WEBVTT NOTE 22. Commodities, Manufacturing, and Foreign 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Volume 4, Chapter 22, Commodities, Manufacturing and Foreign Trade 2 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:16.000 Before the war, Great Britain had been the principal exporter to and importer from the American colonies. 3 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:26.000 America had been particularly dependent upon Britain for supplies of high-grade manufactured goods, including textiles and ammunition. 4 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:36.000 Now, the outbreak of war suddenly cut off these supplies necessary for the American economy and, more acutely, for the American army. 5 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:45.000 The total imports from England to the American colonies were 2.6 million pounds sterling in 1774, 6 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:57.000 Plummeting to less than 200,000 pounds sterling in 1775 and 50,000 pounds sterling the following year. 7 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:05.000 Apart from privateering, the Americans would have to make up the gap by shifting to other sources of trade. 8 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:13.000 The major obstacle to this vital shift in trade patterns faced by the Americans was, paradoxically enough, 9 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:21.400 The Continental Association, an intelligent method of putting pressure on England before 10 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:31.400 Lexington and Concord, was now simply a destructive, self-imposed barrier on importing supplies. 11 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:40.280 The pressure policy had failed, war had begun, and now the desideratum was to obtain supplies. 12 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:55.280 Already in July 1775, John Adams, Richard Henry Lee and other radical delegates to the Congress had recommended that American ports be thrown open to all countries except Great Britain. 13 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:07.280 Throwing American ports open to imports from all other nations, however, would mean open and outright defiance of the time-honored navigation acts. 14 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:14.000 and hence a long step toward outright proclamation of independence from Britain, a step which 15 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.280 the conservative and timorous in the colonies were not yet prepared to take. 16 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:25.560 Despite the drastic change of conditions, the American rebels, suffering from a cultural 17 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:33.720 lag, continued to enforce even the non-importation provisions of the Continental Association 18 00:02:33.720 --> 00:02:43.720 and Congress, in effect, reaffirmed the association in May and July of 1775. By mid-July, rationality 19 00:02:43.720 --> 00:02:51.280 began to break through and Congress authorized, for a period of nine months, the importation 20 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:57.820 of munitions from anywhere in exchange for American produce, the Continental Association 21 00:02:57.820 --> 00:03:00.280 and Not Withstanding. 22 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:05.180 Merchants were specially licensed by the Congress to receive these imports. 23 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:10.140 So shame-faced were the delegates about this arrangement that it was not revealed to the 24 00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:13.580 public until late October. 25 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:19.260 American foreign trade had been further gravely crippled by the approach of the date set by 26 00:03:19.260 --> 00:03:27.340 the Continental Association for Non-Exportation, September 10, and by its zealous enforcement 27 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:33.140 by the Local Committees of Safety. At the end of October, further breaches were made 28 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:39.900 by Congress's recommendation to the provincial governments and to its own newly created Secret 29 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:47.900 Committee to license ships to export produce to the West Indies in exchange for munitions. 30 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:54.140 Moreover, export of food to Bermuda in exchange for salt and munitions was now officially 31 00:03:54.140 --> 00:03:56.520 allowed. 