The period of time from 1789 to 1839 was an age of growth for the United States of America; the United States grew bigger and better in general, it expanded into the West, and its commerce and industry also grew substantially. This is in part because of the great political leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson, but also in part of growing national pride and the yearning to become a successful nation.

America grew larger and improved greatly in the first half century of its life. The territory of the United States tripled in size as America bought large amounts of property from other nations, and the number of the states in the Union doubled. The population doubled twice from around four million people to almost sixteen million people, and by the year 1840 rolled around. American exports also quadrupled in size to about $80 million dollars in profit. The national debt from earlier years was completely paid off in this time period; a feat that has not been accomplished since. An Army and Navy were esta

As one can clearly see, one of America's greatest eras of growth was in its first half century of history. An interesting fact one could find in the book The Nation Takes Shape is that by 1840 the frontier was moving west at an average of seventeen miles a year. Another fascinating point found in this book is that Noah Webster was challenged for including the words "locate" and "location" in the dictionary. A third enthralling detail is that many people bought land in small cities in the 1820's for about a dollar an acre, but by the 1940's, some of the land, in cities such as Chicago, had jumped to becoming worth over $3000. In conclusion, the first fifty years of America's history were extremely important, for it was one of the periods of time in which America grew bigger and better in general, expanded into the West, and grew substantially in commerce and industry.

Another area in which America grew considerably was in commerce and industry. Before the Revolution, the colonies and Britain had established a relationship in which the colonies would export many raw products to Britain, and Britain would export many finished products to America. After the Revolution, Britain remained the United States' most valuable trading partner, but America also opened up to some new foreign markets, such as those in Latin America, the Mediterranean, and the Far East, areas economically controlled by major European powers. Between the years of 1793 to 1815, wars raged on in Europe,

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