MIDDLE & SOUTHERN
COLONIES
Southern Colonies
•
Maryland, 1632
•
Virginia, 1607
•
North Carolina, 1663
•
South Carolina, 1712
•
Georgia, 1733
II. The Proprietary Colonies (Most after 1660
with Restoration of Charles II)
Cecil Calvert
A. Maryland (1634)
1. Lord Calvert (Baltimore) friend of
Charles I
2. Sanctuary for Catholics
3. 1649 Toleration Act
The Carolinas
1. Politically--Cooper's Fundamental Constitution
a. Wealthy given power
b. Outpost against Spain
The Carolinas
2. Economically, SC becomes wealthiest northern colony
a. Planters sons from Barbados arrived with slaves.
b. SC slaves became standard for all Northern Colonies
1. Tried using natives
2. But disease, death, and resistance turned to Africa
3. Sugar revolution in Europe then increased demand for slavery
a. Hard work—Cut cane, crush stalks, heat - stir juice
b. By 1680, 20,000 slaves in Barbados (1000 in Va)
c. 1550-1850 15 million slaves in new world-7% to US
1. 42% to West Indies
a. Death rate
b. Easier to import than treat well
c. Need food from Carolina for labor
2. By 1600 price of African slaves rises
The Carolinas
4. By 1700 huge demand for slaves in Indies and
S. colonies
a. Quickly UK and Dutch became major
slave traders
b. UK had no history of slavery
c. Need new laws
1. One person may own another
2. Heredity for slave not passed
from father to child.
The Carolinas
4. Result: 1739 Stono rebellion
a. Many slaves from Congo
b. Congolese raised Portuguese
Catholic -so go to Florida
c. Others captives from African
armies with military experience
d. White militia killed leaders
1. Outpost against Spain
Georgia-1732
a. Stop Spanish expansion north
b. Carolina feared slaves would run-away to
Florida
2. Then France established New Orleans & allied
with Creeks
a. Creeks also traded with South Carolina
b. French drew trade from SC
c. SC worried about French-Creek Alliance
d. Demand buffer from Creek, Spain &
French
Georgia-1732
3. Oglethorpe and his "poor" prisoners
a. “A haven” for debtors (friend
died in prison)
b. Mediterranean climate? Let’s
grow olives, silk worms
c. But “No slaves, no rum.”
4. Early economic problems
a. Olives and silk fail.
b. Indentured servants flee
c. Mediterranean crops never
materialized
d. So, “Let’s do what SC does”
1. Import slaves
2. Drink rum
3. Grow cotton
4. Buffer against Spain
Middle Colonies
•
New York, 1664
•
New Jersey, 1664
•
Pennsylvania, 1681
•
Delaware, 1638
•
Maryland, 1632
I. The Strange Case of the Middle Colonies
(Thesis: The middle colonies are a combination of New England and the Southern Colonies.
They are more easily defined by what they were not.)
Pennsylvania
a. William Penn's (Quaker) Holy
Experiment
1. Believed in "inner light"
2. All equal, women, Native
Americans, & African-Americans
3. More democratic and more
tolerate than other colonies
b. Land grants - mostly 40-100 acres
c. Crevecoeur-Multitude of languages,
religions, and cultures
d. Economically bountiful
New York
1. Early Dutch adventure
a. Dutch revolted from Spain
b. Emerged as naval power
c. New Amsterdam threatened UK
d. UK invaded in 1664
New York cont.
2. Economics of diversity
a. Patroonships
Patroonship (Aristocratic structure; resembled
serfdom) Huge estates granted to promoters who
would settle 50 persons on them. (One in Albany
larger than Rhode Island!)
b. Charles II supporters given
large holdings
1. No headrights given
a. Thus, few immigrants
b. Squatters
2. No group dominated-thus religious and pol
toleration
c. By 1670 Indentured servants come
to NY or PA
1. Disliked Puritans and slaves in Va.
2. Small farmers grew crops to sell to
West Indies
a. Settle, improve land, move west
b. Become the middle class of NY
c. Patroonship made social mobility
difficult
New York/ Middle Colonies cont.
3. Politics of diversity
a. Political factions emerge
1. Large land owners vs. NY merchants
2. Delancy vs. Livingston--The NY snobs
3. Jacob Leisler-1682
b. John Peter Zenger--1730
4. So, Middle Colonies --Proprietary colonies
a. Settled after 1660 by large land owning Englishmen
b. Remarkably heterogeneity
c. Cultural and religious diversity
Characteristics of the Middle Colonies: NY, PA,
NJ, DE
1. Excellent land for farming: region became known as the "breadbasket colonies"
for exports of grain; also grew fruits and vegetables.
2. Three rivers -- Susquehanna, Delaware, and Hudson -- tapped fur trade in the
interior.
3. Less aristocratic than New England and the Southern colonies (except N.Y.)
4. Fewer industries than New England; more than in the South - Shipbuilding and
lumbering also important (not as large-scale as New England)
5. Population more ethnically mixed; religiously tolerant; democratically controlled
--Yet, much factional conflict among groups.
Key Questions
Why did the South remained under developed ?
Why did the colonies differ from England?
Contrast the Chesapeake and Carolina regions. Were there actually two Souths?
MERCANTILISM
Mercantilism
State-directed trade; economic activity to
benefit the state. (Term coined by Adam
Smith)
*The mother country
will profit off of colonies
Economic demands: Mercantilism
1. Colonial wealth catches UK attention
a. Eco as science
b. Col work for UK
2. Limited gold
3. Keep what you have
4. Take from others in War or Trade
a. Taxes and manufacturing inducements
b. Control colonies & maintain a favorable
balance of trade for Mom
Problems:
*inconsistent policy
*distance
*colonial indifference
*merchants complained
about foreign rivals
Trade”
*”saluatory neglect”
“Triangle
Rivals: Mainly the Dutch
*largest merchant fleet
*privateers
*settlement in New Amsterdam
provided access into the interior
through the Hudson River
Control Mercantilism thru Navigation
Acts-1650
1. All goods shipped on vessels built in UK
2. Raw material to UK only in UK ships--eliminate Dutch-Helps navy
3. No manufacturing in colonies-
4. All goods to other countries stop in UK for unloading
a. To tax foreigners which helped the King’s treasury
b. Maintain favorable balance of trade in the Mother country.
c. So, in UK King, Merchants, and military all benefit
Navigation Acts of 1660 & 1663
*Ships owned or constructed in
England or the colonies.
*Crews primarily British
*No transportation from colonies to other
countries carrying certain commodities
*No goods from other countries
*Colonists told what they could manufacture
Triangular Trade and Navigation Acts
5. Effects:
a. Trade increased
b. Gold drained from the colonies
c. But credit and debt increase
d. No American manufacturing
e. American complained