sought to place limitations on the production and trade of the American Colonies. But through a lack of the means for enforcing the laws and the tacit recognition of a policy of ‘salutary neglect,’ the laws were evaded throughout the greater part of the Colonial period. The majority of Colonial merchants were smugglers, and an extensive non-English trade developed, the most important being with the West Indies. The total foreign trade of the thirteen Colonies is estimated to have increased from a value of $12,000,000 in 1750 to $30,000,000 in 1771, the exports amounting respectively to $2,800,000 and $11,000,000. In 1763 England's attitude toward the Colonies was radically changed; the navigation laws were modified and a rigid enforcement of them was begun in order to collect a greater revenue. This new policy helped greatly to precipitate the Revolution. After the war Great Britain subjected the newly independent States to the trade restrictions of the old navigation laws, much to the injury of the States, which were helpless under the Articles of Confederation. The situation hastened the formation and adoption of the new Constitution, under which Congress immediately began retaliatory measures. Discriminating duties were placed upon goods not imported in American vessels. Reciprocal commercial privileges had been secured in the case of some but not all of the European countries, and with the coming of the Napoleonic wars, which created a special demand for breadstuffs, Europe was glad to avail itself of the advantages of American commerce. Our foreign trade jumped from $43,000,000 in 1791 to $247,000,000 in 1807. Of the latter amount $108,500,000 represented exports, of which over half were re-exports. America had become, in proportion to population, the leading commercial nation of the world. The embargo and non-intercourse acts and the War of 1812 greatly reduced the volume of American commerce. In the first two years after the war (1815-1816) there was a rapid revival of trade, and the imports exceeded those of any earlier year; but after 1818 there was a steady decline in commerce until 1830, when the American imports amounted to $62,000,000 and the exports to $71,000,000. It is noteworthy that the rapid development of the country west of the Appalachians had prior to this time added scarcely anything to the commerce of the country. So great were the difficulties of transportation that that section was rendered economically almost independent. The South was not so severely handicapped, especially with regard to exporting cotton, the many navigable streams affording a means of conveying the cotton to the coast. After 1830 trade increased rapidly until 1836, when the American exports amounted to $124,000,000 and the imports to $177,000,000. This was the result in a large measure of the improvements of steam navigation and of canal construction (which afforded a profitable trade with the interior), and of the rapid increase in the production and shipments of cotton. After the panic of 1837 the foreign trade was again backward for a period of ten years. In 1846 the foreign trade was no greater than in 1816, after a period of thirty years. The year 1847 was the beginning of a new era in the foreign trade of the United States. Since that year the trade has rapidly expanded, subject to fluctuation, however, during the Civil War period and the panics of 1873 and 1893. The value of the imports and exports in 1902 was ten times that of 1846, while the population in the latter year was only about four times as great. The following statement of the general trade by decades is fairly indicative of its growth:
| YEAR | Imports | Exports |
| 1850 | $173,509,526 | $144,375,726 |
| 1860 | 353,616,119 | 333,576,057 |
| 1870 | 433,958,408 | 392,771,768 |
| 1880 | 667,954,747 | 835,638,658 |
| 1890 | 789,310,409 | 857,328,684 |
| 1900 | 849,941,184 | 1,394,483,082 |
| 1902 | 903,320,948 | 1,381,719,401 |
| 1903[1] | 1,072,128,364 | 1,453,090,034 |
A number of factors aided in the development of commerce about the middle of the century. Among these were the enormous production of gold in California and the repeal of the Corn Laws in Great Britain. But greatest were the rapid development of the interior and the radical improvements in transportation through the construction of railroads and the improvement of steam navigation. It was at about this time, moreover, that machinery began to play an important part in the agricultural and other industries—a movement which is carried to such an extent that the per capita production of American laborers is greater than that in any other country. In consequence there has been a large surplus of products for foreign shipment, and an increasing ability to purchase those products which are not produced at home. From the foregoing table it may be seen that there has been a change from an excess of imports to an excess of exports. This change occurred about 1875, since which year the exports have exceeded the imports, except in the years 1888, 1889, and 1893. The excess of exports in the earlier years of that period was due to the enormous increase in the shipment of raw products, particularly farm products. Exports of these have grown less rapidly in recent years, and the excess of exports since 1896 is largely due to the sudden increase of exports of manufactured products. The imports of manufactured goods decreased from 40 per cent. of the total imports in 1860 to 15 per cent. in 1900. Exports of manufactured goods meanwhile increased slowly from 12.76 per cent. of the total exports in 1860 to 21.14 per cent. in 1894, then advanced rapidly to 31.65 per cent. in 1900, having since fallen a little under that amount. In 1895 the value of exported manufactures was $183,595,743 and in 1902, $403,641,401. The nature of American exports, therefore, is determined by the great abundance of raw products and the advantage thus given, together with the use of machinery in producing machine-made products economically. It also is influenced by the fact that the Western European peoples do not produce enough to supply the whole market, thereby creating a demand for the American surplus products. The American exports consist, therefore, of raw or slightly manufactured products sent to Europe and manufactured products sent to all parts of the world. The imports into the United States consist of raw products which cannot be produced in this country—or which are produced in in-
- ↑ Includes trade with Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico.