32 00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:01.800 It also began to dawn on some colonists that Britain's exemption of four of the last 33 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:10.800 revolutionary colonies, New York, Delaware, North Carolina, Georgia, after April 1775 34 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.800 was now a boon rather than a bane. 35 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:21.120 The conservative Whig, Thomas Willing of Pennsylvania, a merchant and ship owner, argued in October 36 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:26.720 that it was absurd to act like the dog in the manger, not suffer the four colonies to 37 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:33.720 export because we can't. We may get salt and ammunition by those ports. 38 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:39.480 But on November 1, Congress decided not to allow this major breach, and by the end of 39 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:47.820 1775, this particular matter had become academic as a result of Britain's anathematizing all-American 40 00:04:47.820 --> 00:04:51.340 and Trade with the Prohibitory Act. 41 00:04:51.340 --> 00:04:59.400 November 1 indeed was a black day for rationality as well as for the Revolutionary War effort, 42 00:04:59.400 --> 00:05:06.360 for Congress staunchly reaffirmed the non-importation pact, with the exception of the specifically 43 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:09.820 licensed shipments for munitions. 44 00:05:09.820 --> 00:05:16.060 Those aptly called fools by Adams in July had prevailed then, and they tightened their 45 00:05:16.060 --> 00:05:23.640 in November. Non-exportation would expire on March 1, 1776, and this fact, as well 46 00:05:23.640 --> 00:05:30.140 as the increasing strangulation of foreign trade, reopened the debate on open or closed 47 00:05:30.140 --> 00:05:36.420 ports at the beginning of that year. This time, willing, eager enough to import goods 48 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:42.460 into American ports, was hardly eager to throw open American importation to the ships of 49 00:05:42.460 --> 00:05:48.480 of All Nations. Typically, the conservative faction in Congress chose to place protection 50 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:55.760 of the state-granted privileges above success for the Revolutionary War effort. Thomas Johnson 51 00:05:55.760 --> 00:06:01.540 of Maryland wailed that the merchants and shipbuilders would suffer if foreign nations 52 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:08.360 enjoyed the carrying trade to America. Samuel Chase of Maryland and John Yocum Zubly of 53 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:15.920 of Georgia opined that opening of the ports smacked too much of American independence. 54 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:21.280 Spearheading the fight for free trade with the rest of the world were the radicals Richard 55 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:27.840 Henry Lee and George Wythe of Virginia, Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina, and John and Sam 56 00:06:27.840 --> 00:06:34.240 Adams of Massachusetts. They pointed to the growing scarcity of goods and the consequent 57 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:36.680 Distresses of the Poor. 58 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:42.520 They also shrewdly noted that admitting the ships of foreign nations would be likely to 59 00:06:42.520 --> 00:06:49.520 bring in its wake foreign warships to protect the merchant vessels, thus aiding in the American 60 00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:51.960 struggle against the British Navy. 61 00:06:51.960 --> 00:06:58.320 The Virginia Provincial Convention urged Congress to open the ports, as did the Philadelphia 62 00:06:58.320 --> 00:07:00.700 Committee of Inspection. 63 00:07:00.700 --> 00:07:07.060 The British Prohibitory Act proved to be the decisive means of radicalizing Congress on 64 00:07:07.060 --> 00:07:14.180 this issue, and on April 6, they provided that imports and exports of all goods to and 65 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:20.300 from all parts of the world, except Great Britain and her possessions, would henceforth 66 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:28.980 be free. The onerous acts of trade and navigation were at last no more, and Sam Adams exalted 67 00:07:28.980 --> 00:07:35.880 that we have torn into shivers their acts of trade by allowing commerce subject to regulation 68 00:07:35.880 --> 00:07:41.420 to be made by ourselves with the people of all countries. 69 00:07:41.420 --> 00:07:47.420 Here was a momentous step indeed toward American independence from Great Britain. 70 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:52.520 Although the restrictions of the Continental Association on Trade with Britain remained, 71 00:07:52.520 --> 00:07:57.780 the freeing of all other trade greatly reduced their crippling impact and they were soon 72 00:07:57.780 --> 00:08:03.340 Having relaxed still further, one of the most onerous provisions of the association, in 73 00:08:03.340 --> 00:08:12.020 effect since March 1, 1775, imposed total non-consumption of tea. Zealous enforcement 74 00:08:12.020 --> 00:08:19.900 by local radical committees understandably alienated many citizens from the radical cause. 