A "Commercial View of This Unfortunate War": Economic Roots of an American National State in the Ohio Valley, 1775–1795

Abstract

This article argues that the roots of an American national state were forged in the wars with Native Americans for control of the Ohio Valley between 1775 and 1795. It examines how the new national government's use of its fiscal-military powers shifted and accelerated an economic transformation in the region by encouraging commercial husbandry and merchant-based exchange. An expanded commercial economy, in turn, supported the federally funded military. The result was that local western economies and communities became more tightly bound to an expansionist national government.