A Brief History
of
Colonial America
Daniel Lazar
Lecture Objectives
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To compare and contrast the 13 colonies
To explore controversies within and among the colonies
To analyze the political, economic and social objectives of the colonies
To assess the various successes and failures in experiments with selfgovernment
To assess the role of European powers in the formation and the
governance of the colonies
To explore the role of religion in the colonies
To examine the extent to which the colonies were democratic
To examine the extent to which the colonies were independent and to
trace the evolution of their independence.
To assess the role of dissent and rebellion in the colonies
To determine the role of values such as liberty, equality, and fraternity
To analyze the role of Natives in Colonial America
To identify the role of various European, Native and Colonial leaders
To determine which colonies were more/less influential in the
development of a national identity
To foreshadow implications of colonial development on the United States
Models of Colonial Development
• Trading Company or Joint Stock Company Colony –
– With King's permission, a company forms with exclusive rights to
trade in a particular area or over a particular product.
– Company charters enabled owners to sell stock shares to
investors
• VA Company of London & MA Bay Co.
• NY and DE founded by Dutch W. India Co
• Covenant or Self-governing Colony - colonies created and
governed by the settlers
– RI, CT
• Proprietary Colony - One individual or group was given by the
crown the right to settle and govern a colony
– PA, MD
• Royal Colony - Crown control. For various reasons all English
colonies lost their independent status and became royal
colonies
Northern, Middle & Southern
Northern Colonies
• Massachusetts Bay
– later MA and ME
• Rhode Island
• New Hampshire
• Connecticut
Formation of MBC, 1629
• English Civil War (1642-1651) was a Push factor for
Puritans
– Short story: Parliamentarians vs. Royalists over taxes,
religion, and sovereignty
– Charles I dismissed Parliament in 1627 and did not
recall them for a decade.
– During the “Personal Rule” C2 revived “High
Anglicanism” and persecuted and taxed Puritans who
did not attend Anglican mass.
– C2 twice attacked Scotland (which had a Calvinist
Protestant Ref in 1600’s) to enforce Anglican policies.
– Charles I beheaded in 1649. His son Charles II was
exiled (later ruled 1660-85)
– King can no longer rule without Parliament
Formation of MBC, 1629
• MBC founded in 1629 by non-Separatist
Puritans out of fear for their faith and England's
future.
• The "Great Migration" (1630’s)
– Pilgrims came aboard the Mayflower in 1620
– Since they had a patent to settle in VA, it
wouldn’t be valid; they drafted the Mayflower
Compact while aboard, an agreement to,
“combine our selves
together into a civil
body politick.”
Formation of MBC, 1629
• John Winthrop - Governor of MBC
– Most distinguished MBC leaders
• Elected governor 12 times and set the
tone for religious mission
• Leadership helped MA to prosper
– Covenant Theology: Winthrop believed
Puritans had a covenant with God to
lead religious experiment in New World
• "We shall build a city upon a hill"
MBC Politics & Culture
 MBC became most influential colony
• Strong Economy: fur trading, fishing, shipbuilding,
farming
• Politics: Political discussion, voting, and governing open
to free adult male Puritans (40% of pop.)
– % of eligible officeholders > than in England
– Non-religious men and all women could not vote
– Townhall meetings emerged as a staple of
democracy
• Religion: Puritan churches grew into Congregational
Church
• Non-church members required to pay taxes for the
gov't-supported church.
MBC Politics & Culture
Function of government was to enforce God's
laws (part of covenant theology)
• Provincial gov't was not a democracy or a
theocracy.
– Congregational ministers had no formal
political authority
– Believed democracy was the "meanest and
worst" of all forms of government
– Distrusted non-Puritans
MBC Politics & Culture
 Church leadership
• Public interrogations of people claiming to have experienced
conversion.
• John Cotton devoted to defending gov'ts duty to enforce religious
rules but advocated a civil government.
• Clergymen not allowed to hold political office
– Congregation had right to hire and fire ministers and set salaries.
– In effect, a form of separation of church and state.
– MBC Puritans feared the "political" Anglican clergy in England
• Cambridge Platform (1648): Voluntary synod where Mass.,
Plymouth, Connecticut & New Haven met to work out a
congregational form of church gov’t in detail.
– Significance: Congregational church became more uniform
throughout New England.
MBC Politics & Culture
 Dissent in MBC
• Quakers, who believed in an inner light more so than
theology, defied authority of Puritan clergy and were
persecuted.
