Download 03. English Colonization

English Colonization
Questions abound as we compare and contrast Spanish and English colonial
history. Why, if Spain’s efforts were swift, deliberate, and immediately lucrative did
they not ultimately become the dominant force in the New World? Why, if England’s
efforts were slow, confused, and miserably wretched did a society ultimately develop that
dominates not only the Western Hemisphere but the entire world? Why did Spain fail to
prevent that conclusion if they had 100 years’ head start? The answers involve every one
of the College Board themes and every one of the SPRITE categories. And since you are
the direct beneficiaries of being the “winning” society, a decent respect should be paid to
the why. If you want our civilization to continue and to improve on its success, you had
better learn the how.
In passing, let’s define the word colony. A colony in this context is civilization
transplanted into the wilderness in order to exploit the wilderness. The Spanish, English,
French, Swedish, Dutch, and even Russians all eventually pursued this same purpose in
their colonization efforts. When we make the first settlement on the moon, or on the
ocean floor, or on Mars—we’ll be going for the same reason. Civilization expands and
contracts. When it expands, it makes colonies.
England observed the expansion of the Spanish Empire with trepidation. Shortly
after Columbus sailed, other Italians sailed under the English flag. John Cabot, in a
voyage from 1497-98, claimed the Canadian coast for Henry VII of England, then died.
His son, Sebastian Cabot sailed as far as Hudson Bay for Henry VIII of England because
Henry VII also died. The English only used these achievements to acquire new fishing
waters, however. Henry VIII had far more important matters to concentrate on like
reforming the Church of England (the Anglican Church) in order to divorce Catherine of
Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Such is the nefarious origin of Protestantism
among our English forbears.
The English then revealed their true empire-building talent. They became so
good at something that they were too good at it and had to expand their operation. That
something was sheep farming. From 1500-1551 England so successfully produced wool
from sheep that they collapsed their own market. Then a strange thing happened. The
Queen of England (Mary Tudor) married the King of Spain (Philip II). While you might
think two great peoples could then unite and rule the world together, this union only
sparked intense, murderous religious strife. Mary Tudor is Bloody Mary for a reason.
The strife only ended with Mary’s premature death by cancer. Her sister became
Elizabeth I, one of England’s greatest monarchs ever. She ended the internal strife by
adamantly refusing to marry her brother-in-law, Philip of Spain, and by restoring
Protestantism to England for good. Her actions, however, sparked intense external strife
with Spain that led to heated rivalry and war. The two nations competed for trade routes
and markets. Piracy broke out between them.
England achieved remarkable success against incredible odds on all counts. The
English founded companies that were global-minded. A chronology reveals their
mindset: Africa and Russia by 1555, Eastern Europe by 1579, the Middle East by 1581,
and most importantly for America, the East India Company was founded in 1600.
But piracy seems more exciting than business. John Hawkins and Francis Drake
plundered Spanish shipping and settlements as two notorious “sea-dogs,” the nickname
the Spanish gave them. The most daring exploit was Drake’s 1577-1580 voyage in
which he raided all of the Atlantic Coastline of the Spanish Empire in the new world.
When he got to the bottom of South America with a shipload of treasure and the entire
Spanish Armada chasing him, he decided to circumnavigate the globe, the first seacaptain to do so. Magellan’s crew had done it, but he had been killed in the Philippines
in the attempt. That may all seem exciting, but imagine what Drake’s investors thought
when he returned to England and gave them a 4,600% profit! A new type of business
operation had funded his journey, a joint-stock company. More on these, later. A new
title was given to Drake in person on the dock by the Queen herself. He didn’t know if
she was about to run him through with the sword in her hand, but she knighted him with
it instead. That’s when he became Sir Francis Drake.
Other sea-captains and explorers wanted in on the opportunity. Martin Frobisher
sailed from 1576-78 in an attempt to find a new water route to Asia that would avoid the
whole being chased around the Straits of Magellan part. What he and later explorers
sought was the Northwest Passage. They believed it must exist, but it doesn’t. That is,
there was not a water route to Asia above North America until the invention of the
nuclear submarine which is capable of circumnavigating the entire planet while
remaining submerged. The ice cap is no problem, now. Henry Hudson was sure he
would be the one to find the Northwest Passage as he explored the coast of America in
1609, but all he got was the Bay named after him.
But, as Englishmen always do, they came to their senses. Sir Humphrey Gilbert
was the first to do so when he suggested that England should colonize the New World
rather than try to get around it. He received the first charter for a colony from the crown
in 1578, and promptly failed in Nova Scotia.
