British Empire in North America
Regions in 18 th Century North America
Similarities among all 13 colonies • • Mostly English Rights of Englishmen Self-government Religious toleration Educational opportunity (most NE; least South) Economic & social opportunity Increasingly unique identity
Differences among colonial regions • New England: MA, CT, RI, NH – Puritans dominated, less religious tolerance, more industry, less farm land • Middle Colonies: NY, NJ, PA, DL – ethnically diverse, religious tolerance, Quakers, farming, lumbering, ship building, shipping, trade, fur trapping • Southern Colonies: MD, VA, NC, SC, GA – plantation economy, aristocratic, slavery, cash crops, scattered population, some religious toleration
Life in the Colonies
New England • 250, 000 in 1700, to 2. 5 million in 1770 s • Most lived in town>worked on outskirts • town meetings • (rocky soil): subsistence farming
Middle Colonies • • Fertile soil, bigger harvests, wheat & grain Industries – Home based crafts: carpentry, silversmith, flour making – • Iron works> by 1760 Penn. Produce more iron than England Cultural Diversity – German Immigrants: 100, 000 came to Pennsylvania – Scots-Irish>Protestant – Less loyal to British Crown
Southern Colonies • Rich soil, warm climate • Tobacco, Rice, Indigo • Tidewater – Plantations on rivers>access to ships – Each plantation self-contained community • Slave cabins, chapel, workshops • Backcountry – Piedmont/Appalachian Mts. – Independent small farmers – Lacked wealth and influence
Ethnic Groups in 18 th c. British N. America
Family Roles • Family foundation of colonial society • Farm both work & home • Men heads of family – Arranged apprenticeships for sons • Married women had few rights • Widows could be teachers, nurses, and seamtresses • Child mortality rates high>large families
Education • Most colonist valued education – Kids often taught at home • Puritans passes a public education law in N. E. – Literacy rate of New England was about 70% • Harvard 1636 • William and Mary 1693
Colonial Governments • 3 types of govt. – Charter, Proprietary, and Royal Colonies – some degree of intervention by England colonial assemblies – Corrupt Governors
Mercantilism • NATION’S EXISTANCE DEPENDS ON POWER • TO GAIN POWER NATION MUST INCREASE ITS WEALTH • TO GAIN WEALTH A NATION MUST HAVE COLONIES • COLONIES PROVIDE NATION WITH SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS • & SERVE AS MARKET FOR MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS • COLONIES ONLY EXISTED TO BENEFIT THE MOTHER COUNTRY
English Mercantilism • Gold: build up gold reserves. • Manufacturing: use colonial raw material • Trade: export more than import – Limit competition from other countries. • Navy: build strong navy to protect trade. • Protectionism: high import duties.
THE NAVIGATION ACTS • Navigation Act of 1660: – reserved the entire trade of the colonies to English ships and required the captain and 3/4 of his crew be English – Certain “enumerated articles”—sugar, tobacco, cotton, ginger, and dyes—could not be moved outside the empire • 1663: required all European products bound for colonies had to go through England • Early 18 th century enumerated items expanded to include rice, molasses, naval stores, furs, and copper
THE RELATIONSHIP • Essentially symbiotic relation: – Crown prohibited growing of tobacco in England paid bounties to colonial producers of indigo and naval stores • Restrictions put on colonies: – 1699 Wool Act prohibited export of colonial woolen cloth – 1732 similar act regarding hats – 1750 Iron Act outlawed construction of new rolling and slitting mills in America (though Parliament eliminated duties on colonial pig and bar iron entering England)
PROS & CONS TO NAVIGATION ACTS • BENEFITS – Encouraged shipbuilding esp. in N. E. – English navy protected American ships – Guaranteed market for American products-no need to compete • DRAWBACKS – Felt like children; being told what to buy and from whom – Goods from Europe were more expensive because they had to shipped through England were taxed
Triangular Trade
Two issues to keep in mind: 1. When conflict of interest, Mother Country always won. 2. Mercantilism blunted by inefficiency & salutary neglect • • • Mercantilism hurt some colonists (tobacco growers) but helped others (indigo) Mercantilism was profitable for England 33% British trade with the colonies
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