British Empire in North America

Regions in 18th 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 1770s

• 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 18th 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 and 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 18th 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 and

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 and 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