Post Revolutionary War Effects
U.S. History 1
21 December 2012
Post Economic Struggle of the Revolutionary War The Revolutionary War was the most important war in American history and not only granted us freedom and rights, but also disrupted the economy in several ways. The fight for freedom came at the terrible cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and the destruction of property to which belonged to innocent hard working farmers. What many people don’t see or realize are the problems from after the war itself. There is no such thing as ending a war and then becoming stable in society. There were many problems with Britain still existing in North American even though they left the Colonies. Along with this, the trading and product cultivation between both countries started to crumple. So if we had just won the war, why was the newly independent United States of American in such a poor economic standing? When the Revolutionary War ended, America’s economical reign took a turn for the worst. If one problem occurred, another would follow right after. The affect was devastating and left the country in debt with soldiers, citizens, and other countries. The war placed them in a bad position with money. Congress even resorted to selling bonds to other countries, such as France. They began to print paper money, called continentals. Continentals became too common, costs sunk, and inflation occurred. The paper money is now worthless. The prices of sugar and beef raised as much as two times the cost in some states of America. (ALEX). Since American was in so much debt, business relied on the English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese money. Trade wasn’t great either; farms had switched to cotton growing instead of tobacco because there was nobody to trade with who bought as much as Great Britain. “The colonies needed to mature from mercantilist infancy to economic self-determination and sufficiency” (Hopkins). With the absence of British goods after the war, the American trade had plummeted.
21 December 2012
Post Economic Struggle of the Revolutionary War The Revolutionary War was the most important war in American history and not only granted us freedom and rights, but also disrupted the economy in several ways. The fight for freedom came at the terrible cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and the destruction of property to which belonged to innocent hard working farmers. What many people don’t see or realize are the problems from after the war itself. There is no such thing as ending a war and then becoming stable in society. There were many problems with Britain still existing in North American even though they left the Colonies. Along with this, the trading and product cultivation between both countries started to crumple. So if we had just won the war, why was the newly independent United States of American in such a poor economic standing? When the Revolutionary War ended, America’s economical reign took a turn for the worst. If one problem occurred, another would follow right after. The affect was devastating and left the country in debt with soldiers, citizens, and other countries. The war placed them in a bad position with money. Congress even resorted to selling bonds to other countries, such as France. They began to print paper money, called continentals. Continentals became too common, costs sunk, and inflation occurred. The paper money is now worthless. The prices of sugar and beef raised as much as two times the cost in some states of America. (ALEX). Since American was in so much debt, business relied on the English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese money. Trade wasn’t great either; farms had switched to cotton growing instead of tobacco because there was nobody to trade with who bought as much as Great Britain. “The colonies needed to mature from mercantilist infancy to economic self-determination and sufficiency” (Hopkins). With the absence of British goods after the war, the American trade had plummeted.
Cited: ALEX, NATASHA AND VERONICA. revolutionaryeffects.blogspot. 16 September 2006. 20 December 2012 <http://revolutionaryeffects.blogspot.com/>. Hopkins, Stephen. "The Rights of Colonist’s Examined . Ed. John Bartlett. Vol. 6. N.p.: Record’s of the Colony of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations, n.d." 2005. theliberalconviction-essay.blogspot. 20 December 2012 <http://theliberalconviction-essay.blogspot.com/2005/10/revolutions-impact-on-american-society.html>. Streich, Michael. "Samuel H. Beer, To Make a Nation: the Rediscovery of American Federalism (Harvard University Press, 1993)." 10 January 2010. suite 101. 20 December 2012 <http://suite101.com/article/effects-of-the-revolutionary-war-after-1783-a187457>.