depleted reserves. c. Great increase in number of note-issuing state banks caused inflation and instability in the currency. d. Unpopularity of war in New England made levying of taxes difficult. 2. Gallatin's policies of war financing. 3. Methods of paying for the war. a. Loans. ID. Treasury notes and the inflation of the currency. c. Taxes; paid less than half of expenditures. 4. Financial disorganization connected with activities of state banks. D. The Second bank of the United States, 1816-1836. 1. Great need for the bank to bring order out of chaos. 2. Chief features of its charter, as granted by act of Congress, April, 1816. 3. The Bank in operation and its record. 4. Andrew Jackson and the end of the Bank; political considera- tions outweigh economic reasons for its continuation. E. The Independent Treasury System resorted to by federal government, 1840. F. State banking and its evils. 1. Enormous growth in number of state banks during early nineteenth century. 13 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UNITED STATES a. Possibility of tremendous profits from issue of bank notes. b. Speculation in western lands and in internal improvements. c. Speculative promotion encouraged formation of banks but not proper management. 2. Evils of state banks. a. Instability of the currency occasioned by over-issue of notes. b. Failures and the losses suffered by the community. c. Lack of a satisfactory depository for government funds. d. Handicap thus imposed upon business operations. 3. General failure of state regulation. Some states went so far as to prohibit the existence of banks within their territory. G. Attempts to reform the state banking system. 1. Massachusetts: the Suffolk Banking System, a. The New England Bank and its attempt to prevent inflation of currency by smaller banks; its system of collections in- stituted 1813. b. The Suffolk Bank (1818) and its scheme of collections. c. Massachusetts law of 1845 gives legal sanction to Suffolk System. d. Success of the system. 2. New York: the gradual development of constructive banking policy. a. Intolerable conditions in early New York banking: banks the spoils of party politics. Origin of the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Scandals connected with formation of the Merchants Bank (1804) and the Bank of America (1811). Popular indignation at the situation. b. The Safety Fund System, 1829-1839. Purposes, operation, defects. c. Initiation of the Bond Deposit System, 1838. Importance in security of note issues. Influence on note-issue of national banks twenty-five years later. d. The notable State Constitution of 1846. Double liability of stockholders established. Note holders made preferred creditors. Legislature prohibited to suspend specie payments. No more "special" charters, and all future charters to be specifically subject to amendment by law. 3. Importance of these state reforms as forerunners of the Na- tional Banking System of 1863. Van Metre, Chap. XVI; Thompson, Chap. XVI; Lippincott, pp. 122-125, 217-225; Bogart, Chap. XV; White, Chaps. VI, VII, VIII, IX, and XII. X. THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSION A. The territorial expansion of the United States. 1. The territory of the United States in 1783. 2. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and its importance. 3. Purchase of Florida from Spain, 1819. 4. Annexation of Texas, 1845. 5. The War with Mexico and the acquisition of California, Ari- zona, New Mexico, Utah, 1848. 6. Adjustment of the Oregon claims: possession of Idaho, Oregon, Washington. 7. The Gadsden Purchase, 1853. 14 WESTWARD MIGRATION B. The Settlement of the West. 1. The influence of the pioneer on American institutions. 2. Causes of westward migration. a. Dissatisfaction of native American with economic conditions in the East. b. Competition of foreign immigrants in East. cr Tremendous economic opportunities in the virgin West. d. Later, the development of means of transportation. e. Discovery of gold in California, 1849. 3. Government encouragement of westward migration. 4. Growth of population of West in spite of all handicaps. 5. Vigor and resourcefulness of the new settlements. C. Some effects of the westward movement. 1. On transportation. a. Transportation becomes imperative as western settlements grow. b. Development of inland commerce: the great era of internal improvements. Steamboat traffic on the great rivers and the Great Lakes. The construction of turnpikes. The canals: the Erie Canal, 1825; the Pennsylvania, system, 1834. c. The stimulus to railroad construction. 2. On national economic conditions. a. Development of triangular relationship between West, South and East; great growth in Mississippi river traffic. b. Migration a cause of labor scarcity in East, thus raising c. Great prosperity of the agricultural West a source of pros- perity of the industrial East. 3. On population. a. Distributed population and avoided suffering which other- wise might have been occasioned by industrialization of East. b. Not only an effect, but a cause, of immigration. 4. On social and political institutions. * D. The West a source of strength to the Union in the coming economic struggle of the Civil War. Van Metre, Chaps. XIV and XVII; Bogart. Chap. JtH; Lippin- cott, Chap. XIV; Thompson, Chap. X; Beard, Chap. X. XI. DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN COMMERCE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR A. Great growth of inland commerce. 1. Largely the result of the settlement of the West and the im- provements in transportation. 2. Development of the railroads. a. By 1860 communication had been established between the East and Chicago and St. Louis. 3. Other communications: the telegraph, 1832; universal 3c. postal service, 1850; wider circulation of newer and better periodicals and newspapers. B. Development and growth of an important coastwise trade. 1. Limitation of this trade to American vessels by laws of 1789 and 1817. 2. Importance of the trade in economic relationships of North and South. 15 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UNITED STATES C. Growth of foreign trade. 1. Rapid increase after 1845, lasting until outbreak of Civil War. 2. Chief foreign markets for American products. a. Importance of the European market. b. England as the best customer. 3. Chief commodities of export: great predominance of agricul- tural products. 4. The import trade. a. Chief articles of import: great predominance of manufac- tured articles and luxuries. b. Importance of the import trade: balance of imports over exports several hundred million dollars. 5. Settlement of this "unfavorable balance of trade." a. Freights earned by American vessels. b. Loans