By 1584, Gilbert, his half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh, and two men named
Richard Hakluyt (cousins) wrote a book to spread the idea of colonization. The book,
Discourse Concerning Western Planting, listed six colonial benefits for England. Listed
first, although there is some doubt as to whether it was truly first in the minds of these
enterprising men, was the opportunity to Christianize the natives. Secondly, when the
Northwest Passage was found, American colonies would be a useful base along the route.
Third, America would be a new source of raw materials since England’s supply was
shrinking and the last thing they wanted to do was to have to buy supplies from Spain.
The book even hinted that gold would be among the raw materials available, which
proved to be false. Fourth, since England was at war, colonies would be new military
bases from which to attack the Spanish Empire. Fifth, colonists themselves would
represent new markets for English manufactured goods, and lastly, the New World had
enough room to absorb the crowds teeming in London made up of ruined sheep farmers
and the general mass of people created by a recent population boom.
From the beginning, however, these ideas were unpopular with the British
government (which since the Magna Carta of 1215 consisted of a monarch and a
Parliament). The Queen, despite a rumored relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh, did not
fully support his ideas. Parliament was hands off. Therefore, the first attempts at English
colonization were private ventures in stark contrast from the origins of Spanish colonies.
Also in contrast with the colonies of Spain, all early English attempts failed.
Regardless of what year you are reading this monograph, there is probably a hurricane off
the coast. These storms devastated early settlements and still can today. Indians
slaughtered settlers, and Spaniards slaughtered settlers during constant warfare from
1580-1604. English settlers routinely starved. Stay tuned for why. Three attempts at
colonizing failed under these trying circumstances, the last being the Lost Colony of
Roanoke where 117 men women and children disappeared inexplicably. When Raleigh’s
re-supply mission arrived, the only clue was the word Croaton carved into a tree and into
a door of one of the huts. This word was a prearranged message that the colony would
try to go to the site of an earlier failed attempt if something went wrong. Raleigh
desperately went to Croaton island and found no trace.
These stories do not seem the stuff of which Empires are made. However, four
distinct qualities emerged for English colonization that marked them out for future
success. One is a difference in leadership. The Spanish sent brutal, uneducated men to
be conquerors. England, because of primogeniture laws, had an abundance of well-to-do,
highly educated second, third, etc. sons who could not inherit any land and therefore had
little future in English society. They came to America seeking titles and land.
Secondly, the aforementioned population boom provided a constant stream of
new colonists. Unemployed workers and migrant farm hands formed mobs coursing up
and down London streets. The city of London’s population alone had gone from 60,000
in 1500 to 200,000 by 1600. These mobs were among the oppressed masses of
discontent people created by two centuries of dynamic change in Europe. Officials
viewed idle people as a threat. The solution—ship them to America.
A third quality that marvelously established the foundation for long-term success
was the private funding of colonizing companies. While it eventually proved inadequate,
much of America’s eventual independence and character hinges on the fact that capital
was raised by joint-stock companies. These rudimentary corporations spread out the risk
of this endeavor and massed large amounts of money from a broad spectrum of English
society.
Eleven main companies financed English colonization until 1640. Profit was the motive,
so a great deal of pressure was placed on colonists to find wealth. They were sent out regularly to
look on foot for a Northwest Passage and/or gold. Neither was found, and the time spent looking
for something to match the immediately lucrative nature of Spanish colonization led to famine
since agriculture was not a part of the original companies’ aims. Profit was so important to the
companies that they would cut off resources to settlers and bribe them when they were desperate.
The Virginia Company once even made a profit off shipping of women to America as wives,
charging the male settlers of Jamestown high prices yielding a 47% profit. That exchange might
be the first incident of a blow to women’s dignity and rights in American history.
All eleven of the companies eventually went bankrupt, but they left one important legacy.
They funded and governed their colonies. Private citizens ran their own lives, not the crown like
in the Spanish colonies. You can guess the implications of that precedent.
The final strength England possessed for picking up colonial momentum after a slow start
was victory in the war with Spain. The Spanish Armada was defeated by a combination of the
ingenuity of Sir Francis Drake and a violent storm in the North Sea. England was poised to
become what it would be for several centuries, the most powerful nation at sea. England
embarked on a world-wide expansion in a giant arc through Ireland and Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia, and down the American coast to the West Indies and South America. They didn’t stop
until they reached India and Africa. We are focused on British immigration to America, but don’t
forget, by 1642 migration to Ireland was six times larger than that to New England. The British
Empire had begun.