Later British Colonization

Mercantilism

• An economic doctrine that flourished in Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Mercantilists held that a nation's wealth consisted primarily in the amount of gold and silver in its treasury. Accordingly, mercantilist governments imposed extensive restrictions on their economies to ensure a surplus of exports over imports

Mercantilism

• The colony exist for the good of the mother country

• American colonies were to produce raw material for the manufacturers in England to produce manufactured goods that would be sold elsewhere and the colonies

Navigation Acts

• All trade had to be conducted using English shipping

• European exports had to pass through England before going to the colonies

• Colonist broke these laws and flouted smuggling

“Salutary (Healthy) Neglect”

• Royal Government relaxes supervision of internal colonial affairs

• The government concerned only about the defense and trade

• Local government grows in importance

Yeoman Society

• All members of a township were given plots of land according to social hierarchy.

• All landowners who were members of the Church had the vote

• Public education for the young men and women

• Harvard University 1636

Government

• Governances set up in charters

• Governor elected by property holding men

• Two House legislation elected by property holding men

• Local – New England Town Meetings

• Home rule evolving.

New England Economy

• Agriculture – small farms – dominant occupation

• Soil/climate limiting

• Cash crops sold internally – not for export

• Cottage industries (textiles) part of the economy

New England Economy

• Fishing – catch sold primarily in West Indies

• Wood products – for exports and domestic use

• Shipping and shipbuilding

New England Economy

• Some industry (Saugus Iron Works)

• A strong Merchant class (Boston, Hartford)

• New England’s economy not compatible to mercantilist policies

New England’s Impact on the American Identity

• The Puritan Impact– America as an ideal (‘city upon a hill”)– Education – colleges (Harvard 1636); public

education laws– Puritan work ethic– Intolerance/witch trials

The Salem Witch Trails

• With religion came the offshoots of evil lurking around

• Indian in the forest• Salem mass hysteria

175 arrest 20 executions

• Most women were property owners.

New England and the Indians

• Disease – Maine (90% of the native population dies between 1616 -1619)

• Natives described and treated as savages

• Treaties made and broken

• Pequot War 1637 – English expansion leads to war

The Chesapeake Region

• Jamestown 1607– London Company– Economic gain– Salvation from tobacco– Anglican church

Maryland, 1632

• A proprietary colony

• Owner, Lord Baltimore who would sell land for a profit

• Haven for Roman Catholics

Political Development

• Virginia – Royal Colony

• Maryland – proprietary

• Governors appointed

• Two House legislators voted by property holders (men)

• Appointed Justices of the Peace ran local affairs

• Religious tolerance in Maryland

Bacon’s Rebellion• Lower end farmers wanted

better land• End corruption• War with Natives• Burnt Jamestown• Results in more power for

yeoman farmers• Most planters switch to

Black labor not indentured servitude.

Chesapeake Economy

• Plantations dominant over small farms

• Cash Crops for exports

• Tobacco #1

• Economy compatible with mercantilist policies

• Indentured Servitude

• Slavery

The Middle Colonies

• New York, New Jersey, Delaware taken from the Dutch in 1664 (Royal)

• Pennsylvania Proprietary colony (land grant to William Penn)

William Penn and Pennsylvania

• Quakers who believed that God gave everybody and inner light of grace that opened salvation for all people.

• Pennsylvania constitution guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians

• All male property owners could vote and hold office

• Sold land at a cheap price

Political Structure

• Governors appointed by King or Proprietor

• Two house legislature elected by property holders (men)

• Local government - county officials elected

• Religious tolerance

Middle Colonies Economy

• Agriculture dominant occupation– Small farms and commercial farms– Produce crops (e.g., wheat, corn) for home

consumption and export– Modest in scope– Breadbasket Colonies

Middle Colonies Economy

• Small-scale industrial enterprises

• Vibrant merchant class dominate activities in urban areas such as New York and Philadelphia

• Increasingly not compatible with mercantilist policies.

The Middle Colonies and the Indians

• Treaties made and broken

• However, Quakers deal fairly with the Indians – this fails when non- Quakers immigrate to Pennsylvania

• Many conflicts in western Pennsylvania between Scotch-Irish and natives

The Southern Colonies

• Restoration Colonies (Carolinas – 1665)

• Charles II gave land away in North America to pay off his debts

• The Proprietors hoped to set up an English manorial society with large land holdings with owned by the nobility.

• The Carolinas were poorly governed with vast class problems.

Georgia 1732

• Proprietary, later Royal

• Set up as a buffer between the Carolinas and Spanish Florida

• James Oglethorpe envisioned a debtors colony

• Tolerant of all Christians except Catholic

• Divided on the slavery issue

Southern Economy

• Plantations dominant over small farms

• Cash Crops for exports

• Rice and Indigo Carolina’s

• Georgia - cotton

• Economy compatible with mercantilist policies

Overall Economy

• Population growth (1,200,000 in 1750)– Creates markets within colonies– Stimulates urban growth– Population growth in North due to natural

expansion and immigration– Southern population growth in South from

slave importation

Overall Economy

• Colonial Commerce

– Coastal trade (variety of product produced within the colonies)

– Trade with West Indies (rum, grains, fish)

– Trade with England (raw materials in exchange for manufactured goods)

– Slave trade

Labor Sources

• Impact of easily available lands (limits the number of immigrants in the labor forces and makes hiring immigrants difficult in labor intensive jobs such as rice and sugar plantations)

• Led to indenture servitude and slavery (legal in all colonies by 1700)