The Development of the United States in the Period 1700-1800

Colonial North American in the first half of the eighteenth century was a thriving and changing set of regional socities that had developed from turbulent seventeenth century beginnings. The colonies along the Atlantic seaboard were affected similarly by population growth and economic development. The exercise of political power of elected legislative assemblies and local bodies produced seasoned leaders. All regions experienced a religious awakening that was itself connected to secular changes. The tensions in late …

…the third-quarter of the eighteenth century participated in an era of political tension and conflict that changed the lives of nearly all of them. Yet it left them with difficult economic adjustments, heavy debts and growing social divisions. Independence and war redrew the coutours of American life and changed the destinies of the American people. By 1783 a new nation had come into being where none had existed before. (Nash 142, 175, 218) The American People. Gary B. Nash, 1988.