Summary: The economic theory of mercantilism, which held that a state should be as economically self-sufficient as possible, helped to motivate England and other European powers to discover and develop colonies, as colonies could provide raw materials. The triangular trade system tied tied together the economies of Europe, the Americas, and Africa and brought slaves to the Americas. The Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts were a result of social unrest existing in the Massachusetts colony. Wars between the European powers spilled over into the Americas during this period, with Native-American tribes cultivated as allies by either the English or the French.
Keywords
Mercantilism: economic system practiced by European powers in the late seventeenth century stating that economic self-sufficiency was crucial; as a result, colonial empires were important for raw materials.
Navigation Acts (1660): acts passed by the British Parliament increasing the dependence of the colonies on the English for trade; these acts caused great resentment in the American colonies but were not strictly enforced.
Triangular trade system: complex trading system that developed in this era between Europe, Africa, and the colonies; Europeans purchased slaves in Africa and sold them to the colonies, raw materials from the colonies went to Europe, while European finished products were sold in the colonies.
Middle Passage: the voyage taken by African slaves on horribly overcrowded ships from Africa to the Americas
Salem Witch Trials (1692): trials in Salem, Massachusetts, after which 19 people were executed as witches; historians note the class nature of these trials
Salutary neglect: early eighteenth-century British policy relaxing the strict enforcement of trade policies in the American colonies
THE IMPACT OF MERCANTILISM
The dominant economic philosophy of the period in Europe was mercantilism. This theory proclaimed that it was the duty of the government to strictly regulate a state's economy. Mercantilists believed that it was crucial for a state to export more than it imported, since the world's wealth was limited. The possession of colonies (so a nation wouldn't have to rely on other nations for raw materials), tariffs, and monopolies were other mercantilist tactics of the era. The American colonies were more than adequate from a mercantilist point of view, as they could provide crops such as tobacco and rice from the southern colonies and raw materials such as lumber from the colonies of the north.
Charles II came to the throne of England in 1660 and desired to increase British trade at the expense of its main trading rival, the Dutch. Charles influenced the British Parliament to pass the Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663. These bills had great influence on colonial trade. These stated that certain products from the colonies such as sugar, tobacco, and indigo, could only be shipped to England, in an effort to help British merchants. The acts required that all goods going from anywhere in Europe to the American colonies must pass through England first.
Resistance to the Navigation Acts came from both the Dutch and the American colonies. Three commercial wars between the Dutch and the British took place in the late 1600s (with one result being the ending of the Dutch monopoly over the West African slave trade). In New England, many wanted to be able to continue to trade with the Dutch, who offered them better prices for their goods than the British did. Edmund Randolph, the chief British customs official in Massachusetts Bay, noted that colonial officials welcomed non-British traders, and he called upon the British government to "reduce Massachusetts to obedience." In 1684, a British court ruled that Massachusetts Bay Colony had intentionally violated the Navigation Acts (as well as restricted the Church of England). The charter of the colony was thus declared invalid, and the colony was placed under direct British control. The Dominion of New England was created that revoked the charters of all the colonies from New Jersey to Maine and placed immense powers in the hands of Sir Edmund Andros, the governor.
Similar feelings of resentment against the Navigation Acts developed in Virginia. The price of tobacco dropped sharply after 1663, with many landowners blaming Royal Governor Sir William Berkeley, who was thought to be profiting greatly from his position in Virginia. Some landowners joined in opposition to Berkeley under Nathaniel Bacon. In a dispute over policy toward Native Americans (specifically, how the government could protect farmers against Native-American attacks) and how the colony would be governed, Bacon and his followers took control of the colony and burned the city of Jamestown. Some historians view this revolt as a rebellion of poor western farmers against the "eastern elite." The rebellion ended in October 1676 when Bacon and several of his followers died from dysentery. The results of Bacon's Rebellion were a limitation of the power of the royal governor by the Virginia gentry and an increase in the slave trade. (Some of Bacon's supporters were former indentured servants; the leaders of Virginia believed that African slaves would be much more docile.)
AFRICAN SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS
For both political and economic reasons, African slavery became widely introduced in the Chesapeake colonies in the 1670s and 1680s. Cultivation of goods such as tobacco required a large number of workers, and by this point fewer and fewer English people were willing to come to Virginia as indentured servants. (With increased prosperity, more workers were remaining in England, while others viewed the economic possibilities of the Middle Colonies as more appealing.) The Portuguese and other European powers had engaged in slave trading as early as the 1440s, and African slaves had been imported to the Spanish possessions in the Americas. The first Africans entered Virginia as workers in 1619; few legal differences existed between white and black workers at that time. By 1662, servitude for blacks in Virginia was a legal fact, and it was stated that a child born to a mother who was a slave was also a slave.
The trading of slaves was a pivotal part of the triangular trade system that tied together the economies of North America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe in the late seventeenth century. Under this system, finished products from Europe went to Africa and the Americas, while raw materials from various colonies went to Europe. The shipping of slaves from Africa to America became known as the Middle Passage, as it served as the foundation of the entire trading system.
