By the eighteenth century, North Americans had established an economy in which a wide range of productive activities took place. Native Americans had adjusted their economic activities to accommodate the European colonists, sometimes against their will or better judgment. With the help of their Native American neighbors and through trial and error, the European settlers had identified the potential for production in the resources available in their regions, and were actively exploiting those resources. Americans were making contact with people in other parts of the continent and the world through trade. Industrialization was beginning, expanding cottage industries to larger scales. The colonial economy was flourishing, especially while Britain was too busy with its European wars to pay attention to enforcing colonial duties and trade restrictions. Britain's salutary neglect created an environment in which the independent economic activity of the colonists was able to flourish.
All over the continent, Native American tribes had conducted self-sufficient economic activity, producing food, clothing, shelter, and other goods and services in family and clan groupings. Although Native Americans traded with each other, few sought a standard of living that exceeded moderate comfort. Many of the European settlers, predominantly from England, arrived in their New World with dreams of wealth and economic advancement. While Native Americans tended to take an attitude of respect toward their environment, many of the European colonists felt that they needed to "conquer" the land and "tame" their environments to bring them in line with a more Europeanized ideal of living and civilization. Nevertheless, survival was an issue for everyone.