75 00:08:19.900 --> 00:08:27.020 Also understandably, merchants put pressure on Congress to relax what had now become absurd 76 00:08:27.020 --> 00:08:31.140 as well as tyrannical regulation. 77 00:08:31.140 --> 00:08:36.140 Despite the opposition of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina, and Richard 78 00:08:36.140 --> 00:08:45.140 Henry Lee, Congress agreed on April 13, 1776, to permit at least the sale and consumption 79 00:08:45.140 --> 00:08:54.160 of all tea imported before December 1, 1774, when the non-importation clauses of the Continental 80 00:08:54.160 --> 00:09:01.500 Association had gone into effect. Since it was difficult to distinguish between tea imported 81 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:09.600 before and after that date, this measure proved another advance toward freedom of trade. Still 82 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:15.960 another important advance toward free trade was the liquidation of the economically absurd 83 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:22.540 provisions of the Continental Association for fixing the prices of imported goods at 84 00:09:22.540 --> 00:09:27.780 their previous levels. Since the association and then the war were bound to make these 85 00:09:27.780 --> 00:09:34.540 goods far more scarce and therefore raise their prices, enforcement of such provisions 86 00:09:34.540 --> 00:09:41.540 could only lead to drastic shortages of the goods and dislocation of the economy. Shortages 87 00:09:41.540 --> 00:09:48.220 and dislocation later aggravated by the still higher prices necessarily brought about by 88 00:09:48.220 --> 00:09:53.500 and the paper money inflation financing the war effort. 89 00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:59.160 In the North, the price regulations caused a great deal of trouble from the beginning 90 00:09:59.160 --> 00:10:05.680 of the non-importation, particularly in New York and Philadelphia and their tributary 91 00:10:05.680 --> 00:10:13.180 markets. Most foodstuffs were grown in America rather than imported and hence remained abundant 92 00:10:13.180 --> 00:10:21.740 during the War. The important exceptions were salt, tea, and the West Indies products sugar 93 00:10:21.740 --> 00:10:28.620 and molasses. The dearth and consequent high prices of previously abundant West Indies 94 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:34.780 commodities in contrast to the more stable prices of home products were the particular 95 00:10:34.780 --> 00:10:40.500 irritants in the North and hence were the special objects of zeal in enforcement by 96 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:47.580 by the Radical Local Committees. During the winter of 1775-76, the Philadelphia Committee 97 00:10:47.580 --> 00:10:55.620 continually harassed the merchants. In December 1775, the Committee fixed detailed wholesale 98 00:10:55.620 --> 00:11:02.180 and retail prices for oil, following this up on March 6, with a comprehensive schedule 99 00:11:02.180 --> 00:11:10.460 of fixed prices for such West Indian trade products as salt, molasses, rum, coffee, 100 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:17.180 cocoa and sugar. Violators would be advertised as sordid vultures who were preying on the 101 00:11:17.180 --> 00:11:24.680 vitals of their country in a time of general distress. This petulant deed was quickly imitated 102 00:11:24.680 --> 00:11:30.340 by the New York Committee, which had previously harassed merchants for alleged overcharging 103 00:11:30.340 --> 00:11:33.060 in the Price of Pins. 104 00:11:33.060 --> 00:11:37.860 The Newark Committee followed with similar schedules for West Indian commodities on March 105 00:11:37.860 --> 00:11:45.580 15, and other imitators were the Joint Committees of Inspection of the towns of New London County 106 00:11:45.580 --> 00:11:49.000 and the Joint Committees of Hartford County, Connecticut. 107 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.940 The New Hampshire Provincial Congress and the Providence, Rhode Island Committee also issued 108 00:11:53.940 --> 00:11:58.900 frequent warnings and outcries against the rise of prices. 