The people were raising far more tobacco and grain, and they were creating far more of other products than they could possibly use themselves. For the surplus, they had to find markets. They had to rely on the outside world for a large part of their manufactured goods, especially for those of the higher grade. In other words, from an economic point of view, the United States remained in the colonial stage of industrial dependence. This was worsened rather than eased by the separation from Great Britain. During the colonial period, Americans had carried on a large amount of this external trade with their own ships. The @British Navigation Acts required that goods be transported in British vessels, manned by crews of British sailors. It also named certain goods which could be shipped only to Great Britain. The British, though, declared the colonial vessels and colonial sailors to be "British." That meant the Americans could trade freely as British subjects.
