| cl | | | | exorbitant process is still being debated today. |
| Although the US became independent of Britain in | | | | Whatever the reason, the end result was that |
| 1776, the countryâs dependence on Britain and | | | | imported equipment became too expensive to be |
| Europe for the goods needed to build the new country | | | | economical. But since the country needed more and |
| remained. For many years all the mechanical | | | | more such goods, from ploughs to printing presses to |
| equipment the country needed was imported. With the | | | | cannons, the only options was to start manufacturing |
| beginning of the industrial revolution in Britain, the | | | | them domestically. Craftsmen began to make things |
| sophistication of the machinery began to increase and | | | | that till then had been imported. The range of products |
| so did the cost. Whether the increased costs of this | | | | was vast, from furniture to glass, leather goods, |
| machinery was justified or just a case of a near | | | | gunpowder to sewing needles and wagon wheels and |
| monopoly supplier using its position to charge | | | | much more. |