This textbook introduces undergraduate and advanced undergraduate students to the economic foundations of America. Providing a rigorous yet accessible exploration of American Economic History from pre-Columbian times up to 1914, it explains the economic and demographic nuances of colonial America, including the Spanish, French, and English colonies and how they were governed.

The book presents the details of the controversy between the English colonists and the English Parliament. It further features the impact of slavery, the Revolutionary and Civil War eras, and it includes extensive economic analysis of the post Civil War nation up to 1914.

Based on the author's lectures, the book allows an easy understanding of the economic evolution from the earliest Americans to World War I. Instructors can customize their curriculum by supplementing this fundamental text with additional readings, offering flexibility while ensuring a solid knowledge of the economic aspects of American history.

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John F. McDonald is an Emeritus Professor of Economics, at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), USA. He is also the Emeritus Gerald W. Fogelson Distinguished Professor of Real Estate at Roosevelt University, Chicago, USA. McDonald received his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 1971 and joined the UIC faculty that year. Between 1988 and 1990 he was the Director of Research, NCI Research, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, USA. He is the author of 12 books, including Postwar Urban America (2015), Chicago: An Economic History (2016), Rethinking Macroeconomics (2022), Urban Economics and Real Estate, with D. McMillen (2012), Fundamentals of Urban Economics (1997), and Economic Analysis of an Urban Housing Market (1979). McDonald also served as editor of Urban Studies and the Journal of Real Estate Literature and was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Economics. He was elected a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International in 2008 and was awarded the David Ricardo Medal by the American Real Estate Society in 2013.