– Anne Hutchinson believed in antinomianism (rejected
socially established morality; faith alone Protestantism)
– She held prayer meetings at home to discuss John
Cotton’s sermons with other women; this was taboo for
non-clergy
– Brought to trial for heresy in 1638.
• She claimed direct revelation from God…more heresy.
• Banished from MBC; set out for Rhode Island, pregnant
• Eventually settled in NY where she and all but 1 of 14
kids killed by Indians
MBC Politics & Culture
 Dissent in MBC
• Roger Williams, minister from Salem
– Challenged legality of Plymouth and MBC charters because land
belonged to Indians and was not the king’s land to grant.
– Claimed colony took land from Indians w/o fair compensation
– “Liberty of conscience"
• Williams denied authority of civil gov to regulate religious behavior.
• In effect, challenged the basis of MBC government
• Stated that no man should be forced to go to church.
• Demanded "wall of separation" b/w church and
state
– Jefferson would later use this metaphor to disestablish religion
in VA which influenced "No Establishment" clause of the Const
– General Court banished him from MBC in 1635. He fled to RI;
sheltered by Indian friends.
– He purchased lands from Indians and founded the community of
Providence, accepting all settlers regardless of their beliefs.
MBC Politics & Culture
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Later challenges to Puritanism
– First generation Puritans began losing their religious
zeal as time went on.
– Large population influx dispersed Puritan population
onto outlying farms away from control of church and
neighbors.
– After the wave of dissent in the 1630s and 1640s (e.g.
Hutchinson and Williams) conversions decreased
dramatically.
– Children of non-converted members could not be
baptized.
– Conversions continued to decrease as 2nd
generation Puritans had trouble getting their
conversions authenticated by the church, thus
preventing their children from being baptized……
MBC Politics & Culture
• Half-Way Covenant est in 1662 to attract members
– provided partial church membership for the children
and grandchildren of church members.
– Those who accepted the Covenant could become
church members without claiming a spiritual
experience.
– These half-members could not vote in church forums
• Eventually, Puritan churches baptized almost anyone
– Distinction between the "elect" and other members of
society subsided.
– Strict religious purity was sacrificed for wider religious
participation…
MBC Politics & Culture
Salem Witch Trials, 1692
• Dissent begat widespread paranoia and unrest.
• Not uncommon for Europeans and Colonists at the time to believe
that the devil worked through witches
• First accusations began when young girls, after listening to voodoo
tales from a black servant, began behaving oddly.
• Witch Hunt: young female accusers were from the poor western part
of the community and accused the more prosperous people in the
eastern part.
• 19 hanged, 1 pressed to death, 2 dogs hanged
• Cotton Mather, prominent clergymen in MA, supported the witch
trials and thus weakening the prestige of the clergy
• Explanations include: religious discord, economic tensions,
misogyny, fear of Indian attacks
• Ended when ministers, led by Increase Mather, urged leniency
Rhode Island - 1636
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Founded on Rebellion - drew independentminded people. Most individualistic and
independent population
Egalitarian constitution - majority rule and
liberty of conscience
Progressive for its time: passed laws
abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for
debt, most capital punishment, and in 1652,
slavery of both blacks and whites
Provided simple manhood suffrage
Rhode Island - 1636
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Church & State
– Most religious groups welcome, some
restrictions on Catholicism & Judaism.
– Williams built Baptist church at Providence
(1st in Americas)
– No religious oaths required
– No compulsory Church attendance
– No taxes to support a state church
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Amalgamated into the Dominion of New
England in 1686, when James II attempted to
enforce royal authority over the autonomous
colonies
New Hampshire - 1623
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Named after the English county of Hampshire
In 1638 Exeter was founded by John Wheelwright. Settlers
signed the Exeter Compact , similar to Mayflower Compact
All the towns agreed to unite in 1639, but MA claimed the
territory. In 1641 an agreement was reached with MA to come
under its jurisdiction. Home rule of the towns was allowed.
Relationship between MA and NH was controversial and
tenuous:
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1679 the king separated them
–
1686 reunited (as part of the Dominion of New England)
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1691 re-divided
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1698 again under the jurisdiction of MA
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1741 New Hampshire returned to its royal provincial status
All the while, economically dependent on MA
Modern State motto: “Live Free or Die”
Connecticut - 1636
• Clergyman Thomas Hooker objected to hegemony of Gov Winthrop
and his Magistrates
• Hooker and others wanted more land than MBC was willing
grant.
