American businessmen in the late 18th and 19th centuries were very interested in finding markets all over the world for their goods and actively pursuing opportunities for foreign trade. The young nation needed to earn money to pay back war debts and to develop its own institutions, infrastructure, and economy. Remember, too, that England had always been the Americans' biggest trading partner, but after the revolution this relationship was seriously damaged. The United States had to find new trading partners in a global economy gripped by European mercantilism.