American Commercial Importance: Intellectual and Moral Causes

Key Insight

The United States possesses natural advantages for maritime commerce: an extensive coastline of almost 900 leagues, deep and secure ports, and major rivers. Located far from Europe's heartland yet dependent on its markets, America must engage in extensive maritime trade, either by employing other nations or becoming a great maritime power itself. The Anglo-Americans have shown a strong predilection for the sea, with their merchant vessels increasing rapidly, carrying nine tenths of European imports and three quarters of New World exports.

American ships navigate more economically than any other in the world, a superiority not derived from material advantages like cheaper construction or better design, nor from lower sailor wages (which are higher for Americans, attracting Europeans). Instead, this commercial edge stems from 'purely intellectual and moral qualities.' This entrepreneurial spirit is likened to the French Revolutionary armies' new tactics: doing without the indispensable, demanding new efforts, acting at 'the double,' and risking lives for results.

American navigators are daring and innovative: they set sail in storms, maintain full canvas day and night, repair ships underway, and rush to port at full speed. While this may lead to more shipwrecks, it ensures faster voyages and reduced costs. An American sailor might circumnavigate the globe, landing only once, living on brackish water and salted meat, but selling tea 'for a penny a pound less than the English merchant.' This 'heroic' approach to business, driven by a universal spirit of enterprise, adaptability, and belief in progress, allows Americans to excel in commerce by constantly seeking new and better methods.