Until the 1670s, the financial risk of owning African slaves was too much for most Virginia plantation owners, who still could be guaranteed a supply fo British indentured labor. Yet, as that labor force eroded, the desire to own African slaves increased. This desire only expanded when the Dutch monopoly on slave trade ended in 1682, drastically reducing the price of slaves in British colonies. Many landowners in the region who could not afford slaves ended up moving westward.
The middle passage or journey of African slaves on European slave ships to the Americas is well documented. Disease and death were common on these ships for both the Africans kept chained under the decks and the European crews of the ships. It is estimated that almost 20 percent of all Africans who began the journey on these ships perished before reaching the Americas.
Until the 1730s, most slaves in the region worked on small farms with two or three other slaves and the plantation owner. Under these conditions, it was difficult to create a unique slave culture. However, slave cultures did slowly develop, combining elements of African, European, and local traditions. African religious traditions were sometimes combined with Christianity to create a unique religious culture. Slaves used various methods to demonstrate their hatred of the slave system that had been thrust upon them. Many reported examples of broken tools, stolen supplies, and imagined illnesses.
Slaves were used in other colonies as well. The most oppressive conditions for slaves existed in South Carolina, where they were used to harvest rice. Overwork and mosquito-borne epidemics caused thousands of slaves to die an early death there. Slavery also existed in several northern colonies, such as Connecticut as well.
Slave owners lived in fear of slave revolts, which occasionally did occur. The most famous slave uprising occurred near Charleston, South Carolina, in 1739 and was called the Stono Rebellion. Nearly 100 slaves took up arms and killed several plantation owners before they were killed or captured and executed. The effect of the rebellion was that slaves were treated more harshly than they had been before.
CONTINUED UNREST IN NEW ENGLAND
The New England colonies chafed under the harsh and arbitrary rule of Sir Edmund Andros as governor. In 1688, they saw an opportunity to remove him. The Glorious Revolution in England removed James II from the throne and replaced him with William of Orange and Mary, who pledged their support to a parliamentary system. Andros was jailed in Massachusetts; colonists there wrote to the new monarchs pledging their loyalty to them and asking what form of government they should adopt. A Protestant revolt also took place in Catholic Maryland, while a revolt in New York put Jacob Leisler, a military officer, in charge.
The colonists soon discovered that William and Mary, like the Stuart monarchs that proceeded them, believed in firm control by Britain over colonial affairs. They sanctioned the rebellion in Maryland because of its religious overtones but ordered Jacob Leisler hanged and again established Massachusetts as a royal colony with a governor appointed by the crown. However, the authoritarian nature of the Dominion of New England ended, as representative political institutions at the local level were restored.
THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
The Massachusetts colony underwent great economic and social change in the last half of the seventeenth century. Tensions developed between the Puritan ideals of small, tightly knit farming communities and the developing ideals of a colony based on trade and commerce, with less emphasis on strict Puritan beliefs. These tensions were largely responsible for the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
Several women had been killed earlier in the century in Massachusetts for suspicion of witchcraft, but in 1692 a larger group of women was reported to display strange behavior. Observers testified many had strange fits and experienced "great distress." By the end of August, over 100 people were jailed for suspicion of witchcraft; 19 (18 of them women) had already been executed. The new royal governor of Massachusetts arrived and ended the trials, freeing those in prison. As stated previously, the trials demonstrated the social clashes existing in the colony; almost all of the accusers were members of the older farm communities, while the accused were all part of the newer "secular" class.
WARS IN EUROPE AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE COLONIES
Beginning in 1689 and continuing through much of the eighteenth century, England and France fought a series of wars to see which of them would be the dominant power of Western Europe. Various other countries also became involved in these wars in Europe; predictably, English and French colonies would also become involved. Both England and France also used Native-American tribes as allies during various campaigns in the American continent.
The War of the League of Augsburg (known in American textbooks as King William's War) lasted from 1689 to 1697. During this war, troops from New England fought with allies from the Iroquois tribe against French soldiers, who were allied with the Algonquins. The French destroyed the British settlement in Schenectady, New York, while troops made up largely of residents of Massachusetts captured Port Royal (in present-day Nova Scotia). The Treaty of Ryswick ended this war, reaffirming prewar colonial boundaries and allowing the French to maintain control over half of Santo Domingo (now Haiti).
The War of Spanish Succession (called Queen Anne's War in American textbooks) took place between 1702 and 1713; in this war, Spain was also allied with France.
Anticipating an attack by the Spanish from Florida, the British attacked first from South Carolina, burning the settlement at St. Augustine and then arming many Native Americans who had fled the near-slavelike working conditions in the Spanish missions. These Indians attacked the missions, as well as the Spanish settlement at Pensacola. Native Americans allied with the French attacked English settlements in Maine. In 1704, the Iroquois, also allied with the French, attacked Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 48 settlers there and taking 112 into captivity.