• Led 100 settlers with 130 head of cattle from Cambridge to the
CT River, where they established Hartford
• 3 valley towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield est. CT
• 1643, New England Confederation: Connecticut, New Haven,
Plymouth, and MBC formed a league of friendship for defense and
advice – step toward the later union of states.
• Fundamental Orders drafted in 1639 (“The Constitution State”)
• First modern constitution in American history
• Established a democracy controlled by "substantial" citizens
• Gov based on consent of the people.
• Patterned MBC gov
Connecticut - 1636
• Like MBC, CT founded by Puritans who est. the
Congregational Church
• Tax revenues supported the local ministers
– Fined those who didn’t attend church
– Until 1708, the Congregational Church was the only
legal church in CT
• 1718, following a substantial gift from Elihu Yale…
• Great Awakening sent shock waves through CT in mid
18th C., ripping the Congregational Church apart.
– Those who embraced Awakening = New Lights
– Those opposed = Old Lights
– Uninspired by Old Light services, New Lights
petitioned to form separate societies and churches
Connecticut - 1636
Pequot War (1634-1638)
• Pequots aimed to expand along CT River to control Euro
fur trade.
• Pequots allied with Dutch traders; Mohegan with English
• Pequots vs. MBC + Plymouth colonies + Narragansett +
Mohegan
• Mystic Massacre – 1637, John Mason encircled and
torched 600-700 Pequot women and children. “Thus did
the Lord judge among the Heathen, filling [Mystic] with
dead Bodies." (Mason)
• End of Pequots
• Inspired, for common protection, The New England
Confederation (1643)
Middle Colonies
• New York
– later NY & VT
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Delaware
• New Netherland Colony: the
settled areas are now part of
NY, NJ, DE & CT
• Each colony developed
religiously, ethnically, and
politically heterogeneous
population
New Netherland
• Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage for a NW
Passage
• Multicultural haven for religious and
intellectual refugees
• Religious freedom and free trade
(including a stock market)
• Initially a private venture to exploit fur
trade, NN was slowly settled over
decades.
• Early conflicts with Natives
• Mismanagement by the Dutch West
India Co.
New York - 1664
• England captured NN from the Dutch in 1667.
– The English sent Navy to seize the colony; Dutch
hardly resisted during the Second Anglo-Dutch War
– …Their last director-general, Peter Stuyvesant, urged
them to fight to the end.
• Treaty of Breda in 1667. Renamed for James, Duke of
York, brother of Charles II
– Fun/sad fact: The Dutch got Suriname
• 1688 the province was made of part of the Dominion of
New England.
– Religious toleration
– Locally governed. NY remained diverse, loosely
collected, independent communities.
New York - 1664
• 1683, New York Chapter of Liberties: Granted freedom
of religion to all Christians and gave all landholders right
to vote. Created to attract more settlers to NY
– Governor Andros said "permit all persons of what
religion soever, quietly to inhabit within the precincts
of your jurisdiction"
– Colonial Assembly created - gave New Yorkers more
rights than any other colony including the protection
from taxation without representation.
• Economic roots in fur trade. Became THE colonial port.
– Largest importer of slaves
– Supply port for pirates
– NY supplied British fleet during wars with France
New Jersey - 1665
• Part of Duke of York’s charter. NJ was called
"Albania“
• Lord Berkeley of Stratton, close friend of the
Duke, was also given a part of NJ. Became East
and West Jersey. Border was not demarcated
and often disputed.
• In 1665, NJ was split off from NY to become a
separate province, but the final border was not
finalized until 1765
– New York–New Jersey Line War a series of
border skirmishes and raids from 1701-1765
New Jersey - 1665
• Offered religious freedom to attract
settlers. Quakers came.
• 1746, College of NJ (now Princeton) was
founded in Elizabethtown by a group of
Great Awakening "New Lighters"
• 1766, Queens College (now Rutgers) was
founded in New Brunswick by Dutch
Reformed ministers with a Royal Charter
from George III
Pennsylvania - 1681
• William Penn received the colony as payment in lieu of
a £16,000 debt that the Crown owed his father, naval
hero William Penn.
• Establishment of the colony helped solve the problem of
the growing Society of Friends or "Quaker" movement
in England which embarrassed Anglican Church
• Advertised in British Isles, Holland, and Germany
– Quakers from the Rhineland, Ireland, and England.
