The word "revolution" implies a violent break with the past. But there was nothing in the @American @Revolution that changed the basic character of the American people. The Revolution cut the ties which bound the colonies to Great @Britain. It created some new activities, and some soldiers left their former trades and occupations. But the part of the population that fought in the war, and the area of country affected for any length of time were fairly small. It is therefore safe to say that, in general, the mass of the people remained about the same after the war as before. The professional man stayed with his profession. The craftsman returned to his tools, if he had ever laid them down. The shopkeeper resumed his business, if it had been interrupted. The merchant went back to his trading, and the farmer went back to his field.
The country as a whole was in pretty good condition. And the people were fairly comfortable. At the least, there was no general distress or poverty. Suffering had existed in the regions destroyed by war, but no section had suffered more than any other. And no region had to bear the burden of war during the entire period of fighting. American products had been in demand, especially in the West @India Islands. In fact, an illegal trade with the enemy had sprung up. That meant during the war, shippers were able to sell their products at good prices. The Americans are commonly said to have been a farming people. It would probably be more correct to say that the majority of the people relied on other industries. These included lumbering, fishing, and even the fur trade. There was little manufacturing apart from the household crafts at this time. Shipbuilding was the major exception. These crafts increased during the war, but the general course of industrial activity was much the same as it had been beforehand.
The economy of the young nation provides an important fact. 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. A large part of New England's wealth, and of the middle colonies as well, had been due to this trade. It would seem, then, as if a main need of the American people right after the Revolution was to get access to their old markets and to carry the goods as much as possible in their own vessels.
In some areas they were successful. One of the products in greatest demand was fish. The fishing industry had been almost destroyed by the war, but with peace the New England fisheries began to recover. They were in competition with the fishermen of @France and England who were aided by large yields. But American fishermen had one advantage -- geography. Their large coastal area let them maintain and expand their business. In other areas they were not so successful. The British still believed in their colonial system. They used this system without regard to the interests of the United States. For the American products they wanted, they allowed them into British markets. The one condition was that they had to be carried in British vessels. And the United States was no longer British. Certain goods that they wanted to produce within their own realm, they put on a prohibited list. The Americans objected. They felt that this was an attempt to punish the former colonies for revolting. It is perhaps more true, though, that the British Government was simply looking after their own interests and ignoring those of the United States. There was probably little direct hostility in their policy.
@European nations had thought of American trade as a profitable field of business and probably responsible for much of Great Britain's wealth. Because of this, it was fairly easy for the United States to enter into commercial treaties with foreign countries after the war. These treaties, though, were not very successful. With only a few small exceptions, they left the high import duties of the colonial system in place. They were designed to make commerce legal rather than to encourage it. Still, for a year or more after the war the demand for American products was great enough to satisfy almost everybody. But in 1784 France and @Spain closed their colonial ports. That excluded the shipping of the United States. This proved to be so disastrous for their colonies that the French Government soon was forced to relax its restrictions. The British also made some compromises. And where their orders were not changed, they were usually avoided. In the course of a few years, the West India trade managed to recover.
More surprising to the men of that time was the fact that American foreign trade fell under British commercial control again. It may have been because British merchants were used to American ways of doing things and knew American business conditions. It may have been because other countries found the trade less profitable than they had expected, as certainly was the case with France. It may have been because American merchants and sea captains found themselves at a loss with the absence of the treaty protection they had enjoyed as English subjects. Or it may have been the need to trade on British wealth. Whatever the cause, within a few short years a large part of American trade was in British hands, just as it had been before the Revolution. American trade with Europe was carried on through English merchants very much as the Navigation Acts had defined.
One of the earliest and most lasting traits of the American people is their adaptability. The Americans showed it again now. They adjusted themselves to restored trade dependence upon Great Britain. At the same time, though, they looked for new markets. A striking example can be found in the development of trade with the Far East. The story of Captain Cook's voyage around the world (1768-1771) was first published in London in 1773. It attracted a great deal of attention in America at that time. An edition of the New Voyage was issued in New @York in 1774. No sooner was the Revolution over, than there began a new trade with @China and the northwest coast of America. It made the fortunes of some families of @Salem and @Boston and @Philadelphia. This trade added to the wealth of the country as a whole. Above all, though, it sparked the imagination of Americans. In the same way another outlet was found in trade with @Russia by way of the @Baltic.
As we see, then, the foreign trade of the United States after the Revolution passed through three well-marked stages. First there was a short period of prosperity. This came from an unusual demand for American products. This was followed by a longer period of depression. And then came a gradual recovery through acceptance of the new conditions and adjustment to them.