109 00:11:58.900 --> 00:12:06.420 In the South, the major scarce imported commodity was salt. Salt was essential for the preservation 110 00:12:06.420 --> 00:12:13.180 of meat and fish, and the bulk of colonial supplies of salt had come from Turks Island 111 00:12:13.180 --> 00:12:19.380 in the British West Indies, now closed to American shipping. Local communities in the 112 00:12:19.380 --> 00:12:26.900 South, particularly in Virginia and Maryland, tried desperately and unavailingly to stop 113 00:12:26.900 --> 00:12:33.660 the rise in the price of salt, efforts which could only aggravate the shortage. People in 114 00:12:33.660 --> 00:12:38.900 the Virginia uplands went so far as to join in looting raids against the salt stocks of 115 00:12:38.900 --> 00:12:46.180 tidewater merchants, raids which only intensified the shortage still more. Congress was finally 116 00:12:46.180 --> 00:12:54.040 moved at the end of December 1775 to relieve the salt shortage by opening Maryland, Virginia 117 00:12:54.040 --> 00:12:59.840 and North Carolina, to the import of salt from any foreign country and to the export 118 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:07.840 of any produce in exchange. Thus, salt, at least in the Upper South, won free trade before 119 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:14.600 other commodities. Having watched the colonies struggle unavailingly against price increases 120 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:22.040 for scarce commodities, Congress decided to complete its great free trade program of April 121 00:13:22.040 --> 00:13:30.680 1776 by completely scrapping the price control provisions of the Continental Association. 122 00:13:30.680 --> 00:13:36.880 Wisely asserting that merchants should be encouraged to import from abroad by a prospect 123 00:13:36.880 --> 00:13:44.280 of profits proportionate to the risks incurred, Congress resolved on April 30 to end the powers 124 00:13:44.280 --> 00:13:51.400 of committees of observation and inspection to regulate the prices of goods. Domestic 125 00:13:51.400 --> 00:13:56.560 trade immediately flourished again with the sweeping away of the restrictions and the 126 00:13:56.560 --> 00:14:02.640 merchants happily ignored the exemption that Congress had tried to make for green tea. 127 00:14:02.640 --> 00:14:08.840 The breaking of this logjam, of course, allowed prices to rise to their free market levels, 128 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:15.400 thereby clearing supply and demand. Unfortunately, Congress soon partially backtracked on its 129 00:14:15.400 --> 00:14:22.520 Free Market Policy, and on May 30, it advised the local committees once again to fix the 130 00:14:22.520 --> 00:14:28.740 price of salt. Most of the provinces and local committees were quick to adopt this advice, 131 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:35.040 thereby perpetuating a salt shortage. The New Jersey Committee of Safety on the other 132 00:14:35.040 --> 00:14:41.640 hand displayed better sense. When in various sections of the province angry mobs formed 133 00:14:41.640 --> 00:14:47.480 to Coerce Merchants into Lowering Their Prices, the New Jersey Committee warned the people 134 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:55.680 that any forced reduction of prices would merely discourage importation and end by injuring 135 00:14:55.680 --> 00:14:58.680 the mass of the poor. 136 00:14:58.680 --> 00:15:04.900 The gravest commodity shortage for the American war effort was ammunition, especially gun 137 00:15:04.900 --> 00:15:12.860 and Powder, the great bulk of which had formerly been imported from England. Without ammunition, 138 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:19.560 of course, the war would be over promptly. The Americans made determined efforts to encourage 139 00:15:19.560 --> 00:15:27.900 and subsidize domestic manufacturing of powder, but with little success. America, after all, 140 00:15:27.900 --> 00:15:34.180 was not a manufacturing country, and there was no reason why it should have been. Agriculture 141 00:15:34.180 --> 00:15:42.740 was its metier, and over 90% of the population lived on farms, including plantations. 142 00:15:42.740 --> 00:15:48.040 Cities were far more important to centers for commerce, trading in and for American 143 00:15:48.040 --> 00:15:52.200 agricultural products, than for manufacturing. 144 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:56.640 What manufacturing took place was on a small scale indeed. 145 00:15:56.640 --> 00:16:02.420 There were artisans in urban centers, and the more prevalent household manufacturers, 146 00:16:02.420 --> 00:16:07.020 For example, of the family's chief clothing in the rural areas. 147 00:16:07.020 --> 00:16:13.000 The exception to the paucity of manufacturing for the market was Philadelphia, the largest 148 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.140 city in British America. 149 00:16:16.140 --> 00:16:22.500 Wood from nearby forest and hides from neighboring farms provided raw material for numerous types 150 00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:30.140 of manufacturing, and local iron, zinc and copper mines supplied the material for manufacture 151 00:16:30.140 --> 00:16:36.860 of Arms. Seeing that the powder shortage was critical, the Continental Congress as early 152 00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:45.980 as June 10, 1775 urged the provincial governments to subsidize or engage themselves in the manufacture 153 00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:53.260 of gunpowder. In Philadelphia and in Virens, with its tradition of manufacturing, six powder 154 00:16:53.260 --> 00:16:59.200 mills were soon producing several thousand pounds of powder a week. The Virginia Convention 155 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:05.520 Virginia also passed a bill subsidizing powder mills, but with little success. 