– German Protestant groups were called the
Pennsylvania Dutch ("Deutschland")
– Scot-Irish Presbyterians arrived in the 1700s as
indentured servants.
Pennsylvania - 1681
Quaker Radicalism
• Antinomian. No need for learned ministry. One man’s
interpretation of scripture was as valid as the next guy’s.
A liberating belief, especially for lower-class English.
• Equality - Female ministers. Cooperated with natives.
Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 was first
emancipation statute in the colonies. Prison reform.
“Thee” and “Thou” instead of Dr. or Mr. or Lord.
• Simplicity - wore darker colors and would not have their
portraits painted
• Peace - Quakers refused military service as pacifists and
when they controlled the legislature, they refused to
appropriate money to fight the Natives
Pennsylvania - 1681
• By 1750’s, Quakers lost their numerical edge,
abandoned the government, and left for the countryside
to live by their credo
• German refugees prospered on the fertile soil
– Mennonites - founded Germantown in 1683
– Northkill Amish Settlement, est. 1740, 1st Amish
settlement in Americas.
• 3rd richest colony in the New World
• Philadelphia was arguably America's most important city.
Delaware - 1701
• Land that became DE changed hands many times.
Consequently, DE became a heterogeneous society.
– Swedes, Finns, Dutch, French, and some English
• William Penn was granted right to rule by Crown in 1681
– Hard time governing diverse pop.
– Attempted to merge the governments of PA and the
lower counties of DE. Representatives clashed.
– 1701 Penn agreed on two separate assemblies.
Delawareans in New Castle and Pennsylvanians in
Philadelphia.
• The Charter of 1701 permitted Delaware a separate
government from Pennsylvania
Southern Colonies
• Maryland
• Virginia
– later VA, KY & WV
• North Carolina
– later NC & TN
• South Carolina
• Georgia
Virginia - 1624
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King James Jamestown  1607 
Christopher Newport  John Smith 
Disaster.
• 90% of Natives wiped out by mid-Century
• John Rolfe, who married Chief Powhatan’s
daughter Pocahantas, experimented with
tobacco crop, creating a milder version that
appealed to Europeans.
– Reliance on the “stinking weed”
Virginia - 1624
Under Sir Edwin Sandys from 1619-1629, VA Co. made
substantial reforms, including creating the House of
Burgesses in 1619
• 1st mini parliament in colonies.
– Created as an incentive to attract settlers to the VA
"Death Trap"
– Representative self-government
– Most representatives were substantial property
owners
• Sandys also devised the headright system
– 50-acre plot settlers and each servant or family
member they brought over
– Created a rise in indentured servitude - most came
over as teenage boys to work under contract (few
outlived their 4-7 yr. contract).
Virginia - 1624
• King Charles I was embarrassed by Jamestown,
and made the charter Royal, appointing the
governor and council himself.
– Though he dissolved the House of Burgesses,
they continued to meet and in 1639 the body
was officially recognized.
• Daily life in VA was centered on working one’s
own land. People were isolated and there were
no population centers besides Jamestown.
Foreshadowing…
Virginia - 1624
Bacon’s Rebellion
• In 1674 Nathaniel Bacon led a group of
disgruntled planters in uprising against VA
Gov, Sir William Berkeley
• Bacon and others angry that Berkeley failed to
quell Indian attacks…and because Berkeley
was corrupt, in part because he reserved fur
trading for his cronies
• Black slaves and white servants, who had their
own desires for reform, joined Bacon. A motely
crew of malcontents!
• Burned Jamestown to the ground.
Virginia - 1624
Bacon’s Rebellion
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Disorganized and ineffective.
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When Bacon died in 1676, the rebellion dispersed. 23 rebels
hanged by Berkeley. Berkeley later relieved by Charles II.
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Significance of Bacon's Rebellion:
– Planters saw white indentured servants as unwieldy,
unpredictable, and disloyal…increased importation of black
slaves while reducing number of indentured servants.
– Planter elite increasingly played the "race card" by encouraging
poor whites to discriminate against blacks; planters feared
blacks and poor whites could ally again
– "The fear of civil war among whites frightened Virginia’s ruling
elite, who took steps to consolidate power and improve their
image: for example, restoration of property qualifications for
voting, reducing taxes and adoption of a more aggressive
Indian policy.“ (Eric Foner)
Maryland - 1632
• MD developed along similar lines to VA
• Like VA, MD relied on tobacco and had plantations spread out along
the river and therefore didn’t need towns to exchange goods
• Early populations centers clustered around Chesapeake Bay.
