EconAir

  Colonial Farm Kitchen. Notice clock in the corner.   SUMMARY OF AMERICAN COLONIAL HISTORY ECONOMY Although predominantly agricultural, America prospered as a British colony because:   §    America was an important part of the British trading system, as regulated by the Navigation Acts.  Based on Atlantic trade, this was a dynamic and growing international trade zone. o     The richest Americans in 1775 were the rice planters of South Carolina and the tobacco growers of Virginia and Maryland. Both groups had a monopoly in the English markets. §    Tobacco growers imported large numbers of slaves in the 1700s because of a lack of indentured servants from Europe. o     New England provided ships, shipping services, and related merchant services to the English system. New England ships handled most of the trade with the West Indies.  o     In the Middle Atlantic colonies, farm surpluses entered ...

  The Causes of the American Revolution How the Colonials Won Creating a New Nation   Prologue:  America on the Brink of Revolution America in 1775 was a very different English colony than in 1700. In 1700, America was a poor "country" compared to England. By 1775, America's total output was about 40% of England's. About one-third of England's total trade (imports plus exports) was with the American colonies. America's total output and population were growing faster than England's. Besides providing raw material imports that England taxed and exported to other countries, primarily tobacco, America was becoming an important market for English manufactured goods. America also provided ships, shipbuilding, and sailors augmented the British merchant marine in times of peace  and the English navy in times of war. About one-fourth of England's merchant marine was American. But England had to be careful. Again,  America  was a very different colony in 1775 th...