156 00:17:05.520 --> 00:17:11.200 Many Virginians attempted powder manufacture, but they soon found that the heavy capital 157 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:17.440 requirements and costly operations forced them to abandon the field. 158 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:23.160 As the powder shortage accelerated throughout the colonies and subsidized private manufacture 159 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:31.800 After proved hopelessly uneconomic, Virginia turned in January 1776 to consider the establishment 160 00:17:31.800 --> 00:17:37.840 of public powder mills at government expense. But despite the active support of the powerful 161 00:17:37.840 --> 00:17:44.480 John Page, the attempt was blocked by a majority of the Virginia Committee of Safety, and especially 162 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:51.360 by the President of the Convention, Edmund Pendleton. At any rate, it was rapidly becoming 163 00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:59.360 It's been clear that domestic powder production could supply only a negligible amount of the needs of the American forces. 164 00:17:59.360 --> 00:18:09.360 Even Philadelphia's contribution could only be a drop in the bucket and was inferior in quality to European powder besides. 165 00:18:09.360 --> 00:18:14.360 In short, the great bulk of American powder still had to be imported. 166 00:18:14.360 --> 00:18:26.360 The obvious source was the West Indies and this meant that tobacco, the great staple demanded in Europe, would be the main source of funds to pay for the imported powder. 167 00:18:26.360 --> 00:18:32.360 And tobacco meant Virginia, the great center of tobacco production and export. 168 00:18:32.360 --> 00:18:48.360 The first attempt to expand the import of powder came in Virginia during 1775 when the merchant and planter, John Goodrich, was sent by the Committee of Safety to negotiate the purchase of powder in the West Indies. 169 00:18:48.360 --> 00:18:55.900 Goodrich, however, through no fault of his own, was soon in trouble on all sides. 170 00:18:55.900 --> 00:19:02.060 The British discovered his mission and arrested him, and after his release, Virginians, led 171 00:19:02.060 --> 00:19:07.500 by the Isle of Wight Committee of Safety, denounced him for daring to consider buying 172 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:11.380 ammunition from the British West Indies. 173 00:19:11.380 --> 00:19:16.940 Few Americans, indeed, seemed to realize that purchase of war supplies from the British 174 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:23.100 British would be a boon, not a living shame, for the American war effort. After all, there 175 00:19:23.100 --> 00:19:29.500 was no mystical taint attached to British ammunition. Goodrich, in understandable disgust 176 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:35.660 at his persecution, abandoned the struggle and joined the British cause. 177 00:19:35.660 --> 00:19:43.180 A more successful effort to import powder came in April 1776 after the American seizure 178 00:19:43.180 --> 00:19:49.980 of Dorchester Heights and the British evacuation of Boston. French and Dutch merchants became 179 00:19:49.980 --> 00:19:57.140 far more optimistic about rebel chances and promptly began to sell a steady and abundant 180 00:19:57.140 --> 00:20:05.220 flow of powder to the Americans, using the entrepôt of Saint Eustatius, Dutch West Indies, 181 00:20:05.220 --> 00:20:12.180 and Martinique, French West Indies, to exchange European gunpowder for Virginia and Maryland 182 00:20:12.180 --> 00:20:19.500 and Tobacco. Large, though necessarily sporadic, shipments of arms and ammunition also came 183 00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:25.900 from Spain to the back country of Virginia by way of Havana and the port of New Orleans 184 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:33.260 in Spanish Louisiana. So abundant was the flow of imports after April 1776 that the 185 00:20:33.260 --> 00:20:38.500 colonies had no further worries about a shortage of gunpowder. 186 00:20:38.500 --> 00:20:44.940 For other types of arms and ammunition, American domestic sources were far superior. Particularly 187 00:20:44.940 --> 00:20:52.580 important was the rapidly growing iron industry of Pennsylvania. From producing only one-seventieth 188 00:20:52.580 --> 00:21:02.380 of the world's crude iron, bar and pig iron, in 1700, the American colonies produced 30,000 189 00:21:02.380 --> 00:21:11.380 in 1775, one-seventh of the world's output and exceeding the iron production of England. 