• Charles I gave Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, a
portion of VA for a Catholic haven and profit. Eventually Catholics
became a minority and feared loss of religions freedom.
• Act of Toleration (1649)
– Motive: Catholics sought to protect their faith
– Effect: MD became largest haven for Catholics
– First laws against hate speech in the world.
– Guaranteed toleration to all Christians but death penalty those
who denied divinity of Jesus.
– Revoked in 1654 by Anglican fiat then reinstated in 1692 after
Glorious Rev
• By 1700, Maryland was third most populous colony (about 30,000
inhabitants)
Carolinas – 1663 / NC & SC – 1712/ Royal - 1729
• Charles II granted the Carolina charter in 1663 for lands
south of VA and north of Spanish Florida
• 1669, Charlestowne founded by English. Sig. port town
• Religious freedom dropped (1670) for Anglican Church
• 1691 - Because of communication difficulties a separate
deputy governor was named to administer the northern
half of the colony. The division of the colony into North
and South was complete by 1712, although the same
proprietors continued to control both colonies.
• 1729 - After nearly a decade-long attempt by the British
government locate and buy-out 7 of 8 Lords Proprietors,
both Carolinas became royal colonies
• Carolina society was envisioned with a hereditary nobility
granted to proprietors
Carolinas – 1663 / NC & SC – 1712/ Royal - 1729
Impact of the British West Indies
• West Indies, especially Barbados, developed
sugar plantation economy
• Slaves in BWI outnumbered whites 4 to 1
• BWI relied on mainland for food
• As sugar plantations began to crowd out small
farmers, many came to Carolinas with their
slaves
• Carolinas adopted slave code in 1696
• By 1710 blacks outnumbered whites in
Carolinas
Carolinas – 1663 / NC & SC - 1729
Stono Rebellion (1739) (aka Cato's Conspiracy or Cato's Rebellion)
• Majority of the population of SC were slaves
• Largest slave uprising in colonial history
• Jemmy ("Cato") was a literate slave who led 20 other enslaved
Congolese, who may have been former soldiers, in an armed march
south from the Stono River.
• Recruited 60 other slaves, marched down the road with a banner
that read "Liberty!“. They attacked Hutchenson's store at the Stono
River Bridge, killing two storekeepers and seizing weapons and
ammunition. Killed 22-25 whites before being intercepted by a
South Carolina militia near the Edisto River. In that battle, 20 whites
and 44 slaves were killed
• Rebellion suppressed, most rebels executed
• In response, the SC legislature passed the Negro Act of 1740
– Restricted slave assembly, education and movement
– 10-year moratorium against importing African slaves
– Established penalties against harsh treatment of slaves.
Georgia - 1732
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1732, George II (“Georgia”) granted charter to James Oglethorpe
Oglethorpe saw GA as a way to thwart Spain from taking the
area; they controlled FL. England and Spain fought constantly.
“The Buffer Colony” or “The Garrison State”
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Oglethorpe imagined a province populated by "sturdy
farmers" that could guard the border
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Because of this, GA charter prohibited slavery
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Populate GA with England’s “worthy poor” as an alternative to
debtor’s prison.
Few settlers were attracted since there were strict rules (no
slaves, no rum). Settlers being averse to strict rules, GA became
a hard-drinking (1742 repeal) slave-owning (1749 repeal) colony,
which still attracted few settlers.
Charter granted liberty of conscience to everyone except
Catholics, and limited grants of land to 500-acre plots. Soon
became 2,000 acre plots to attract more settlers.
Savannah emerged into a diverse community (included German
Lutherans and Scottish Highlanders; but no Catholics)
Objectives Revisited
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
To compare and contrast the 13 colonies
To explore controversies within and among the colonies
To analyze the political, economic and social objectives of the colonies
To assess the various successes and failures in experiments with selfgovernment
To assess the role of European powers in the formation and the
governance of the colonies
To explore the role of religion in the colonies
To examine the extent to which the colonies were democratic
To examine the extent to which the colonies were independent and to
trace the evolution of their independence.
To assess the role of dissent and rebellion in the colonies
To determine the role of values such as liberty, equality and fraternity
To analyze the role of Natives in Colonial America
To identify the role of various European, Native and Colonial leaders
To determine which colonies were more/less influential in the
development of a national identity
To foreshadow the implications of colonial development on the United
States.
Conclusions?