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Summary and Conceptual Overview of Colonial Society
Joint-Stock Colony:
Jamestown, Massachusetts Bay: founded and
governed by a corporation under a charter.
Proprietary Colony:
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey,
the Carolinas, Georgia: founded and governed
by a single person or family, or by a group of
proprietors, independent of the crown.
Royal Colony:
Virginia (1624), all colonies by 1770: governed by
royal appointees.
Because most of the population was comprised of newcomers, the social structure of the
English colonies, at first glance, looked like that of the mother country. The hierarchy that
symbolized the class system in England was transplanted, as “lesser” deferred to their
“betters.” A free-holder deferred to a planter and a servant deferred to a free-holder.
One fundamental difference did exist, however. The colonies had greater social mobility.
Many of the first landowners of Virginia had died or returned to England. The next wave
of settlers was comprised of men of lesser means, having only one or two servants or no
servants at all. They succeeded or failed by their own labors.
The turmoil seen in Bacon’s Rebellion or others of which we will speak resulted from the
fact that those who had made their own success refused to be governed by cliques or
entrenched elites.
By the early 1700s, a somewhat more fixed social structure had developed, particularly in
Virginia and South Carolina, at least at the upper end of society. Success brought more
land and more slaves. Large planters formed a “gentry,” an aristocratic, well-educated,
and refined elite who fancied themselves English country gentlemen.
Wealthy merchants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Maryland
combined land-holding and business acumen to enter the upper class. But points north
and east tended to be more middle class until later in the century when further
urbanization had taken effect.
Along the frontier, the Appalachian Backcountry, life remained rustic and brutish for
most of the colonial period.
It is essential to note in all this, however, that a person could quickly move up or down
the social ladder as his fortunes rose or fell in the fluid American economy.
New England was characterized by family farms on which all toiled. Slaves, composed
mostly of Creoles from the West Indies, worked as household servants and field hands.
The region’s rocky soil kept farms small, except along the Connecticut River.
Slavery was not so important that it kept New Englanders from abolishing it after moral
questions were raised during the Revolution.
Looking at the colonial countryside, one would see a tremendous difference in how land was
organized and distributed as he traveled from north to south. Part of this was because of
geography, part to custom, and part to the local economies.
The New England town looked like a town in feudal
England—but without a manor lord!
Land was distributed based on status--religious or
political--and one’s ability to cultivate it. Only those
who agreed to the town covenant, and were admitted
by existing members could get land. Townsmen had
power over whom they would admit and how many.
Lands that were developed were parceled out to each
man as tiny house-lots, with additional strips of arable
meadow and woodland scattered around the village.
All lands not parceled were held in common.
The whole community used the “common
lands” or “commons” for grazing livestock.
As population grew, private property rights
expanded.
By the early 1700s, with town lands already
distributed, the second or third generations
often had to move away to find opportunity.
Thus, migration within and between colonies
was common.
The economy and land distribution structure in the Chesapeake and points south differed
greatly from New England.
First, southern colonies were built around single staple crops: either tobacco, rice, or sugar.
Growing tobacco was labor intensive as it was planted as seedlings and had to be staked;
fields had to be hoed and fertilized; plants topped, etc. Rice cultivation was not only laborintensive, but was also outside of the English experience and so needed workers not only
for the labor, but also for their expertise to grow it. Thus, Virginia, Maryland, and the
Carolinas adopted slavery.
The plantation’s other distinguishing mark was its social order. In theory, the planters’
rule was complete. From his Great House, he looked out upon trades-shops, barns, sheds,
cabins, and other outbuildings that were known as “dependencies.” But his authority
radiated beyond the estate to statehouses, courtrooms, counting houses, churches, colleges,
taverns, and the like.
A plantation economy has certain characteristics:
•geography – numerous navigable rivers
•manorial tradition of self-sufficient communities
•few towns
•social distance
Political-Economy after the Restoration
One of the first acts of King Charles II upon Restoration was to find ways the colonies could
more significantly benefit the mother country.
The last half of the 1600s saw significant expansion of the colonial economy. Not only did
the Chesapeake find its staple cash crop—tobacco—but it also found a stable labor source in
black slaves. New England developed as a merchant sea power. Finally, with the taking of
New Netherland and creation of proprietary colonies in the mid-Atlantic and South, all
colonies, save Georgia, were established by 1700 and about 250,000 people resided in the
colonies.
Moreover, the idea of controlling the colonial economy had developed into a full-fledged
policy: mercantilism.
England established its empire to produce the goods needed to make it “self-sufficient,”
making the country richer and more powerful. It believed the colonies should provide it
with raw resources and with a market for English manufactured goods.
Mercantilism Flowchart
Wealth = power

