Early Americans and their social environment

Recent studies, cast in a more or less populist vein, underestimate the accumulative impulse among early Americans. As in England at the time, land was recognized as property and scarce, not neutral and free. The pursuit of status by leaders drew ordinary people into the commoditizing of land and labor. Many to their detriment materially and psychologically were unable to fulfill the call. Commodity markets, though not up to subsequent levels, were important. Early Americans came close to recognizing the free self-regulating quality of markets. Countervailing forces and institutions in religion, local government and families, however limited, held back the drive for accumulation and power. Yet, economic growth and areal expansion were the chief forces keeping these overseas British societies together.