Economic History of the United States

ation should possess such resources the people would find it advantageous to concentrate their energies on certain industries for which the country is exceptionally well adapted and to exchange the products of these industries for articles which they might produce but could not produce so cheaply. The first settlers who came to America were anxious to produce articles which would bring wealth both to themselves and to the investors who sent them across the ocean. They could not produce everything they needed, and in developing their industries they naturally favored those which would give the largest returns in commerce. In all the colonies, however, the people found it necessary to give part of their time to raising food products from the soil. It was impracticable to depend upon the mother country or upon other colonies for food supplies. Some of the colonies eventually found that food products obtained from the soil, particularly cereals, were the most profitable articles for commercial purposes, but this was not generally true. Nearly every colony had two important types of industry: the production of food by agriculture, and the production of some commodity or commodities which could be profitably sold or exchanged inEurope or elsewhere. What these commodities were depended to a large extent upon natural resources and climatic conditions. Early Years in Virginia. The first work of the Jamestown settlers was to cut down trees and build a fort and a few l...