Chapter 2- Beginnings of English America 1607-1660 Lecture Notes
Colonial Period
 1607-1775
 From Settlement of Jamestown to start of the revolution
 Subdivided into two categories
 17th century and 18th century (1600 and 1700-1775)
British North America
 Southern Colonies
o GA, SC, NC
o Was an area of economic exploitation, especially
involving agriculture
 95% of southerners were farmers
o Favorable climate
 Lots of rain, mild rainfall, subtropical climate
o Many inland rivers
 helped move cargo to the coast
o Lots of available land
o Great imbalance in the sex ratio
 Males could out number females up to 3:1
 Generally led to a level of political instability and
violence not seen in other colonies
o Increased number of African slaves
o Whites were of either scotch or of Scottish-Irish
descent
o Not a lot of urban development due to agriculture
 Georgia
o Last of the original 13 colonies to be established
o Founded 1732
o Started originally as a utopian colony
o Originally slavery was prohibited
o Established as a military buffer zone between South
Carolina and Florida (Spain)
o Many original settlers were S.C. migrants looking for
more land
o Georgia Pine was the main product of capital
 Initially tried silk and wine
 South Carolina
o Founded 1670
o Established by British plantation owners from
Barbados
o Rice was the main product of capital
 Initially tried fur and cattle
The Middle Colonies a.k.a. The Chesapeake
 VA, MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY
 Considerably more ethnic diversity than the south
o Dutch, Swedes, Germans, English, French, Jew,
Muslim, etc.
 Both slave and free labor
 MD was the only English colony establish originally by
Catholics
o 1634 as a catholic utopia
 Most of the middle colonies were proprietary colonies
o Colonies actually given to an individual by British
Monarchy
o Most came from the Dutch
o 1660-1672 British and Dutch fought many naval wars
 part of piece agreements was to hand over
chunks of territory to the British
o 1660 Charles II comes to throne (Restoration)
 restoration of British Monarchy
 Gave some colonies to individuals as political
payback
New England
 MA, Plymouth, RI, CT, New Haven
 Was the exception not the norm
 All colonies at one point pursued an official policy where only
families could settle there
o Wanted stability, political and social
 Overwhelmingly free labor not slave labor
o At time of revolution only 5% of slaves were in New
England
o Most people were fishers, small family farmers, or
overseas traders
 Pursued as an official policy that by law you settle in a
township or community
o No settling out in the woods by yourself
 Mostly ethnic English
o Not a lot of diversity
 The “New England Way”
o Unique blurring of boundaries between religion and
politics
o Normal in 17th century for mayors, governors, etc. to
be reverends
o Every township or village was required to have a
meeting house
 Usually in the middle of town
 Served as a primary school for local children,
religious house, political meetings, etc.
 Done deliberately to mix politics and
religion
o Most of the people belonged to the same congregation
 Community could push you out
 Large degree of social control
Plymouth
 Founded by the Pilgrims (tiny protestant sect) in 1620
 Eventually absorbed into MA in 1691
Massachusetts
 Established by the New England Co. (private corp) in 1628
Rhode Island
 Established in 1636 by religious dissenters escaping MA
Connecticut
 Established in 1637 also by religious dissenters escaping
MA
New Haven
 Eventually merged with CT
Compare/Contrast the Colonies with Britain
 Physical separation
o 3,000 miles of open ocean separated the colonies and
Britain
o Could take 3-5 weeks to cross, one way
o Created a psychological separation as well
o British were not breathing down our necks at all times
 Vast majority of immigrants to the colonies, were not a fair
sampling of English society
o Significant percentage of Lower class, working class,
down and out (especially in the 17th century)
o A lot of people with sore spots toward authority
 Brought a keener awareness of gov’t and
authority
o Significant number of Protestants
 Had a profound affect on our country
 Most colonies were founded on the wave of the
protestant reformation (1517-1580’s)
Common features of ALL the colonies
 A lot of religious diversity
o Different Protestant sects, Jews, Muslims, Catholics,
etc.
o Made it impossible to impose religious conformity
o By 1700 most colonies passed a law of religious
toleration
 Land
o In Europe most people did not own their land
o Land in Europe tended to be SMALL farms making it
tough to get ahead
o In Europe, in order to participate politically, you had to
own real estate
o In America not uncommon for 200-400 acre farms
 Gave you plenty of land to develop surplus,
which in turn could be sold leading to extra
income
o In relative comparison, the average person in America
moved up from that of Europe ($$$, politically, etc.)
o We got used to these freedoms
 Land transformed our way of thinking
 Written Constitutions
o Went by different names…charters, constitutions, etc.
o All of them were written in hard copy form
 Very amazing for that time period
 Most of the world was ruled by monarchies
without any written documents stating political
structures
 Were like contracts between the gov’t and the
people
 Parliamentary style gov'ts
o Governor- usually appointed by the crown
o Council- 10-30 usually appointed by governor
o Assembly- usually popularly elected
 Lack of centralized control
o All disasters handled at the local level
o REAL political power was at the local level
Rise of Colonial Assemblies
 Governor then Council then Assembly
o Fundamental structure of gov'ts in the colonies
o Governor appointed by British, Council appointed by
Gov
o Assembly was popularly elected
 By around 1700 the assemblies take on a whole new
character in the colonies
o Assemblies see themselves more and more as the
defenders of American interests against British
transgressions
o Become more proactive and assertive of this idea
 Became unofficial tradition that assemblies had ‘power of the
purse’
o Assemblies controlled the budgets
o “He who controls the gold makes the rules”
o Assemblies became very protective of this power
o Used this against the Gov and Council