QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY AT KINGSTON
Department of Economics
ECONOMICS 331
Economic History of North America Before 1865
Fall 2014
Frank Lewis
COURSE ESSAY
Date Due: Thursday, November 20 (late penalty - 2% per day). Days end at 4:00pm. The late
penalty continues to accumulate until a hard copy has been received.
Part of the essay grade - 5% - will be based on a proposal which must be submitted no later than
Thursday, October 2.The proposal should be 300 to 500 words and outline what you plan to do
in the paper.
NOTE: In addition to the hard copy due on Thursday, November 20, an electronic copy of your
term paper must be emailed to “econ331papers@econ.queensu.ca” before a grade can be
assigned. Papers will be checked for plagiarism.
The essay can take several forms. It may be a review of the literature in which you are expected
to bring you own critical insight to the topic. You are also encouraged to do primary research of
your own in which you use primary or secondary data along with theory to help address a
historical question. A good starting point is F.H. Leacy, Historical Statistics of Canada, Second
Edition. For the U.S., the best general source is Historical Statistics of the United States:
Millennial Edition. Primary material is kept in the Documents Unit of the Library (lower level Stauffer). The essay should be 14-16 pages (double-spaced) and presented in professional
journal style. See the Journal of Economic History or Explorations in Economic History. Either
style is acceptable.
Most of the suggested topics are related to material covered in the course. The required and
optional readings on the course outline are a good starting point. Other suggested readings are
provided below. The bibliographies of the papers can be an excellent source of additional
readings.
Suggested Topics
1. An economic analysis of some aspect of Native American life and the North American fur
trade
This essay could deal with one of a range of topics, including the debate about the
depletion of the beaver, the trading relationships between natives and European traders, the
effect of the trade on the consumption patterns of natives, or some other aspect. Your discussion
can refer both to the economic and the cultural-anthropological literature.
2. Indentured servitude
You might discuss the nature of the economic relationships between the various parties
(servant, English merchant or shipowner, American farmer) and what the contracts revealed
about the indentured servants. You could also focus on the effects of uncertainty in the market.
Another approach would be to discuss the changes that led to the demise of the system.
3. Conjectural income estimates
Mancall and Weiss have attempted to determine, conjecturally, the growth of income in
the United States before 1800 including colonial times. Evaluate their work with a view to
suggesting possible improvements to their estimates. Or, you could write an essay on income
growth in Canada before 1870.
Readings: P. Mancall and T. Weiss, “Was Economic growth Likely in Colonial British North
America,” Journal of Economic History 59 (1999), pp. 17-40. P. Mancall et al., “Conjectural
Estimates of Economic Growth in the Lower South, 1720-1800,” in T. Guinnane et al., eds.,
History Matters: Essays on Economic Growth, Technology, and Demographic Change, chapter
14.
On Canada see: F. Lewis and M. C. Urquhart, "Growth and the Standard of Living in a Pioneer
Economy: Upper Canada, 1826 to 1851," William and Mary Quarterly 54 (1999), pp. 151-81.
4. An aspect of slavery or the slave trade in the Americas
There is a large literature on slavery that includes such issues as the economic viability of
the system, the physical treatment of slaves, the productivity of slave agriculture and how that
changed over time, and the reasons for the end of slavery in the Americas. Write an essay that
focuses on one of these questions. You might also write a paper dealing with the slave trade
focusing on the economic relationships between the various parties.
Readings on slavery: R. Fogel and S. Engerman, eds., Reinterpretation of American Economic
History, chapters 24-26; R. Fogel and S. Engerman, Time on the Cross: the economics of
American Negro slavery; R. Fogel et al., eds., Without Consent or Contract.
Readings on the slave trade: D. Eltis, The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas. D. Eltis et al.,
“Accounting for the Traffic in Africans: Transport Costs on Slaving Voyages,” Journal of
Economic History 70 (2010), pp. 940-63; D. Eltis et al., “Slave Prices, the African Slave Trade
and Productivity in the Caribbean: 1674-1807,” Economic History Review 58 (2005), pp. 673700. For data on the slave trade see: slavevoyages.org
5. The financing of railroads
Discuss the financing of the railroads in either the United States or Canadian. Consider
such factors as the private and social profitability of particular railroads. You may focus on the
role of government in railway finance.
On the U.S.: Lloyd Mercer, Railroads and Land Grant Policy.
6. Migration and farm settlement
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This essay could deal with the major forces responsible for migration to Canada and the
U.S. in the nineteenth century. You might also discuss the characteristics of immigrants and
their success, or lack of success, once they settled in America. Related to the issue of migration
is the process of farm settlement, which could also be a subject of your essay.
Readings on the U.S.: See especially the work of Joseph Ferrie: eg. “The Wealth Accumulation
of Antebellum European immigrants to the U.S.”, Journal of Economic History 54 (1994), pp.
1-33; “Immigrants and Natives in the U.S.: Comparative Economic Performance in the United
States,1850-1860 and 1965-1980, Research in Labor Economics 16 (1997), pp. 319-41; ‘Yankeys
Now’: European Immigrants in the Antebellum U.S., 1840-1860.
7. Agricultural productivity change
Analyse the factors affecting the diffusion of agricultural innovations. You could discuss
the relative importance of mechanical improvements and advances in the type of crops that were
grown. Alternatively your essay could discuss the relative productivity of different agricultural
systems.
Readings on innovations by A. Olmstead and P. Rhode: “Biological Innovation and Productivity
Growth in the Antebellum Cotton Economy,” Journal of Economic History 68 (2008), pp. 112371; “The Red Queen and the Hard Reds: Productivity Growth in American Wheat, 1800-1940,”
Journal of Economic History 62 (2002), pp. 929-66.
8. The cost of conflict
Apply the approach used by Lewis and Goldin in measuring the cost of the U.S. Civil
War to evaluate the cost of some other war. In this essay you could deal with more a
contemporary conflict.
9. Health, heights, and income
There is a large anthropometric literature dealing with health, nutrition and income as
reflected in recorded heights. Your essay could deal with one aspect of this literature.
Readings by Richard Steckel: “Stature and the Standard of Living,” Journal of Economic
Literature 33 (1995), pp. 1903-40; “Biological Measures of the Standard of Living,” Journal of
Economic Perspectives 22 (2008), pp.129-52; The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in
the Western Hemisphere (with J. Rose).
10. The Population of Native Americans
An analysis of the impact of European contact on aboriginal populations. This could
include a study of the role of disease and the debate on how devastating it was. One issue you
could study is the impact of smallpox.
Reading: Carlos and Lewis, “Smallpox and Native American Mortality: The 1780s Smallpox
Epidemic in the Hudson Bay Region.”
11. A topic of your choice subject to approval by the instructor.
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