90 percent
Congressional grants provided the significant of the amount
required for the interstate highway system. This system has profoundly impacted
the American economy and contributed significantly to improved economic productivity.
The system encouraged development by making land less expensive and available
to the nation's transportation system.
The economic value of having colonies in the first place was for 3 main reasons
1) attain cheap labour from the native peoples
2) acquire cheap raw materials to bring to the homeland (Europe)
3) open up new markets to trade with
the first two were vital in Britains industrial revolution. Without cheap raw materials, and cheap labourers, the factories and refineries in Britain would have costed far more to maintain and keep supplied. This, in turn, would have slowed down production considerably. There is no doubt in my mind that the industrial revolution would still have taken place in Britain with or without the colonies, but WITH the colonies the process was sped up considerably.
Overall, cheap labour and raw materials attained through Britains colonial interests sped up the industrialisation of the UK.
In World History, a declaration of independence does exactly that: declare a country's independence from a mother country. For example, the United States declared independence from England, and Comoros declared independence from France.
