Did the idea of “making money” originate in the United States? I am currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and I came across an interesting paragraph related to Economics and American History.


  If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose—because it contains all the others—the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity—to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.


Is this a true piece of history? Did we create the idea of "making money"?
No, the idea of wealth as something to be created did not originate in the United States.  It was part of the mercantilist approach to national economic policy that was widely adopted in Europe in the 16th to 18th centuries.

Mercantilism involved a range of policies, many of which were designed to increase the wealth of one country at the expense of others and probably reduced wealth overall, eg restrictions on international trade, and warfare to gain control over sources of goods.  However, it also involved policies that were not at the expense of other countries, including promoting industry via research or subsidies, maximising the use of domestic resources, and (see under France in the link above) decreasing internal barriers to trade, reducing internal tariffs, and improving infrastructure.