Most important Colonial product: Tobacco, Timber, or Alcohol

Most important colonial product: tobacco, timber, or alcohol
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Introduction
The main important products of the colonial times were tobacco, timber, and alcohol, even though they vary in their levels of importance and the value attached to them by the colonial governments. Not only did the products help with the running of the economies of the colonies, but some of the also assisted with the provision of better living conditions and were used during social occasions.
Tobacco
The colonies under the rule of the British entered an agreement to provide the colonial power with an endless supply of natural resources even though the colonies was restricted from producing or trading in the resources outside of the agreement. With the increase in the need for tobacco in England and the requirement for additional supplies increased in the colonies, the colonial powers were in a position to fairly for products from Britain without the concern of the shortage of the products. Consequently, by stipulation, tobacco became the most important trade item in England.
Other than using the tobacco currency for the purpose of buying goods, it was additionally used for the settlement of penalties and taxes. For instance, proponents of Negro organizations were penalized a thousand pounds of tobacco, settlers permitting Negroes to ride horses were penalized 500 pounds of tobacco; in case an individual wanted to tie the knot they would visit a rector of his neighbourhood and give payment in accordance with an agreed amount of pounds of tobacco; the wealth of a person was estimated in terms of annual pounds of tobacco.

The affairs of the government were also affected because the regulations were enacted regarding tobacco; to give it protection, and to preserve its worth in price, such that a majority of the civil and a few of the criminal procedures were influenced by it.
Tobacco became a principal source of revenue for the colonial administrations of Virginia and Maryland. The country was able to earn a duty of two shillings or approximately 20 cents, imposed on a single hogshead of the product traded abroad from the colonies generated about 3,000 pounds in 1680 and about 6000 pounds between 1758 and 1762. The income earned by Maryland from tobacco was fairly constant at 2,500 pounds every year beginning 1700.
As the populations of tobacco colonies increased, so did the production of tobacco. As the production of the staple crop increased, there was a drastic increase in the volume of exports to England. England’s importation of the product rose from 60,000 pounds in 1622 to more than 500,000 six years later, and to approximately 1,500,000 pounds come 1639. Towards the conclusion of the 17th century, the nation was receiving more than 20,000,000 pounds of tobacco in a single year.
There existed challenges relating to price-stability and quality following the increase in the production of tobacco. The prices of the product fell so drastically in 1660 that the settlers could barely survive following the flooding of the English markets with tobacco. In reaction to the situation, the farmers started mixing different organic substances, for instance, leaves and sweepings obtained from their houses, together with the tobacco, in the determination to compensate for the quality lost by declined prices. While the colonialists found an immediate solution to their cash flow complication, the practice highlighted the challenges of declining quality and excess production.
Importance of Timber
More workers found employment in industries related to timber activities following the richness of the forests in North America. The demand for more quantities of timber was increasing in the colonies as well as for exportation during the colonial periods. Some of the abundant species of trees in colonial America were pine, oak, maple, beech, birch, hickory, ash, as well as the cypress tree. The industries dealing with timber during the colonial period were relying on sawmills for the production of wooden planks meant for export to England, which were consequently turned into finished products. Industries specializing in the construction of ships required wood for the making of ships, barrels and for the construction of houses. Other products found in trees were the resin that was used in painting, tar that was used for the preservation of timber, pitch for proofing water, in addition to pitch and potash.Alcohol
The production and use of alcohol have had an imperative and distinguished role in American life and government.  During the colonial times, the creation and consumption of the product constituted a major part of everyday life – playing a dominant role in the government, the economy, and social existence. The completion of the Constitution was an occasion worth celebrating with drinks, and saloons acted as avenues for political conventions in the course of Jacksonian period. The creation, use and trading in alcohol in the colonies led to several controversies. Despite its extension celebration, others considered alcohol to have negative repercussions for the society.
Innovative colonists, for instance, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, brewed their alcoholic drinks using spruce, molasses, and Indian corn. Alcoholic drinks gained extensive acceptance and were consumed by people of different statuses. Alcohol was consumed mostly during social occasions, military dealings, and farming activities. Consumption was not just restricted to adults as children were similarly allowed to imbibe the drink. Dinners were normally accompanied by cider and beer. While drunken and disorderly behavior was highly discouraged and punishable by law, its consumption in moderation was however encouraged.
Even though a majority of colonists consumed beer in their native countries, their new homes presented diverse yields to decontaminate and ferment.  The apple growing in the North colonies and the pearl in the Southern territories presented the capability to create cider, peach brandy, and apple jack.  Hard liquor rapidly substituted pint and cider as the preferred colonial drink.  Not only was hard liquor inexpensive and less troublesome to transport, but syrup and sugar cane was obtainable in great quantity from the West Indies.  Liquor was similarly more resourceful than conventional ciders and pints.  Rum, for instance, could be mixed with different drinks, imbibed straight, and consumed irrespective of its temperature. The primary rum distilleries were established in at the start of the 1700s.   Rum purifying flourished, and rapidly New England was shipping 600,000 gallons each year, making it an essential economic activity for numerous other colonies. Back in the home country, settlers substituted pint with rum, drinking it at the bar, while having dinner, and for the provision of warmth at night during the summer.
As settlers relocated to the western borderlines, they rapidly preferred whiskey to rum for both individual intake and economical maintenance.  Although the whiskey requirements of ounce and corn were cultivated with ease in the border, rum components were problematic to access because of incompetent 18th-century transport.  Furthermore, colonists from Scotland and Ireland came with the skills and knowledge of refining whiskey on their way to the western borderline.   As whiskey became more popular, smaller purifiers soon came up in numerous border households.  Throughout the Revolutionary War, the quantity of molasses was blocked off to the colonial territories as a result of British barriers.  This only advanced the creation of Whiskey as purifiers made haste to fill the gap.  So as to realize everyday liquor consignments to the Continental Army, the military substituted its preferred liquor from rum to whiskey, only increasing demand and use for the border product.
In conclusion, the colonial periods witnessed the production of three important products: alcohol, wood, and tobacco. During the colonial times, the creation and consumption of the product constituted a major part of everyday life – playing a dominant role in the government, the economy, and social existence. More workers found employment in industries related to timber activities as a result of the richness of the forests in North America, most of which was also exported to other colonies. With the increase in the need for tobacco in England, and the requirement for additional supplies increased in the colonies, the colonial powers were in a position to fairly for products from Britain without the concern of the shortage of the products. Consequently, by stipulation, tobacco became the most important trade item in England. As the populations of tobacco colonies increased, so did the production of tobacco. As the production of the staple crop increased, there was a drastic increase in the volume of exports to England.
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