American products had been in demand, especially in the West India Islands, and an illicit trade with the enemy had sprung up, so that even during the war shippers were able to dispose of their commodities at good prices.

The Americans are commonly said to have been an agricultural people, but it would be more correct to say that the great majority of the people were dependent upon extractive industries, which would include lumbering, fishing, and even the fur trade, as well as the ordinary agricultural pursuits.

Save for a few industries, of which shipbuilding was one of the most important, there was relatively little manufacturing apart from the household crafts.

These household industries had increased during the war, but as it was with the individual so it was with the whole country; the general course of industrial activity was much the same as it had been before the war.
A fundamental fact is to be observed in the economy of the young nation: the people were raising far more tobacco and grain and were extracting far more of other products than they could possibly use themselves; for the surplus they must find markets.

They had; as well, to rely upon the outside world for a great part of their manufactured goods, especially for those of the higher grade.