How America grew rich.

• Author: Sanchez, Julian
• Position: Soundbite

The United States is rare among the great world powers in that its rise to dominance owes at least as much to its economic prowess as it does to its military might. That fact is deftly summarized in the title of John Steele Gordon's book An Empire of Wealth, in which the American Heritage columnist traces America's economic development from colonial times to the present. He spoke with Assistant Editor Julian Sanchez in October.

Q: What would you advise the next president to learn from economic history?

A: They should understand the story of Gibbons v. Ogden, when in 1824 the Supreme Court said that interstate commerce was exclusively the province of the federal government and gave us the first realty continental-sized common market in the world. The American economy prospered mightily therefrom. The fewer impediments there are to transactions, the better off everybody is. After Gibbons, for instance, the transportation system in this country exploded with the end of the New York monopoly on steamboats. Prices came down wonderfully.

Q: Why did the U.S., as opposed to the other countries in the New World, become such an economic powerhouse?

A: One of the biggest pieces of luck was that we were a child of England rather than a child of Spain. Argentina and others imported Spain's top-down control of the economy and every other aspect of life. England didn't actually found the American colonies. They were...