Gain wealth through trade/commerce

Improve “balance of trade”

Increase exports and decrease imports

Create colonies

Control the colonial economy

Navigation Acts
Parliament passed laws implementing a regulatory system under the Navigation Acts of
1651. This law required that all goods imported into England or the colonies arrive on
English ships and that at least half the crew be English. Charles II expanded the law creating
a list of enumerated goods, such as tobacco, sugar, indigo, and ginger, that could not be
shipped outside of an English-English colony trade system. It added more enumerated
goods to the list through the early 1700s .
Colonials frequently ignored the laws, smuggling goods from the West Indian holdings of
Spain and France.
Though many historians paint them negatively, the Navigation Acts helped bring stability to
the economy. Unstable markets and a chronic money shortage caused cycles of boom and
bust. Crops and ships were at the mercy of weather. In the West Indies, sugar crops could be
destroyed by ocean storms; blights and droughts ruined crops on the mainland. Overproduction was a problem.
Just as the laws created a market for British goods in America, they ensured a market for
colonial products in the mother country.
Boom and Bust Cycle:
The South Sea Bubble
The Glorious Revolution and its Effects on the Colonies
Between 1675 and 1689, a power struggle developed between colonies and mother country, as
well as between the powerful and powerless within colonies. Five rebellions occurred,
involving each of the four colonial regions. Each of the rebellions had causes particular to
their colony, but they all reflected a struggle to answer the question: “Who’s in charge.”
We have looked at Bacon’s Rebellion already. Other challenges to the governing authority
occurred in North Carolina, Maryland, New York, and New England.
In North Carolina, John Culpeper led a gang of farmers in trying to stop government officials
from collecting tariffs. In 1677, colonial leaders who had been losing money tried to end
smuggling of tobacco and to force payment of tariffs.
What Culpeper’s Rebellion lacks in altruism it makes up for in confusion. It was really a
conflict between several factions all fighting each other. Culpeper and his men seized the
government to stop collection of taxes, jailed the acting governor, and petitioned England for
support. Culpeper governed for two years in relative calm. By 1680, the rebellion was over,
the proprietors were back in control, and settlers went back to their business of defying
authority.
Even as New Englanders fought King Philip’s War against the Indians, Britain undertook to
enforce the Navigation Acts which hitherto had not been enforced in New England.
A study by the Lords of Trade suggested that Massachusetts was invading the king’s
prerogatives. Conditions between crown and colony worsened until James, Duke of York,
had the Lords of Trade revoke the Massachusetts Bay Company’s charter. When Charles II
died soon thereafter and since he left no legitimate heir James II came to the throne.
King James II moved quickly to re-establish the power of the monarchy in England and
in the colonies.
To stifle the independent thoughts of Massachusetts, James created the Dominion of New
England, to unite and govern the entire region under his absolute authority.
The move made sense administratively and it benefitted Britain’ mercantilist objectives.
But important differences existed among the colonies. Each had developed distinct
political and social cultures. New York had a diverse polity and a social and economic
structure that borrowed heavily from the European manorial model. Rhode Island existed
as a counterpoint to strict Puritan authority. Connecticut and New Hampshire were tiny.
Massachusetts had been founded by two groups who had expressly rejected the kind of
royal authority James was imposing on them.
Most troubling for citizens of Massachusetts was the plan to establish the authority of the
Church of England. When a prominent Puritan minister preached against the new regime,
he was arrested and denied a writ of habeas corpus. When challenged on it, the Governor
responded, “The scabbard of an English redcoat shall quickly signify as much as a justice
of the peace!”
Rock-a-bye Baby, on the treetop,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.
James II took the throne in 1675. An avowed Catholic, he exploited his royal prerogatives to
enhance Catholic influence in government. England’s political factions to develop into two
political parties: Tories (supporters of the King) and Whigs (supporters of Parliament).
When James remarried, a French Catholic woman who was “with child,” his opponents in
Parliament saw a future of bloody religious conflict.
The Whigs rebelled with the help of William of Orange, the husband of James II’s daughter,
Mary. James II fled to France and the bloodless Glorious Revolution of 1688 ended. William
became King William III and his wife Queen Mary II.
The Glorious Revolution bred conflicts in Maryland (Protestant Association) and New York
(Leisler’s Rebellion).
Leisler’s, Bacon’s, and Culpeper’s Rebellions, and the Protestant Association exposed a deep
rift between those in power and those out of power, between economic and/or social ruling
