Era 2 – Colonization, Settlement, and Communities (1607 to 1763)

The colonial period laid the foundation for much of the nation’s development. Traces of democracy can be found which differentiated the people of the British colonies from those who resided in Great Britain. The British colonies in America developed into three distinctly different regions. Two major factors greatly influenced each colony’s development and led to regional commonalities. First, the purpose of settlement played a huge role in the societies that developed in each region. Jamestown, founded first in the Chesapeake region of the South, was settled for economic gain for the Virginia Company shareholders and for the Crown. The desire to make money impacted settlers’ priorities. All the colonies were settled for economic gain, including the Carolinas, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey. These settlements focused on making money, not becoming new communities in a new world. The founding of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay in New England, thirteen and twenty-three years after Jamestown, set the precedent for the British colonies in America being a haven for dissenters from the state-supported Church of England. These people moved their families and lives across the Atlantic Ocean to start anew in their vision of a perfect society.

Geographic conditions shaped how these early settlements survived and later prospered. Middle and Southern colonies made agriculture the basis of their economies. Settlers were forced to look beyond the soil for their livelihood in the harsh and rocky New England region. In many cases they turned to the sea. The heavy emphasis on agriculture in the Southern colonies led to a need for more workers. Indentured servants were the accepted source of labor, in the household and in agriculture. There was still a large demand of additional laborers. Most indentured servants were granted a piece of their own land after their contracts ended. Settlers desired for a more permanent labor source. English colonists from Barbados, a large producer of sugar, resided in the Carolina colony. The colonists brought the Spanish system of African slavery and slaves to America. This introduction led to enslaved Africans becoming the preferred source of labor within the South. Labor-intensive southern cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo kept the demand high for slaves. The huge influx of both colonists and slaves from the Caribbean, West Indies, and West Africa, gave parts of the South a distinct culture. This culture was a combination of English, Caribbean, and African, and of which remnants are still found today.

While the Southern colonies established their cash crops, the New Englanders created their Utopias. Inhabitants from Massachusetts Bay founded the remaining New England colonies. The New England region developed into a relatively homogenous area populated by English Puritans. The emphasis on religion permeated their society and controlled the government, culture, and behavior of the people. The need for all to be able to read God’s word in the form of the Bible led to a strong push for education. The first university, Harvard, was founded in 1636. A1647 law required schools for all towns of more than 50 families. The Puritan belief that hard work and determination led to success became the basis of the American work ethic. This ethic pushed the nation into the forefront of economic growth through the 20th century. The Middle colonies were originally founded by the Swedes and the Dutch before being taken over by the English. They were heavily influenced by the forward-thinking William Penn. This created a region whose society was rich in tolerance and diversity as their farmland was in fertile soil. This tolerance and acceptance of cultures became one of the qualities that differentiated the colonies and later, at times, the United States from other nations of the world.

The English colonies that developed in America provided a healthier environment and diet, more rights for women, and an abundance of resources that allowed the citizens to flourish. With a better standard of living than anywhere else in Europe, the Americans prospered under the Mercantilist reins of Great Britain. Great Britain imposed a number of acts relating to trade with the colonies to improve its economic situation and take advantage of the benefits the colonies offered. All of the Navigation Acts were designed to bring money in for Britain, but the push to enforce the acts was rarely strong and the colonists, during the period of Salutary Neglect, turned a blind eye toward the restricting laws. Without much economic enforcement of regulations, there was also a dearth of governmental regulation and enforcement in which the American colonists’ ideas of self-government flourished.

The French and Indian War started in the Ohio River Valley between the French and her Native American allies, and the British, colonists, and their Native American allies. This war became a fullscale world war by its end. Great Britain emerged as the victor with the colonists proud to be citizens of the strongest, most powerful, nation in the world. This flush of victory soon faded, however, as the relationship between Great Britain and its lucrative colonies began to change.

 

Primary Sources for Era 2

 

  1. Indentured servant contract from Jamestown.
    http://www.perno.com/amer/docs/Indentured%20Servant%20Contract.htm
  2. A listing of items that might be needed by an early settler in Virginia in “‘Needful Things’ for a Virginia Immigrant”. Also, example of how a Puritan woman in England and New England dressed
    http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/british/brit-1.html
  3. A discussion of the labor problems in Jamestown – this site from Library of Congress has numerous documents dealing with the issue.
    http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/colonial/virginia/labor.html#
  4. Declaration from Nathaniel Bacon on the traitorous behavior of Gov. William Berkeley and nineteen of his “confederates, aiders, and assisters” and the demand that these men surrender themselves. William Berkeley gives his commentary on Nathaniel Bacon.
    http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/D/1651-1700/bacon_rebel/berke.htm
  5. Letter from George Washington to his brother, August referring to his defeat with Gen. Edward Braddock at the Battle of Monongahela in June 1755. This was the crushing defeat where Braddock is mortally wounded, and the only time that Washington was forced to surrender.
    http://www.familytales.org/dbDisplay.php?id=ltr_gwa2630&year=1755

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