ABSTRACT
The years 1861 to 1913 saw American maritime enterprise, technology, and naval architecture reach unprecedented levels of achievement; yet this is the era commonly called the Period of Decline in the history of the American merchant marine. Probably the least-understood cause of the decline of the American carrying trade during and after the war was the decision to build monitor-type men-of-war. The sectional animosities which led to the demise of the subsidized Collins Line before the Civil War were obviated in 1864 when the first attempt to assure the existence of American mail steamship lines was made. The New York Chamber of Commerce attempted to address the problems of the American carrying trade through its regular committee structure, but was also relatively unsuccessful. The period 1865 to 1913 was probably the most dynamic in the development of American trade and industry, and in world commercial and navigational systems.
