English Colonies (1607-1733)
England on the Eve of Empire: Social, economic, and political stability
under Queen Elizabeth (end of internal wars, defeat of the Spanish
Armada)
Driving socio-economic forces of Enclosure, population and labor
pressures, Primogeniture, and the emerging mercantilist model.
Types of Colonies
There were three types of British colonies: royal, proprietary, and selfgoverning.
Crown or Royal colonies were owned and administered directly by
the Crown.
Proprietary colonies were land grants from the British government.
Individuals were awarded tracts of land that they would govern.
These colonial governors reported directly to the Crown.
Charter or Self-governing colonies formed when the Crown
granted a charter to a joint-stock company and the company then set
up its own government. The Crown could revoke the colonial charter
at any time and convert a self-governing colony into a royal colony.
Middle Colonies (Restoration Colonies – established after Stuart Monarchy)
New York (1664, Proprietary later made Royal)
New Amsterdam – Dutch (1623), fell to English in 1664.
Becomes the most religious and ethnically diverse colony.
New Jersey (1664, Proprietary later made Royal)
Dutch (1655), then English (1664).
Pennsylvania (1681, Proprietary)
Quakers and William Penn.
Religious toleration, viewed by many as a social experiment.
Delaware (1704, Proprietary later made Royal)
Swedish (1638), then Dutch (1655), then English (1664).
Northern Colonies or New England Colonies
Puritans (Separatists) - broke away from the Church of England.
Arrived during Great Migration of the 1630s.
Puritan ideology: Calvinist - Predestination (the elect - Visible
Saints).
Conflict with Native peoples: Pequot War of 1630s, King Phillip’s
War during 1670s against the Wampanoag chief Metacomet
and other allied tribes. Result – end of organized native
resistance in NE.
Plymouth Bay Colony (1620, Self-Governing later made royal as Mass.)
Pilgrims (specific Puritan congregation).
Squatters (no charter).
Rhode Island (1636, Self-Governing later made Royal)
Roger Williams founded in 1636.
“That Sewer” - Religious freedom and toleration.
Connecticut River and New Haven (1635, 1638, Self-Governing, later made
Royal)
New Hampshire (1623, Self-Governing later made Royal)
Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628, Self-Governing later made Royal as
Mass.)
Bible Commonwealth.
“City upon the Hill” – a beacon to humanity.
Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams (banished).
Southern Colonies or Plantation Colonies (All Restoration Colonies except
Maryland and Virginia)
Maryland (1634, Proprietary)
Act of Toleration, Catholic Haven.
Carolinas (1663, Proprietary later made Royal)
Founded as foodbasket, harsh treatment of Indians.
Georgia (1733, Proprietary later made Royal)
Buffer state, Debtor colony.
Jamestown (1607, Charter/Joint Stock later made Royal as Virginia)
Encounter bad climate, disease, and starvation.
Tobacco saves the day but leads to land hunger and labor
Demand.
Conflict with Algonquian people: Powhatan defeated in 1614 and
Opechancanough in 1645.
Colonial Unity and Early Colonial Leagues
New England Confederation (1643-1684) – “The puritan club”
Colonial initiative (Mass. Bay, Plymouth, Conn., New Haven).
Aimed at greater unity and common defense. Sorry R.I.
Dominion of New England (1686-1689)
Royal initiative – abolished charter govts. and removed popularly
elected officials.
Edmund Andros – Royal governor of Dominion.
Imposed Anglican Church on Puritans.
Stricter enforcement of Navigation Laws.
Glorious Revolution, (1688) leads to collapse of the Dominion.