Economic Performance of the American Colonies

In some key ways, the Americans suffered in terms of their relationship with Britain by having succeeded too well economically. This success both gave them a taste of independence and ensured that they would be taxed more heavily. If one examines the earliest English New World settlements, there is no resentment of levies having to be returned to England because there was nothing to lay levies on. But throughout the 18th century, the American colonists became increasingly aware of and resentful of the fact that their relationship to England was one of simple economic gain to Britain. This does not surprise the modern reader of history, for home countries always establish colonies to create sources of revenue. But t

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(Jensen, 1969, pp. 334-338). A description of rice and indigo farming in South Carolina in 1761 (Jensen, 1969, pp. 332-4) gives further evidence of the increasingly sophisticated economics of farming in the colonies and the shift in some measure away from the single crop of tobacco. Indigo is a crop for the summer months while rice is a winter crop, and so a farmer could make use of his land throughout the entire year by alternating these crops. Moreover, a long-enough gap existed between these planting seasons for farmers to cut and sell timber as well (Jensen, 1969, p. 334). This description is an important one, for it demonstrates how complex the economic relationship between England and the colonies was. As tobacco became harder to grow, farmers branched out to crops like indigo and raw materials utilization like cutting timber. Such products helped increase the ability of the colonies to trade (viz. indigo to the West Indies), increasing the economic independence of the colonies. As Americans began to be able to supply more and more of their own needs through the diversification of their farming and manufacturing and at the same time could bring in money through trade with non-English partners, their position of enforced eco
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