A CATHOLIC WOMAN IN THE AMERICAS - Essay Example

econdly, the climate and available natural resources distinctly differ from those found in other parts of the country (‘New England,’ Wikipedia.org). In the 1700s, the New England population was served by merchants, artisans and shopkeepers. Shops bartered imported goods from Britain for crops and other local products like shingles and potash which were then transported to port towns like Boston, Salem, Newport and Providence from where they were exported by merchants to the West Indies on barter trade in exchange for sugar, molasses, gold coins and bills of exchange.

Some merchants owned fishing vessels, which they used to transport catches of mackerel and cod to the West Indies and European countries. Other merchants owned saw-mills that used the huge, easily available timber wealth to provide cheap wood that was used to build houses and ships, the latter being sold to American and English merchants (‘Colonial America,’ Wikipedia.org). New England’s Black River Valley located in Rhode Island is credited with being the cradle of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. on account of the famous Slater Mill, the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in the country that made cloth from cotton.

The Slater Mill, set up in 1793, was primarily responsible for making New England a leader in textile production (‘Rhode Island,’ Wikipedia.org). The drawback in the New England economy during the 1700s was that agriculture cultivation was greatly hampered by the region’s rocky soil and unsuitable climate (‘New England,’ Wikipedia.org). As a result, the farmers were able to only grow potatoes and grass like red clover and timothy-grass, the two varieties of grass serving as fodder for cattle.

Farming families tried their best to ease their problems by loaning livestock and exchanging surplus goods and labor with one another (‘Colonial America,’ Wikipedia.org). On the political scenario, New England in the 1700s is credited with spawning direct