The Revolutionary Period in America

The revolutionary period for what would become the United States is possibly one of the most important historical periods in American history. This period is marked by famous documents, famous politicians and famous battles. These are all very crucial to the history of the United States, but few realize the importance that the maritime industry played in the revolutionary and early national period. This could be because there is not great naval victory for the United States or any blatantly direct link between the maritime industry navy included, and the revolution or the policies that were derived from this period. There are; however very important economic and cultural issues that have both a role as both cause and effect of the revolution and the period following it. These are events, policies and ideals by the American people that would become part of the framework for the founding and early United States.

While taking into account the multitude of events that took place in all dimensions of the American revolutionary period, the following will place a maritime bias lens on the events that have both great relevance to the revolution and early United States.

The first historically significant aspect of the revolutionary period is the building of a Continental Navy. This was done differently than what most would consider a normal. Unlike Britain who had ships built to be used in battle, the Continental Navy was made up of merchant ships, or privateer vessels. In many cases wealthy merchants such as Robert Morris sold their ships, for very fair prices to the Continental Navy to be outrigged into a worthy battle ship( pg.159). The building up of America's navy may not have created the United States into a world sea power, bu...

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...ndustry provided for business practices eventually leading to our modern unions, pensions, retirement, and healthcare. Although sailors were not the first to create any of these ideas, the ingenuity of the sailor advanced these ideas farther than any other industry.

While answering this question, more and more evidence of the importance of early American History seems to continue to bubble through to the surface of most important points or advancements in American history. Although the evidence provided in this response is skewed to providing only the maritime importance in each event, a significance should be found in early American history through maritime advancements and events. In many cases although trade may be the historical excerpt taken from an event, it is important to remember that trade did not occur with out the innovative American maritime industry.