Did the USA just get lucky, having conquered a land so rich in resources.

This is a concept I have been hearing more and more.

The U.S. has enjoyed tremendous resources, but we are also the people who, for the most part figured out how to develop those resources.

Oil, we were rich with it, but it didn't become valuable until Western society developed the combustion engine, then it became black gold. This begs the question, what have the Arabs down with the vast amounts of wealth they have obtained from the vast amounts of oil reserves discovered under their sands by the Brits and the U.S.? Where is the Arab Ipad?

Gold, yes, we discovered gold in our newly acquired land of CA, but the Spaniards probably took more out of South America, and what did they do with it?

Can't think of much more resources that the U.S. has, more of than anyone else. Iron and copper maybe, but those aren't rare metals.

What the U.S. does have, is hard working innovative people, that is our greatest resource. That is our greatest resource IMO.

By the way, I think we would have found another resource to power our economy if we hadn't found large reserves of oil. I think in the long run, oil has been bad for the U.S..

Interesting theroy, but how do you explain the basket case that is South America?

Think about this: the people who were willing to cross an ocean to start a new life had a certain amount of "gumption". They were risk takers, and hard workers, who passed those ideals down to their kids and to later generations. I think that could explain why Americans have always been able to come up with such innovative ideas.

reply to post by GeorgiaGirl


Which is why it is frustrating to hear people tell me how we just got lucky?

It is just an underhanded form of bigotry.

Originally posted by GeorgiaGirl
Think about this: the people who were willing to cross an ocean to start a new life had a certain amount of "gumption". They were risk takers, and hard workers, who passed those ideals down to their kids and to later generations. I think that could explain why Americans have always been able to come up with such innovative ideas.

I think you'll find the original pioneers were European!, mostly British/Irish hence 1776!!! The industrial revolution started in the midlands of England. The britsh empire was necessary to get raw materials to fuel the industrial revolution. It was raw materials needed by Britain that financed the Mayflower.

History.....

Oil and gold are all well and good but what really set America apart was all the crops we could grow and export, grains, corn, vegetables and tobacco. You can't eat gold and oil. They're worthless outside the confines of society.

For the first few hundred years tobacco was our largest export. It was a delicacy. A lot of people think that white Europeans have always smoked cigarettes but it really only came about AFTER they invaded South America in the 1500s and saw the natives "drinking the smoke". Europeans didn't even know HOW to smoke things.

I'm pretty sure the US still exports more food than any other nation.

We got ahead of other nations and began our own empire the way that all empires begin, slave labor and technological innovation. We had slaves, steam power and the arable land to build an empire. But we should really atrribute our success where it belongs: on the backs of the slaves who truly built America while white people smoked cigars and sat in rocking chairs.

Originally posted by poet1b
reply to post by GeorgiaGirl

 

Which is why it is frustrating to hear people tell me how we just got lucky?

It is just an underhanded form of bigotry.

No you didn't just get lucky alot of hard work went into building America.. but don't forget when the USA was discovered and "conquered" there were civilizations that had been evolving for thousands of years, who brought experience and innovations and ideas on creating a new civilization..

America already had a head start as it were, they didnt have to go the turmoil and hard work that most of the world had to even get to that point..

And you always had relative peace on your lands.. it has allowed you to build a nation without the strife.. look at Europe for example thousands of years of wars, disputes and hatred amongst neighbors. (and this stuff is still alive and kicking)

And when you talk about resources .. you are rich with them, (dont just think gold and oil) you have thick forest (wood) many different types of stone i.e limestone (concrete) non precious metals, fresh water in abundance, good soils, food everywhere.. (the list could go on for most of this post)
So to make a comparison with the Arab world is like comparing chalk and cheese... they live in dry arid lands with little to no, natural (and essential resources) They have had to adapt to that and have only started to grow in recent times since the money has come in so they can import these essential resources whilst exporting one of their only resources..

I've been told Africa has by far the most wealth of natural resources. Diamonds, Gold, jewelry, precious minerals, animal and plant life. Yet the majority of Africa is poorer than dirt and rampant with AIDS and various genocides.

Also keep in mind that the "old world" had been depleting their resources for thousands of years by the time the USA came to be. Also the US had the tools and knowledge of the developed world coupled with vast untouched fertile land.

Being complete war mongers for the past 100 years hasnt hurt either.

Recently, America has been the country that's profited the most off war, both politically and economically. Our defense budget is larger than the rest of the world's combined. And we're the country with the most military bases in other countries.

Even though America was doing fine before the war mongering, its definitely made USA the greatest super power on the planet.

Originally posted by jjkenobi
I've been told Africa has by far the most wealth of natural resources. Diamonds, Gold, jewelry, precious minerals, animal and plant life. Yet the majority of Africa is poorer than dirt and rampant with AIDS and various genocides.

