The Rise of American Influence in Asia and the Pacific (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from The Rise of American Influence in Asia and the PacificThe United States took its place as one Of the sovereign nations of the world with the conclusion of the Treaty Of Paris in 1783 which terminated the Revolutionary War. By the terms of that treaty the territorial extent of the United States was limited on the west by the Mississippi River. Actually, most of the region west of the Appalachian Mountains was still largely unsettled territory, and nearly all of the population, less than four million in 1790, was concentrated along the Atlantic seaboard. Hence the United States at that time faced eastward, and the Atlantic was the broad highway which linked it commercially and culturally to Europe. Asia and the islands of the Pacific comprised a remote world, which could only be reached by circuitous and time-consum ing voyages. TO Americans Of this period this world was almost as unknown as Darkest Africa.When the United States acquired its independence the economic system was largely an agrarian one which supplied nearly all of the people's agricultural wants and depended on Europe, prin cipally England, for manufactured goods. Since the United States was then practically without industries that required imported raw materials and overseas markets for their finished products, its trading requirements were largely confined to the exchange of its own raw materials for manufactured items. During the early years of the Republic's development about 90 percent of all trade was with England.Trade with the Far East arose primarily because Of the enter prise Of the-seafaring New Englanders rather than because of any compelling need in America for the products Of that area. In searching for new routes and ports of call, these hardy New Englanders were motivated by the hard reality that independence from England and dissociation from her Empire had closed to them the the old trade routes and markets on which they had formerly prospered, particularly the once lucrative trade with the British West Indies.1 China was one of the first Asian lands to lure the American traders. In the very year that Washington was inaugu rated as the first president Of the Republic, fifteen American vessels called at Canton to take on cargoes of tea and silk.2 The luxury cargoes of these vessels were typical Of the early American trade with Asia. They were small in bulk and commanded high prices, but at the same time they were highly speculative and com prised only a small part of the total foreign trade of the United States at that time.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.