Reviewed for EH.NET by James F. Shepherd, Department of Economics, Whitman College. Richard Buel Jr. uses this apt metaphor to describe the inability of the American economy to free itself from the constraints imposed upon it by British naval supremacy during the Revolutionary War. This naval supremacy affected not only trade, but also production, especially in the dominant agricultural sector, and thus the ability of Americans to support and finance the war for independence. The book's organization is chronological and much emphasis is given to discussing the links between trade, production, and revolutionary finance necessary to carry on the war. His geographic focus is upon the mid-Atlantic region and southern New England, though Boston and the Chesapeake receive some attention.
Less attention is given to the Lower South.
Sources include published and archival correspondence and records, and many secondary sources. At the beginning of the Revolution, the British North American colonies produced a sizable agricultural surplus. Buel suggests, for example, that 22.7 percent of all grains were exported in 1775. At this time, all thirteen colonies were self-sufficient in the production of foodstuffs and most of the necessities of life, with the possible exception of parts of New England, which imported some wheat and flour. During the Revolution some of these surpluses declined, and overall harvests generally fell in the period from 1778 to 1780.