references here are important.. it seems reductive framing to judge using economic units without acknowledging the interdependancies of real human living conditions and contexts, around the globe; secondly, unified national currency in the USA was not exactly a settled thing, not long before that era.. so measuring has to have some wrinkles in it, no?
The US surpassed the UK in per capita income in the 1880s. However, American yeomen farmers, factory workers etc. were far better off than (non-UK) Europeans even in 1800, hence millions of Europeans immigrating. By 1913, the American was still earning almost twice as much as the German or French: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P...
Huh? During the preceding decades the US invented the skyscraper, was home to the world’s tallest building, invented the light bulb, air conditioning, the airplane, the supermarket, and cotton candy!
