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The Thirteen Colonies
Focus Question:
How did the 13 colonies develop
economically?
Mercantilism
• An economic policy used by European nations
during 17th and 18th centuries.
• Acquire colonies and use them to benefit the
economy of the mother country.
Mercantilism
• Maintain a favorable balance of trade
Exports>imports=$$$
• Gold and silver
Navigation Acts, 1650-1673
These British laws established 3 rules for colonial trade.
1. Trade to and from colonies could be carried only on
English colonial-built ships, operated by English or
colonial crews.
2. All goods imported into colonies could pass only
through ports in England.
3. Specified or “enumerated” goods from colonies
could be exported to England only. Tobacco was 1st
enumerated good, list was expanded.
Impact of the Navigation Acts
Positive Effects
Negative Effects
• New England ship building prospered.
• Colonial manufacturing severely
limited.
• Chesapeake tobacco had monopoly in
England.
• English military forces protected
colonies from attacks by French or
Spanish.
• Chesapeake farmers received low
prices for crops.
• Colonists had to pay high prices for
manufactured goods from England.
The Navigation Acts had negative consequences for British-colonial relations.
• Resentment build up in the colonies against these laws.
• Colonists often defied the Navigation Acts.
Economic Differences
between North & South
NORTHERN COLONIES
Commercial economy
SOUTHERN COLONIES
Plantation economy
Small farms, several crops
Cash crops- tobacco, rice
Diverse economy- fishing,
lumber, ship building, etc.
Labor intensive
There were 2 sources of labor: indentured servants and slaves.
Indentured Servitude
• Before 1680s indentured servants provided
much of the labor.
• Indentured servants had their fare across
Atlantic paid in full by their master. A
contract was written that explained length
of service- typically 5 years.
• Head-right system- For each laborer
brought across Atlantic, master was
awarded 50 acres of land (VA and MD).
Indentured Servitude
• Upon completion of contract, servant received
“freedom dues” land, money, clothes, or food.
• Since best land was already claimed by wealthy land
owners, former indentured servants moved westward.
• Land was less productive and there was a constant
threat from Native Americans.
• Led to event called Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.
From Indentured Servants to Slaves
• Increases in wages in England reduced the supply
of immigrants (indentured servants) to colonies.
• Large plantation owners were disturbed by
Bacon’s Rebellion.
• Increased need for cheap, unskilled labor on
plantations.
• Colonists came to rely increasingly on slaves
brought to the New World from Africa.
The Institution of Slavery
• By 1750, half of Virginia’s population and
2/3rds of South Carolina’s population were
slaves.
Triangular Trade & Atlantic Slave Trade
Slave Laws
• As numbers of slaves
increased, colonists adopted
laws to ensure Africans would
be held in bondage for life and
their slave status would be
inherited by their children.
• Racism and slavery became an
integral part of American
colonial society.
Virginia Slave Codes
Whereas some doubts have arisen whether
children got by an Englishman upon a Negro
woman should be slave or free, Be it therefore
enacted and declared by this present grand
assembly, that all children borne in this country
shall be held bond or free only according to the
condition of the mother….
Why was this law especially significant after the
abolition of the slave trade?
How was indentured servitude
similar to slavery?
How was indentured servitude
different from slavery?