A sailing ship that becomes stalled with its bow to the wind is said to be in irons. In this groundbreaking examination of America's Revolutionary War economy, the phrase is an apt metaphor for the inability of that economy to free itself from the constraints of Britain's navy. Richard Buel Jr. here investigates for the first time the influence of Britain's navy on the American revolutionary economy, particularly its agricultural sector, and the damage that Britain inflicted by seizing major colonial centers and denying Americans access to overseas markets. Drawing on documents newly culled...