Interdependence in the Colonies

Chapter 4: Section 1

Colonial Trade• Trade became a big part of life in the colonies.

– New England at the center of shipping trade• Colonial merchant ships followed many different trading routes.

– Some directly to England and back– Others followed routes that became known as the triangular

trade• Routes formed a triangle• Leg 1: sugar & molasses from West Indies to New England

colonies. New England made molasses into rum.• Leg 2: rum and other goods shipped to West Africa and

traded for enslaved Africans.• Leg 3: enslaved Africans taken to West Indies where they

were sold to planters. Profit was used to buy more molasses, and the process started over.

https://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/741c97c4-ad0d-4cda-afc5-c32e00c786ce

Triangular Trade

What was the importance of the Triangular Trade to the Colonies?

The Middle Passage

• This was the inhumane part of the triangular trade, shipping enslaved Africans to the West Indies.

The Middle Passage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znwRJ5K85XI

New England’s Economy

• Aside from the horrors of the Middle Passage, with its trade, shipbuilding, and fishing, New England’s economy flourished.– Population grew and towns and cities developed.

• Trouble was brewing in England and in the colonies during the 1600s.

• England’s monarchy restored with Charles II, but many not satisfied with him.

• James II, Charles’s successor, attempted to take back the powers Parliament had won during the English Civil War.– He also tried to tighten royal control over

the colonies.

English Colonial Rule

The Glorious Revolution

•In 1688, Parliament took action. It forced out King James and placed his daughter, Mary and her husband William of Orange on the throne of England.

•This change, which showed the power of elected representatives over the monarch became known as the Glorious Revolution.

English Bill of Rights• In 1689, King William

and Queen Mary signed this document which guaranteed certain basic rights to all citizens.

• It later inspired the people who created the American Bill of Rights.

•https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/7C97BA9F-FE1A-416F-80D3-CB9426573549

English

Bill of

Rights

Mercantilism• England viewed its North American colonies as

an economic resource.– The colony provided England with raw materials.– England manufacturers used these materials to

produce finished goods, which they sold to the colonists.

– This process followed a theory known as mercantilism.

• States that as a nation’s trade grows, its gold reserves increase, and the nation becomes more powerful.

• To make money from trade, England had to export more goods than it imported.

Navigation Acts

• To make certain that only England benefited from trade with the colonies, Parliament passed a series of laws between 1651-1673.

• Directed the flow of goods between England and the colonies.

• Colonial merchants who had goods to send to England could not use foreign ships– even if those ships offered cheaper rates.

• Also prevented colonists from sending certain products, such as sugar or tobacco, outside of England’s empire.

• Some colonists ignored these laws and began smuggling, or trading illegally with other nations.

English Ship

cotton

iron

lumber

furniture

tools

textiles

I’m bloody filthy rich!

Navigation Acts (1660's)

Ex.) sugar, tobacco, indigo1) Most products could be sold only to England.

2) All products going to the colonies had to first go through England where the products were taxed.

spices

tea

spices

tea

Mercantilism – An economic system based on the idea that a nation could increase its wealth by importing raw materials from, and export finished goods to, its colonies.

3) All ships used in trade had to be built in either England or the colonies.

• There was an increase in smuggling in the colonies.

Effects of the Navigation

Acts

• Colonists became angry when England began to enforce the Navigation Acts.

Colonial Government

•The Magna Carte of 1215 signed by King John established the principle of limited government, in which the power of the king, or government, was limited.

•The Magna Carte provided for protection against unjust punishment and against the loss of life, liberty, or property.

•As the colonies grew, they relied more and more on their own governments to make local laws.

•By the 1760s, there were three types of colonies in America: charter colonies, proprietary colonies, and royal colonies.

Charter Colonies

• Connecticut and Rhode Island.

• Were established by settlers who had been given a charter, or a grant of rights and privileges.

• Elected their own governors and members of legislature.

• Great Britain had the right to approve the governor, but could not veto the acts of legislature.

• Were ruled by proprietors.• They were individuals or groups to who Britain

had granted land. • Proprietors were free to rule as they wished.• They appointed the governor and members of the

upper house of the legislature, while colonists elected the lower house.

• Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania

Proprietary Colonies

Royal Colonies• Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New

Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

• Britain directly ruled these colonies.• The king appointed a governor and a council,

known as the upper house. The colonists elected an assembly, called the lower house.

• The governor and the upper house followed whatever the Britain leaders told them to do; this created conflict with the colonists in the assembly.

Voting Rights• Colonial legislatures gave only some people a

voice in government.

– Only white men who owned property had the right to vote.

– Most women, indentured servants, landless, poor, and African Americans could not vote.

• Despite the limits, a higher proportion of people were involved in government in the colonies than anywhere in the European World.

The Great Awakening• Is the name for the most powerful religious

revival that swept over the colonies throughout the 1720s.

• Christian ministers preached throughout the colonies, drawing huge crowds.

• The Great Awakening had a lasting effect on the way in which the colonists viewed themselves, their relationships with each other, and their faith.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKVjmmIXAhg

Enlightenment Period• Began in Europe and spread the idea

that knowledge, reason, and science could improve society.

• In the colonies, this period peaked interest in science.

• Colonists observed nature, staged experiments, and published their findings.– Benjamin Franklin was the best known

American Scientist.

The Enlightenment Video

https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/49DF06EF-98FA-491E-BEC6-

5961693B43DA

Benjamin Franklin

1706 1790

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8HvE3Z-ZEo

Benjamin Franklin’s

Contributions

• At age 24, he published his Poor Richard’s Almanac, a calendar full of advice, philosophy and wise sayings like: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

• He invented the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, and the Franklin stove for heating.

• He served as a statesman and a patriot. He helped guide the colonies toward independence.

Freedom of the Press• In 1735, John Peter Zenger of New York

Weekly Journal faced charges of libel for printing a critical report about the royal governor of New York.

• Andrew Hamilton argued that free speech was a basic right of English people and defended Zenger.

• The jury found him not guilty.

• This case attracted little attention during this time, but today it is regarded as an important step in the development of a free press in America.