Das Bemühen der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika um die Gesundheit ihrer Seeleute: Teil II: Handelsflotte (1750-1860)

There are only very few "Marine Hospitals" existing during the Colonial Period in the English colonies in America. After the declaration of independence the federal government opened some bigger hospitals for seamen. But the decline of the merchant fleet however had the result that the "Marine Hospital Service" did not develop during the next 25 years. The winning of the west due to canals and the steamboats on the Mississippi brought — after a period of testing between 1825 and 1835 — the foundation of many new Marine Hospitals until 1855. So during the early capitalism the federal government tried to establish "one great system of national charity".