Читать книгу A Companion to American Agricultural History - Группа авторов - Страница 27

A national economy did not exist in 1789 or 1830; the nation had a multitude of local economies. Agriculture constituted the primary activity of the people; in 1800, farming constituted 83 percent of the working population; in 1830, 72 percent (Lebergott 1984). Total population grew from 3,929,000 in 1790 to 12,901,000 in 1830, fueled by the high American birthrate (Clark 2006; Johnson 2007). But this increase did not change farming practices. Most farmers lived in isolated communities with few connections to large markets. There was little change in agricultural productivity and little change in national economic growth (Weiss 1993; Johnson 2007). The great alteration in American agriculture was the rise of world demand for cotton.