elites and the populace. Each colony had to accommodate the rights and interests of the many
as well as the few if it was going to survive and prosper.
Wars for Empire and their Effects on the Colonies
The regime of William and Mary precipitated a series of conflicts with France over control
of global empires: King William’s War; Queen Anne’s War; and King George’s War.
The wars left Britain deep in debt, causing Prime Minister Robert Walpole to look for ways
to cut spending. In 1723, he created the policy of Salutary Neglect, relaxing enforcement of
the Navigation Acts and letting the colonial economy run basically unregulated.
The loosening of English oversight had broader effects on the colonies. The colonies grew
closer together and developed a sense of identity different from Britain.
During the brief time of unsupervised growth, the colonies witnessed the Great
Awakening and the Enlightenment. When it was abruptly ended, it caused a groundswell
of opposition that grew into an independence movement.
The Great Awakening
In 1734-1735, Jonathan Edwards, a Congregationalist minister from western Massachusetts,
began rekindling the spirit of piety to remake America as a “City upon a Hill”.
The movement occurred on the extremities of the colony first because, as a Baptist minister
observed, frontiersmen were like “A Gang of frantic lunatics broke out of Bedlam.”
Jonathan Edwards
The Great Awakening affected colonial society in several ways.
First, the sects established colleges, such as Presbyterian College of New Jersey (Princeton,
1746); and Baptist College of Rhode Island (Brown, 1764).
Secondly, territorial boundaries between churches broke down. Itinerant preachers spread
sects across borders, helping to create a national religious culture.
Thirdly, religion became increasingly an individual choice.
Finally, the rise of individual conscience fostered the breakdown of the “state church.”
Religious libertarians began to push for freedom of conscience, which became a rallying
cry after the revolution.
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment, symbolized by Isaac Newton and John Locke, was limited to the upper
and the educated middle classes. Because the upper class were powerful, it is still significant.
It reached its peak in America in the 1740s with the creation of the American Philosophical
Society, and the rise to prominence of its principal founder, Benjamin Franklin.
Perhaps the smartest man in the colonies and certainly the
most famous, Franklin embodied the Enlightenment in
America as a man of science and letters, and as a deist.
Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. Born in 1706, he led the
colonies in the French and Indian War, American
Revolution, Confederation Era, and in creating the U.S.
Constitution. He died in 1790.
The Last War for an American Empire
In the 1750s, France and England disputed who controlled the land in the Ohio Valley. In
1753, Virginia’s Governor sent an expedition led by George Washington to demand a French
withdrawal. The French refused. Washington’s troops fought French and Indian forces near
Fort Duquesne. The skirmishes developed into the last French-English global war for
empire, the Seven Years’ War. (French and Indian War)
In 1754, Ben Franklin called for each of the colonies to send delegates to attend the Albany
Congress. Its main purpose was to negotiate an alliance with the Iroquois against the French
and their Huron allies in the rising conflict. The Iroquois were the strongest of the inland
tribal groups, centered in upstate New York. The alliance held for most of war.
The Six NationsIroquois Confederacy
At Albany, Ben Franklin devised the Albany Plan of Union to enable the colonies to protect
themselves. Franklin called for the creation of a governing council for all the colonies.
Some historians have suggested that the Iroquois Confederacy was a model for the U.S.
system under the Articles of Confederation—an alliance of sovereign states affiliated for
their defense. An actual connection between Franklin’s Plan and the Confederacy is less
clear.
Franklin’s Plan was not an independence movement; it intended only to bring the colonies
closer together. Some colonies thought it was a good idea, but it did not come to pass
because most colonies did not want to give up any power to another layer of government.
In September 1759 came the death blow for the French. Gen. James Wolfe led a British force
against the Marquis de Montcalm at Quebec. Both commanders were killed in the British
victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The Treaty of Paris (1763) ended the war.
France gave up all claims to North America, ceding land east of the Mississippi River to
Britain and west of it to Spain.
The Death of General James
Wolfe, by Benjamin West
(1769).
The land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River posed an opportunity and a
problem for Britain. Each new incursion by colonials resulted in war with the Indians.
So King George III banned colonists from entering the region. The Proclamation of 1763
banned all settlement west of the continental divide in the Appalachians. The Proclamation
of 1763 brought a formal end to the era of Salutary Neglect.