American Production.

Extracting iron from ore in the eighteenth century was a process that combined sophisticated water-power technology with the science of metallurgy. English colonists began casting iron in the mid seventeenth century. These were mostly small operations; America had an abundance of raw materials, but ironmaking on a large scale required heavy investments of capital, which the colonies habitually lacked. By 1700 American iron production amounted to no more than 1 percent of the estimated world production. Seventy-five years later, however, that figure had risen to almost 15 percent. What had happened to produce this dramatic change?

British Encouragement.

Britain's growing empire was built largely on its manufactures, which British merchants exchanged for the exotic commodities so much in demand in Europe and America. Britain had been largely stripped of forest, from which charcoal, the required fuel for iron production, was made. On the other hand, American...