Chapter 4: The British Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

1. The British Transatlantic Communities of Trade
   1. Regions of Commerce
      1. England’s colonies were divided into five distinct regional economies and a backcountry economy.
         1. Britain’s Caribbean possessions produced sugar.
         2. The Lower South produced rice.
         3. The Chesapeake economy centered on tobacco.
         4. New England concentrated on fishing, timber, shipbuilding, and international commerce.
         5. The middle colonies focused on wheat and overseas trade.
         6. The backcountry had a subsistence-level economy.
   2. The Cords of Commercial Empire
      1. The colonies traded abroad widely.
         1. The majority of their trade was with England.
      2. The colonies also traded extensively with each other.
2. Community and Work in Colonial Society
   1. New England Society and Culture
      1. A wealthy merchant elite arose in the seaport towns by the end of the seventeenth century.
         1. Although economic success replaced older values, older attitudes toward education remained.
      2. Land became scarce in the eighteenth century.
         1. New Englanders moved to new farming regions or to commercial centers.
         2. New immigrants avoided settling in New England.
   2. Planter Society and Slavery
      1. Until the 1680s, much of the population consisted of indentured male servants
      2. engaged to work in the tobacco fields.
      3. In the 1680s, however, the drawbacks to African slavery began to vanish.
         1. The Dutch monopoly on the slave trade was broken by the English and competition among English slavers drove prices down and ensured a steady supply of slaves.
         2. The prosperity of the region depended upon slave labor.
   3. Slave Experience and Slave Culture
      1. The transit from Africa to North America was a brutal experience, especially on the middle passage.
      2. Isolation on small plantations and continual new arrivals on larger ones made it difficult for a distinctive slave culture to emerge.
      3. Slave owners lived in fear of revolts.
         1. The odds against a successful uprising were high, and few slave rebellions occurred; the Stono Rebellion was the most famous that did.
   4. The Urban Culture of the Middle Colonies
      1. The urban life of New York City and Philadelphia was what made the middle colonies distinctive.
         1. Urban problems included overcrowding, disease, and crime.
         2. Varied opportunities for employment were their major attraction.
      2. The highest concentration of African Americans in the northern colonies lived in New York City.
         1. Urban racial tension took the form of fear of slave uprisings and led to great violence.
   5. Life in the Backcountry
      1. Most immigrants in the eighteenth century settled in the backcountry.
         1. They were joined there by the sons of older families in the East, who were searching for land.
      2. Backcountry inhabitants were often in conflict with colonial governments.
         1. Disputes over Indian policy gave rise to conflict, as in the case of Pennsylvania’s Paxton Boys.
         2. South Carolina’s Regulators objected to insufficient government services in the backcountry.
         3. North Carolina’s Regulators began an armed rebellion because of corrupt government officials.
3. Reason and Religion in Eighteenth-Century Colonial Society
   1. The Impact of the Enlightenment
      1. American colonists were influenced by the ideas of the European Enlightenment, which stressed reason and progress.
         1. Some were drawn to deism.
         2. Many accepted John Locke’s social contract theory.
   2. Religion and the Religious Institutions
      1. Religious toleration grew as the number of Protestant sects in the colonies increased.
         1. Toleration did not extend to Catholics.
         2. Toleration was not defined as separation of church and state; established churches remained.
      2. Indifference to religion also grew.
         1. Women, however, tended to remain more involved in the churches.
   3. The Great Awakening
      1. This movement for religious revival stressed the importance of fiery preaching.
         1. The greatest preaching of all was that by the visiting George Whitefield.
      2. The revival movement caused conflict in colonial society.
         1. More traditional clergymen and the wealthy resented attacks on them; controversies broke out within churches and denominations; and religious affiliation often translated into political positions and to class tensions.
      3. New colleges were established.
4. Government and Politics in the Mainland Colonies
   1. Imperial Institutions and Policies
      1. Reorganization of the British Empire in 1696 resulted in creation of the Board of Trade.
         1. In reality, authority over the colonies remained divided among many agencies in the British government.
      2. The British government’s policy for the colonies was one of salutary neglect.
   2. Local Colonial Government
      1. Each colony had the same governing structure: a governor, a council, and a representative elected assembly.
      2. Governors possessed extensive authority but often could not exercise it.
         1. The assemblies paid the governors’ salaries, among other reasons for their weakness.
      3. The assemblies continually broadened their powers.
         1. The members had the advantage of being from a small, intimate, and permanent elite.
   3. Conflicting Views of the Assemblies
      1. English authorities and colonists had very different ideas about the powers of colonial assemblies.
         1. The colonists saw a two-level system: England responsible for the British Empire, the colonial assemblies responsible for local government.
         2. The English saw only a single system, one in which the king and Parliament were supreme in everything.
5. North America and the Struggle for Empire
   1. Indian Alliances and Rivalries
      1. Many Indian tribes had formed alliances with colonists to assist the newcomers, protect their own safety and advance their own interests, or defeat local rivals.
         1. Imperial rivalries, however, often took precedence over alliances with European newcomers.
   2. The Great War for Empire
      1. The first four wars (of five) fought by England, France, and Spain angered the American colonists.
         1. Serious hostilities occurred in North America, but the only outcomes were taxes, inflation, impressment of colonial sailors, and greater commercial regulation.
      2. Worldwide conflict between England and France began in 1754 and lasted until 1763.
         1. In the war’s North American theater, the French and their Indian allies attacked deeply into English territory.
         2. Britain eventually counterattacked in Canada and defeated the French at Quebec.
         3. All of New France fell to the English in 1760 with the capture of Montreal.
   3. The Outcomes of the Great War for Empire
      1. France lost most of her possessions around the world.
         1. In North America, France ceded Canada to the British.
      2. England emerged from war deeply in debt.
      3. Mutual suspicion split the American colonists and the British.
         1. The Americans had continued to trade with the French during the war.
         2. The British military had behaved arrogantly, seized colonial goods, and quartered troops at colonial expense.