Outline of the development of the internal commerce of the United States 1789-1900 — Reading Companion

A Thesis Voice, Not a Narrative

Van Metre writes as a doctoral candidate presenting evidence, not as a storyteller. His sentences are dense with qualifying phrases: 'as is usual in a new country,' 'it is to be doubted whether,' 'there has been a natural tendency to regard.' He avoids dramatic claims, preferring to let enumerated factors—such as the 'complete transformation in the tariff policy' or the 'concentration of capital'—carry the argument. The prose is efficient but not dry; it gains momentum when describing the post–Civil War era, where he lists 'an abundance of unoccupied land, of rich and varied natural resources, favorable climatic conditions' in a single breathless clause. This shift in pace mirrors the acceleration of commerce itself.

The Civil War as a Structural Pivot

The excerpts show that Van Metre treats the Civil War not as a military conflict but as a catalyst for economic restructuring. He argues that the war's 'most striking and significant net result'—emancipation—may have been less consequential for commerce than the tariff hikes, national banking system, and transcontinental railroad subsidies it enabled. His language here becomes more assertive: 'It is in these changes that one finds the key to much of the economic history.' The pace of the text quickens as he lists innovations, each introduced with a semicolon, building a cumulative case. This section contrasts with the earlier, more tentative descriptions of colonial trade routes and 'rude earth roads.'

Recurring Emphasis on Transportation and Capital

Throughout the excerpts, two threads recur: the primacy of transportation infrastructure and the concentration of financial resources. Early on, rivers are 'natural highways'; later, railways and 'large subsidies' dominate. Van Metre consistently links physical movement of goods to the availability of capital, noting that 'the concentration of capital provided the means by which industrial enterprises could be carried out on a gigantic scale.' He also highlights the role of European immigrants as a labor force 'necessary for the industrial conquest.' The thesis does not romanticize expansion; instead, it presents commerce as a system of interdependent factors—land, labor, capital, and policy—each carefully weighed.

Readers should note that Van Metre's thesis is a product of its time—a 1913 academic work that assumes progress as a given and focuses on structural rather than social history. The excerpts offer no analysis of labor conditions, indigenous displacement, or environmental cost. The value of this outline lies in its clear periodization and its insistence on the Civil War as an economic turning point. For those tracing the evolution of U.S. internal trade, Van Metre provides a concise, evidence-based framework, best read alongside more recent scholarship that complicates his narrative of unimpeded development.

Van Metre’s careful ledger of rails and tariffs holds the same quiet patience I find in the old Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 05 (of 10) — Inside the Classic. Both sit on my shelf like patient friends, measuring progress in columns and cautious chapters, never hurried, never eager to impress—just glad to be consulted now and then. A fellow librarian’s hand, I suspect, shelved them together for a reason.