What your hearing is correct although it is not the full story..

The difference being Africa is a land mass split into many countries.. some countries have no resources i.e ethiopa, somalia.. other are abundant.. i.e south africa, former Rhodesia..etc They have had thousands of years of constant wars (mostly civil) they have been invaded, sold as slaves, had their lands raped and pillaged.
And this is not even half the story...

America is one country on a land mass that contained virgin untapped resources which had an abundance of the most important ones.. i.e food, water, materials to build..

There is a big difference..

Originally posted by malcr

Originally posted by GeorgiaGirl
Think about this: the people who were willing to cross an ocean to start a new life had a certain amount of "gumption". They were risk takers, and hard workers, who passed those ideals down to their kids and to later generations. I think that could explain why Americans have always been able to come up with such innovative ideas.

I think you'll find the original pioneers were European!, mostly British/Irish hence 1776!!! The industrial revolution started in the midlands of England. The britsh empire was necessary to get raw materials to fuel the industrial revolution. It was raw materials needed by Britain that financed the Mayflower.

History.....

So....think about this: the ORIGINAL EUROPEAN PIONEERS who were willing to cross an ocean...

I actually already knew they were European. My own ancestors have been here since the late 1600s. My point was that those that were willing to trek across the ocean had certain characteristics that made them willing to take such a risk.

reply to post by poet1b

Can't think of much more resources that the U.S. has, more of than anyone else. Iron and copper maybe, but those aren't rare metals.

What the U.S. does have, is hard working innovative people, that is our greatest resource. That is our greatest resource IMO.

Yes! The United States greatest resource was, and hopefully still is, ingenuity. I wholeheartedly agree with you that if it wasn't oil, American's would have developed some other form of energy to advance technology. Perhaps without oil, Tesla's ideas would have come to the forefront instead of pushed to the back as they were.

Great thread, Poet. Thanks.

So if the USA has great innovative people with lots of resources. What does that make of Brits, with virtually no natural resources, they have invented/created many historically important artifacts. Possibly more than the USA.

reply to post by malcr


Don't forget the Dutch, New York was originally New Amsterdam. Also, a great many Germans migrated to the U.S. early on.

For the first few hundred years, most of the immigrants were from Northern Europe, although a mention should be made of the hard working Chinese, once the U.S. expanded to the West coast.

reply to post by doctornamtab


I don't know if you can claim that tobacco was our largest export, but the Southern colonies principly exported tobacco, it was practically the only thing they produced.

The Northern colonies exported a great many things, and that is where the food was grown, exporting a great many, grains including rice. However, the biggest exports were fur, lumber, ship building, the merchant fleet, and whale oil.

Whale oil was the biggest money maker, why do you think the former centers of the whaling industry are now the richest places in the country, possibly the world. Whaling certainly wasn't restricted to the U.S., nor was lumber, they just succeeded at it back in the day when it was incredibly dangerous work.

Slave labor was only employed in the Southern colonies, and never nearly at the levels as it was used in S. America, or the rest of the world outside of Europe for that matter. While Tobacco was the colonies biggest export, the Northern colonies had far great GDPs. While slave contributed greatly to the Southern economies, they were a non-factor in the far more prosperous Northern colonies, so no, slave labor was never critical.

www.libraryindex.com...

reply to post by michael1983l


The Brits created the largest, if not the greatest empire on the planet, not taking anything away from the Brits here.

After all the U.S. was originally a British colony, except for the parts they took from the Dutch and the French.

reply to post by poet1b


It's quite funny really. In as much as it was the "British Crown" that really got the whole thing started in America. The Crown was the main finacier of "The 13 Colonoes". Then what happens.........the subjects in the colonies rebel against the people who made it possible for them to be there in the first place

reply to post by alldaylong


Sorry, but the Crown provided very little financing. Don't forget they also conquered the Dutch colonies that were established in what is now New York. Most of the original colonies were dumped on the shore, and left to fend for themselves.

In those days, only the boldest and most ambitious, or the most desperate, were willing to come to the New world and carve a civilization out of the wilderness.

Originally posted by poet1b
reply to post by alldaylong

 

Sorry, but the Crown provided very little financing. Don't forget they also conquered the Dutch colonies that were established in what is now New York. Most of the original colonies were dumped on the shore, and left to fend for themselves.

In those days, only the boldest and most ambitious, or the most desperate, were willing to come to the New world and carve a civilization out of the wilderness.

Read the 5th paragraph down:-

www.royal.gov.uk...

It wasn't just the boldest and most ambitious that went to the 13 Colonies.. How about the convicts in their thousands:-

www.npr.org...