Neither side could conclusively claim victory in several other battles that were to follow, but victories in Europe allowed the British to make sizable gains in the Treaty of Utrecht. In this treaty, France had to give the British Newfoundland, Acadia (Nova Scotia), territory along the Hudson Bay, as well as more access to the Great Lakes region.
THE GROWTH OF COLONIAL ASSEMBLIES
After these wars, the British attempted to reform their control of the colonies in general, but failed. Many were royal colonies, with governors appointed by the Crown; other colonies such as Connecticut and Rhode Island elected their own governors and other local officials. Colonies such as the Carolinas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were proprietorships, with residents who owned property-electing assemblies and governors appointed by the proprietors themselves.
One disturbing development during this period for the British was the rise in independence of colonial assemblies. In the 1720s, the Massachusetts assembly resisted on three occasions instructions from the Crown to pay the royal governor a permanent salary; similar acts of resistance took place in other assemblies. These developments should not be seen as a move toward democracy in any way; assemblies were made up of members of the landowning elite in every colony. Nevertheless, popular opinion did begin to be expressed during New England town meetings and in political discussions throughout the colonies. Some colonial legislators perceived that the "power of the purse" could be a powerful tool against the British in the future.
THE ERA OF "SALUTARY NEGLECT"
British politics during the reigns of George I (1714-1727) and George II (1727-1760) helped to foster a desire for more self-government in the American colonies. During this period of "salutary neglect," British policies were most concerned with defending British territory at home and abroad and strengthening British economy and trade. Strict control of political affairs in the colonies was not a priority in this era. Many officials appointed to positions in the Americas during this era were appointed because of political connections and not because of political skill. British politics during this era weakened the British political hold in the Americas.
The British did impose policies in this era that increased their economic control over the American colonies. Under the terms of the Navigation Acts, all "finished products" owned by colonists had to be made in Great Britain. English officials passed additional regulations prohibiting the colonists from producing their own textiles (1699), hats (1732), and iron products (1750). However, the Navigation Acts allowed the colonies to own ships and to transport goods made in the colonies. Colonial ships carried a lively trade with the French West Indies, importing sugar from there instead of from British colonies producing sugar in the Caribbean. In 1733, Parliament enacted the Molasses Act, which tightened British control over colonial trade. By 1750, Charles Townshend and others on the British Board of Trade were convinced that the colonies had far too much economic freedom, and they were determined to bring the era of salutary neglect to an end.
THE GREAT AWAKENING
A great religious revival, the First Great Awakening, swept through the American colonies from the 1720s through the 1740s. Ministers of the movement claimed that local ministers were not devoted enough to God and practiced "cold" preaching. Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards preached of the pitiful condition of man and the terrors of hell that most will confront when they die. Entire congregations were stirred to greater religious devotion; thousands turned up to hear Anglican George Whitefield as he toured the colonies in 1740. Some congregations also split over the message and the tactics of the "Awakeners."
The Great Awakening had several major effects on the colonies. Yale, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Rutgers were all founded to train ministers during this period, yet preachers without college degrees preaching during the Great Awakening claimed to "know God" as well; several historians claim that the movement introduced a sense of social equality to the colonies. By challenging the existing religious establishment, the Great Awakening introduced a sense of social rebellion to colonial thought that became amplified in the ensuing years. In addition, some historians maintain that the debate and the questioning of religious authority that took place in the Great Awakening reinforced the idea that the questioning of political authority was also acceptable.
CHAPTER REVIEW
To achieve the perfect 5, you should be able to explain the following:
*The dominant economic theory of the era was mercantilism; British mercantilist measures such as the Navigation Acts created resentment in the American colonies.
*The importation of African slaves became increasingly important for the continued economic growth of several southern colonies.
*The Salem Witch Trials demonstrated the social conflict present in the American colonies.
*Eighteenth-century European wars between the British and the French spilled over into the Americas, with British and French colonies becoming involved.
*In the early eighteenth century, colonial assemblies became increasingly powerful and independent in several colonies, including Massachusetts.
*Even during the era of "salutary neglect," the British attempted to increase their economic control over the colonies.
*The religious revival called the Great Awakening caused some colonists to question many of the religious, social, and political foundations on which colonial life was based.
Time Line
1651: First of several Navigation Acts approved by British parliament
1676: Bacon's Rebellion takes place in Virginia
1682: Dutch monopoly on slave trade ends, greatly reducing the price of slaves coming to the Americas
1686: Creation of Dominion of New England
1688: Glorious Revolution in England; James II removed from the throne
1689: Beginning of the War of the League of Augsburg (King William's War)
1692: Witchcraft trials take place in Salem, Massachusetts
1702: Beginning of the War of Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War)
1733: Enactment of the Molasses Act
1739: Stono (slave) Rebellion in South Carolina
1740: George Whitefield tours the American colonies - the high point of the Great Awakening