ABSTRACT
Prior to 1865 the two factors exerting the greatest influence upon American economic growth were the increased authority of the federal government and the geographical expansion of the nation. “Before the Revolutionary War, the separate colonies possessed their own economic and political organizations, which were tied very closely to those of the motherland. The Revolutionary War reduced somewhat economic dependence on England and strengthened considerably the interdependence of the nation’s individual units. It also set up a new political and economic organization, the United States of America, which, as time went by, grew more powerful in its relations both with the individual states and with the rest of the world.– 1