190 00:21:11.380 --> 00:21:22.380 Pennsylvania, with its abundance of iron ore, timber for fuel and access to nearby markets, was preeminent in iron output. 191 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:29.380 Southeastern Pennsylvania had no fewer than 73 iron furnaces and forges, 192 00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:35.380 The largest and most numerous being in Berks County, north of the Schuylkill River. 193 00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:45.380 Hence, during the winter of 1775-76, Pennsylvania manufactured over 4,000 stand of arms. 194 00:21:45.380 --> 00:21:54.380 Other major centers of iron manufacture were in northwestern New Jersey, around Lake Hoppetcong, northwestern Connecticut, 195 00:21:54.380 --> 00:22:09.380 around Salisbury and northeastern Maryland and after 1775 in various parts of Virginia and together they produced another 4,000 stand of arms. 196 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:21.380 In contrast to the production of crude iron, the manufacture of finished iron had been restricted, though only slightly in practice, by the British Iron Act of 1750. 197 00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:33.380 The stimulus of war contracts, however, quickly spurred the construction of iron foundries in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, and especially in Pennsylvania. 198 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:42.380 And village blacksmiths and other artisans were fully competent to turn their attention to finished iron for the war effort. 199 00:22:42.380 --> 00:22:48.440 The Americans also benefited from zinc deposits in northwestern New Jersey and copper mines 200 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:55.080 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. As a consequence, the Army suffered no shortage 201 00:22:55.080 --> 00:23:04.620 of iron, rifles, muskets or ammunition. American cannon, however, proved far inferior to European 202 00:23:04.620 --> 00:23:11.100 and the rebels quickly placed their reliance on cannon, whether iron or brass, imported 203 00:23:11.100 --> 00:23:14.700 from France or captured from the British. 204 00:23:14.700 --> 00:23:22.660 There was one vital ingredient of ammunition, however, that was short during the war, lead. 205 00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:29.180 So scarce was lead that as early as June 1775, the Continental Congress pleaded with the 206 00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:33.960 provinces to open up governmental lead mines. 207 00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:39.460 Several colonies tried this desperate experiment, but as might be expected, the results were 208 00:23:39.460 --> 00:23:47.060 for Failures, Yieldless Mines as in New York or Marginal Mines as in Middle Connecticut. 209 00:23:47.060 --> 00:23:51.860 This should have been expected, for any useful lead mines would have been discovered and 210 00:23:51.860 --> 00:23:55.100 exploited by private enterprise. 211 00:23:55.100 --> 00:24:00.640 The only workable lead mines were operating in southwestern Virginia, near what is now 212 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:01.640 Austinville. 213 00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:08.740 By the summer of 1776, the Americans were stripping lead from clocks and windows to 214 00:24:08.740 --> 00:24:11.700 To Provide the Continental Army 215 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:18.340 Of the food products, we have seen that the major item in short supply was salt. While 216 00:24:18.340 --> 00:24:23.860 some salt could be imported from the West Indies, the Americans also constructed makeshift 217 00:24:23.860 --> 00:24:31.360 factories along the coast to make salt from evaporated sea water. This was a basically 218 00:24:31.360 --> 00:24:37.740 uneconomic process to be sure, but was made temporarily profitable by the high price of 219 00:24:37.740 --> 00:24:43.620 of Salt Caused by the Scarcity of Supply Thus, when market prices were permitted 220 00:24:43.620 --> 00:24:50.420 to rise, the wartime shortage of salt created its own partial corrective. 221 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:56.060 Also cut off by the war was a very large amount of textiles for clothing imported from Great 222 00:24:56.060 --> 00:25:03.660 Britain, but this drastic cut was nearly compensated by large increases in household manufacturers 223 00:25:03.660 --> 00:25:13.660 In New England and the Middle Provinces, farmers with ready flexibility increased their household production of woolen and linen cloth. 224 00:25:13.660 --> 00:25:21.660 In the South, farmers and planters increased their output of homespun linens, cottons and linsey woolsy. 225 00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:27.660 And many backcountry settlers simply wore their deer skin clothing as before.