Convergence and Conflict
I.
A Commercial Empire
A. Mercantilism
1. National self-sufficiency
2. The purpose of colonies
3. Navigation Acts
a. Restrictions
1) English or colonial ships only
2) Enumerated goods
3) Foreign goods through English ports first
b. Subsidies
1) Encouraging colonial growth
2) Barring foreign competition
B. Colonial Exports
1. Sugar
a. West Indies planters and English merchants
b. The sugar interest in Parliament
2. Tobacco
a. Chesapeake boom and bust
3. Rice and Indigo
a. South Carolina demands its own privileges
4. Wheat and naval stores
a. Mid-Atlantic feeds Europe
b. English vessels maintained
5. Shipbuilding and the carrying trade
a. New England finds its niche in the colonial and transAtlantic economy
b. Slavery’s role
c. Triangular trade
C. A Closer Look at the Books
1. Colonies purchased 90% of England’s manufactured goods
2. England purchased 50% of its colonies raw goods
a. The rest were re-exported to other European nations
3. British merchants extended liberal credit to colonial merchants
and planters
a. The colonial elite preferred English luxuries to homemade
goods
D. Looking More English: Converging
1. Urban growth
a. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, “Charlestown”, Baltimore
2. The look of the cites
a. Inns, taverns, housing, theatres, public buildings, schools,
libraries, busy docks
b. Cosmopolitan
II.
c. Observable disparity of wealth
Colonial Living: Colonial Thought
A. Looking the Part; Living the Part
1. The colonial elite aspired to live as the English gentry
2. Homes were designed and furnished after English models
3. Most colonial settlers had little use, money, or time for such
pursuits
a. The one-to-two room dwelling reflected the life of the
common colonist
B. Thinking the Part
1. Genteel manners
2. Genteel entertainment
3. Exploring European intellectual ideas
a. Literacy rates were high in comparison with England
b. Newspapers, journals, almanacs, books, and libraries
C. The Enlightenment
1. Natural laws
2. Human reason and rational thought
3. Improving the human condition
4. Challenging divine intervention and the mystery of God’s will
5. Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke, and Benjamin Franklin
6. Elites embraced it, but the masses relied on faith
D. The Great Awakening
1. Christianity was paramount throughout the English colonies
a. New England Congregationalists
1) The Halfway Covenant
2) Liberty of Conscience for all Protestants
b. Southern Anglicans
1) The Church of England was prominent among the
elite
c. The Backcountry was home to many dissenting religious
groups
d. The Middle Colonies followed Penn’s model of religious
toleration for all Christian denominations
2. Religious diversity in the colonies did not mirror England
3. A revivalist movement swept across the Atlantic in the 1730s
that brought the colonies and the mother country closer
4. Emotional fervor drew the masses to services that did not reflect
the social order
a. George Whitefield
b. Jonathan Edwards
c. The democratizing effect of Christian religion
5. New Lights v. Old Lights
6. Revivalists promoted religious democracy
III.
The Politics of Empire
A. Political Heritage
1. Royal subjects, one and all
2. English law and customs
3. Parliament and the Assemblies
B. Tightening Control
1. Colonists governed themselves
2. King James II envisioned a tightly controlled empire
3. Colonies reorganized based upon the Spanish model
a. Dominion of New England
b. Sir Edmund Andros
4. English on both sides of the Atlantic reject James’s overt
Catholicism and his desire for centralized control
5. Glorious Revolution (1688)
a. Andros overthrown
C. Constitutional Monarchy
1. English Bill of Rights (1689)
2. Parliament elevated to equal partner
3. Colonial Assemblies rejoice; share Parliament’s sentiment
a. Parliament did not recognize the Assemblies as equal
partners
4. Salutary neglect
D. Similar Structures; Divergent Practices
1. Politics based upon social organization
2. Political institutions represented the hierarchical structure of
society
a. King, aristocracy, common people
3. Property qualifications equaled political rights on both sides of
the ocean
a. Land ownership in the colonies expanded political
participation and shaped Colonists’ thoughts about
representation
4. Virtual representation v. actual representation
a. Responsiveness of representatives
E. Governors
1. Representatives of the Crown and English proprietors
2. Extensive powers—in theory
3. Assemblies curbed executive power with the power of the purse
IV. The Struggle for Empire
A. England’s Expanding Empire
1. population growth pushed English colonists into the backcountry
2. immigration complemented the natural increase
a. 200K to 1.5 million (1700-1760)
3. backcountry living
a. subsistence economy
b. underrepresented
c. Indian tensions
4. English expansion threatened Spanish claims in the South and West
and French claims in the Mississippi Valley
B. Imperial Conflict
1. Four Wars
a. King William’s War: balance of power maintained between
England and France
b. Queen Anne’s War: Britain acquired Nova Scotia
c. King George’s War: Brits start to move into the Ohio Valley
d. French and Indian War: Brits acquire all of Canada, all
French territory east of the Mississippi, and Spanish Florida
2. European wars spilled into the colonies, involving European settlers
and their Native American allies
3. England financed their wars by borrowing from joint-stock
corporations
a. England paid interest on the loans by raising taxes
b. the national economy depended upon military success
c. a funded debt was established, taxes were raised, and protests
ensued
d. “Real Whig” ideology feared the expansion of state power
1. higher taxes
2. standing armies
3. larger bureaucracy
4. The French and Indian War
a. Albany Plan of Union
b. Tensions between British colonists and British officers
surfaced
c. Britain attempted to Europeanize the war
d. Colonists were treated as inferiors despite their knowledge of
the enemy and their financing of the effort
e. William Pitt became England’s chief war minister in 1757
f. Colonists responded favorably to Pitt’s policies and support
g. Together the colonists and British regulars defeated their
French enemies and their allies, and colonial morale soared