United States Economic History
Economics 390 (411 on our web page)
Fall 2014

Most of these questions can be answered fully with information provided in the first six chapter of our text.  (The chapters that I have been encouraging you to reread.)  Although you can answer most of the questions with the information provide in the text, you are encouraged to integrate information from the class, extra reading, and your previous classes. 

A: One-Sentence Identifications: Briefly state—one or two sentences--for each of the following people/places/things/concepts its importance for American economic history up through the Civil War.  A good strategy is to tie each ID into one or more of the major factors of production: land, labor, capital, technology, and institutions.

Printing press, Jamestown, joint-stock company, sturdy-beggers, tobacco, sugar, cash crop, mercantilism, Continental Currency, Alexander Hamilton, Eli Whitney, Erie Canal, Louisiana Purchase

B: One-Paragraph Discussions: Write one paragraph (three to six sentences) answering each of the following questions:

1)  How did the Mid-Atlantic colonies differ from the New England colonies?
2)  How did iron limit the development of the colonies?

3)  What was the effect of the Navigation Act on the colonies?
4)  What is money?
5) What was the role of the availability of natural resources as a key factor driving American econonic    growth before 1865?

C: Essay: Write an essay (about 3 paragraphs) on  following topics:

1) Much of the initial failure of the colony of Jamestown was due to incentives.  How were incentives changed to improve the success of the colony?

2) What were the primary economic benefits from the creation of the first Bank of the United States?

3)  While most historians have changed, in the past historians argued that slavery was moribund and would have died without the Civil War.  If you were alive at that time and possessed your current economic skills, how would you educate historians about the economic way of addressing that problem?

D: Problems:

1) If indentured servitude were legal today would it still exist?  Do not merely provide a yes or no, but rather provide background, suggest any parallels that exist today, how might or types form or be prevented from forming, and etc.

2)  Starting in 1792 and ended in 1873 the United States used a bimetallic monetary system. Silver and gold coins were circulating as money and a constant mint ratio of approximately 16 to 1 was set on June 1834. However, the market value of gold and silver fluctuated according to changes in their world demand and supply.

1. Use a demand and supply diagram to illustrate the effect of the discovery of Gold in California on the market price of Gold in terms of silver.

2. Use the Gresham’s law to explain what happened in to the circulation of gold and silver coins as a result.