![]() American merchants shipped vast cargos of coffee, sugar, and tobacco to the Hanseatic ports in return for German linen and other manufactured goods Unfortunately, a violent financial crisis struck the German city-states in the summer of 1799, leading Americans to take their business elsewhere. Hamburg and Bremen offered a liberal and American-friendly haven in a chaotic and war-torn Northern Europe. However, when the French Revolution broke out in 1793, American merchants quickly made the German ports their principal European entrepôt. As late as 1792, American commerce with Hamburg and Bremen barely existed, matching that of insignificant trading partners like Norway and Denmark. The US’s largest European trading partners in the late 1790s were the German city-states of Hamburg and BremenĪmerican trade with the Hanseatic city-states of Hamburg and Bremen boomed with upon the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars. are very cautious and backwards in buying and it is really very difficult to make sales to any tolerable advantage, especially when immediate payment is required.”Ĥ. Bleeker said in 1786, “As money become exceedingly scarce and business very dull, the shopkeepers, country dealers, &c. While the Treaty of Paris in 1783 resulted in a short boom in commercial activity, markets again quickly crashed due to a lack of cash, credit, and markets. Devastation of real property, a contraction of the labor force due to war deaths and injuries, the cessation of British credit, and exclusion from markets in Britain and West Indies resulted in widespread economic collapse. The Depression of the 1780s was as bad as the Great Depressionīetween 17, the American economy (GDP per capita) shrank by close to 30 percent. Americans constantly lamented their lack of civil services, protection (or lack thereof) on the frontier and high seas, and poor roads and infrastructure.ģ. That said, Americans received little-to-no government services. While tax rates did climb significantly after the Revolutionary War as states struggled to repay their wartime debts, they came nowhere close to modern rates. Well into the 19th century, Americans favored “indirect taxes” such as import tariffs rather than “direct taxes” such as excise taxes (that is, taxes on specific goods like whiskey or paint) or land taxes. Just prior to the Revolution, British tax rates stood at between 5-7%, dwarfing Americans’ 1-1.5% tax rates. The average tax rate in colonial America was between 1 and 1.5%Ĭolonial and Early Americans paid a very low tax rate, both by modern and contemporary standards. However, when counting the entire population, the Mid-Atlantic came out on top (≈£15.79), followed by the South (≈£13.63) and then New England (≈£12.61).Ībundant natural resources, high wages, and cheap land contributed greatly to Americans’ high standards of living. When considering only free whites, the South stood as the richest region (with an approximate annual income of approximately-≈-£18), followed by the Mid-Atlantic (≈£16.55) and then New England (≈£12.80). (Of course, most owners did not pay slaves for their labor-their income is determined by the market value of the clothing, food, and shelter they received from their owners). The average for free whites came in at approximately £16, whereas indentured servants made roughly £9 and slaves £7. American per capita incomes compared to an average of £10-12 in the British homeland and even lower in France. Duncan, Louis C.According to historian Alice Hansen Jones, Americans at the end of the colonial era averaged an annual income of £13.85, which was the highest in the western world. American Heritage, 58 (5) Archived from the original on March 23, 2013. ![]() Peckham, ed., The Toll of Independence: Engagements and Battle Casualties of the American Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) ![]() The number of Patriots seriously wounded or disabled by the war has been conservatively estimated from 8,500 to 25,000. Uncertainty arises due to the difficulties in accurately calculating the number of those who succumbed to disease, as it is estimated at least 10,000 died in 1776 alone. If the upper limit of 70,000 is accepted as the total net loss for the Patriots, it would make the conflict proportionally deadlier than the American Civil War. The majority of the latter died while prisoners of war of the British, mostly in the prison ships in New York Harbor. Of these, approximately 6,800 were killed in battle, while at least 17,000 died from disease. Between 25,000 and 70,000 American Patriots died during active military service.
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