The Cambridge Economic History of the United States, Volume 2: The Long Nineteenth Century

Volume 2 surveys the economic history of the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean during the nineteenth century. Five main themes frame the economic changes described in the volume: the migration of labor and capital from Europe, Asia, and Africa to the Americas; westward expansion; slavery and its aftermath; the process of industrialization; and the social consequences of economic growth that led to fundamental changes in the role of government. Other topics include inequality, population, labor, agriculture, entrepreneurship, transportation, banking and finance, business law, and international trade. In the past several decades there has been a significant increase in our knowledge of the economic history of the United States. This has come about in part because of the development in economic history, most particularly with the emergence of the statistical and analytical contributions of the new economic history, and in part because of related developments in social, labor, and political history that have important implications for the understanding of economic change. The Cambridge Economic History of the United States has been designed to take full account of new knowledge in the subject, while at the same time offering a comprehensive survey of the history of economic activity and economic change in the United States, and in those regions whose economies have at certain times been closely allied to that of the United States: Canada and the Caribbean. - Publisher Volume 2 surveys the economic history of the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean during the nineteenth century. Five main themes frame the economic changes described in the volume: the migration of labor and capital from Europe, Asia, and Africa to the Americas; westward expansion; slavery and its aftermath; the process of industrialization; and the social consequences of economic growth that led to fundamental changes in the role of government. Other topics include inequality, population, labor, agriculture, enterpreneurship, transportation, banking and finance, business law, and international trade. The American gross national product probably ran around $144 million just before the Revolution (Table 1.3). v. 1. The Colonial era v. 2. The long nineteenth century v. 3. The twentieth century.