One of the most misunderstood facts is that the US was founded with abundance, whereas it was in fact built from scratch.
At the time of founding, Britain was the greatest nation governing the Seven Seas, while China was at its height with total land dominance in the East under the Qianlong Emperor.
The usable land of the US at founding was much smaller than that of either nation. The 13 colonies spanned 430K square miles, while Britain governed 2.5M square miles and China owned 5M square miles of territory.
The trade and economic volume of the 13 colonies was minuscule, consisting mostly of raw materials that barely registered on the charts. Combined, the 13 colonies produced $4B GDP, while Britain made $350B and China $2.5T in today’s dollars.
In other words, the 13 colonies were less than 0.2% of the world economy and much smaller than that of many African nations today.
The wealth of the US was not inherited but earned through survival and competition against stronger nations. Most people who came here brought nothing but empty hands yet built an empire from the ground.
This is something that people who inherit great resources from parents and ancestors cannot understand—like most nations in Europe and Asia, where wealth was dominated by inheritance, not earned. They mistakenly believe what we have now is a privilege. The trees we enjoy today were planted and nourished with sweat and blood by previous generations so that we could cut the wood for warmth.
Be a tree planter, not a wood chopper. Plant your tree today. 🌱
One of the great chapters in America's history is how we converted our economy to wartime production in the 1940s and used our industrial power to win WWII.
I'd learned in high school that we converted car factories into tank factories. But I never knew the full story until last month, when I read Freedom's Forge, the definitive book on this.
It turns out the true story is even crazier and more impressive. In honor of July 4th, here's the story of how America won WWII, one factory at a time.