Regents Review – Colonial Experience

Key Questions

What is merchantilism?

What was Salutary Neglect?

Why did European nations colonize North America?

What were early signs of Democracy in the New World?

How did the Colonists respond to the merchantilistic policies?

What was the importance of the Mayflower Compact?

Why was it important for the Colonists to hold town meetings?

Merchantilism

The belief that many aspects of a nation's economy had to be regulated. With the acquisition of

colonies came the recognition that their purpose was to satisfy the needs of the mother country.

The regulation of economic activities in the colonies, then, centered around the accumulation of

wealth for the European powers, at the colonies' expense. The degree of control varied according

to the nation. In the 1500s, Spain and Portugal exerted strict control over their colonial

inhabitants. However, the British were more lax in governing their colonies.

For the first 150 years after the initial settlement at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, English control

over the colonies was minimal. With all her involvement with European nations in wars of

conquest, little energy or time was available to dictate the colonies' economic options. Three

thousand miles of ocean made it difficult to monitor such a policy.

Nevertheless, as the colonies grew and became more prosperous, the English realized that the

colonies could provide increased trade, if competition could be eliminated. Americans had

established profitable trade with other countries, notably the Dutch. In order to increase her

wealth, Britain tightened the economic noose around the neck of the colonies by implementing

regulatory policies, thus changing in degree her relationship with the colonies.

From 1650 on, England instituted a series of laws of trade and navigation known as the

Navigation Acts. Their purpose was to limit colonial trade to the British only. In order to

accomplish this, all trade between colonists and the British was to be conducted on either English

vessels or colonial-built vessels. If colonists intended to trade with any other nations, all goods

had first to be shipped to England, giving her an opportunity to handle them and collect revenue

from taxation. In addition, there were certain products that could be traded only with Britain,

such as tobacco, sugar and cotton. As time went on, the list of enumerated goods grew --

continually decreasing merchandise that the colonists could sell to other nations.

In keeping with the general policy of mercantilism, England encouraged the colonists to

specialize in the production of raw materials. English factories converted raw goods to products

which were then shipped back to the colonies. This provided the British with a profitable market,

free from competition. In order to discourage manufacturing, regulations governed certain

industries that would have been competitive with the British, such as the woolen-garment

industry, hat making, and the iron industry. Meeting domestic needs was permissible within the

regulations; they were intended mainly to prevent exports.

Even though many of these restrictions were on the books, they did not cause havoc to the North

American colonists, as was the case with those in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. In fact,

there were many advantages that the colonists received from this system, such as having a built-

in market for their raw products. Also, trade regulations were not rigidly enforced.

With the culmination of the French and Indian War in 1763, the British were victors in the world

struggle for commercial supremacy and their policies of mercantilism changed. Now they began

to enforce their mercantilist policies, which led to intensified animosity between the English and

their colonies.

Having tasted economic independence for too long a period, the American colonists had no

desire to return to the mercantilist policies endured by the colonies of other European nations.

Background Questions:

1. State and explain some of the general characteristics of mercantilism.

2. Explain the reasons for Britain's lenient policy of control over the thirteen

colonies.

3. Discuss the purpose of the Navigation Acts.

4. How did these policies affect the colonies?

5. What impact did the French and Indian War have on the relationship between

Britain and the colonies? .

6. To what extent do nations today practice mercantilism?

http://www.landandfreedom.org/ushistory/us3.htm (modified)

1. In what 2 “presences” is this document being signed?

2. What do the signers mean by a “civil body politic?”

3. What do the signers promise?

The Common and the Meetinghouse

The five meetinghouses built since the founding of the English town of Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1673

were constructed on or near "Meeting House Hill," a rise of land near the center of town. The original 1690

palisade (stockade), built for the protection of the settlement, enclosed the house lots in the center of town

around and including the Common. Eleven houses and the meetinghouse stood within the stockade. In this

area today there is a sycamore tree, possibly remaining from the time of the first "turn" (1680-1720). The

mile long street that is used today was a dirt road in the English settlement, perhaps following an Indian

path that was there before the English came…

…Deerfield's English settlers retained a number of customs and beliefs from their Puritan ancestors. The

Puritans, who derived their name from the word "pure," aimed to "purify" the English Anglican church of the

time, simplifying services and ridding the church of its Roman Catholic vestiges. Descendants of the

Puritans, who eventually called themselves Congregationalists, also didn't have churches, as we understand

the word. Instead of churches, they built meetinghouses that were used for many gatherings, including

religious ones. They had simple Lord's Day/Sabbath (Sunday) meetings, which included many hours of

preaching and teaching. They shunned elaborate church rituals. The settlers also believed in the literal truth

of the Bible, and put particular stress on the Old Testament. Reading the Bible was considered extremely

important, and was the principal reason for teaching children and slaves to read.

There were different reasons a town built a new meetinghouse. Deerfield's first meetinghouse was burned in

King Philip's War. The second meetinghouse was built in 1682 to replace it, and was quickly replaced itself

by a larger one in 1695 because the villagers wanted one "as big as the one" in neighboring Hatfield. In

1729 they built a new, larger meetinghouse because the town was growing. In 1767 this structure was

remodeled because the village wanted a steeple like the one in neighboring Northfield. In 1824, the fifth

meetinghouse was built solely for worship and its expensive brick construction once again was a statement

of the town's prosperity following the American Revolution.

The most important place in the meetinghouse was the pulpit, which was high and prominent. There were

two floors, but the upper one was not a full floor. It formed a balcony (called a gallery) so that people sitting

there could see and hear what was going on. There was no organ in Deerfield until the 1850's, but other

New England towns had them. Many conservative Congregationalists believed that instrumental music was

not appropriate for worship. At first, long benches were used, but gradually enclosed-boxed pews were built

and assigned to specific townspeople. There was a committee of men to assign pews. Pew maps, showing

the assignments in certain years, survive, and through these seating plans, the social "rank" of individuals

and families can be understood. Nearly everyone in the village came to Sunday meeting. The most

important people in town had the best pews close to the pulpit. The most important people included those

who were prosperous and those who were honored by virtue of age, service to the community, or education.

Native Americans and African-Americans sat in back or in the gallery. The meetinghouse was unheated. The

pew walls were high and each pew had a door to keep the draft off the worshipers. If a foot stove or heated

stone was in use , the pew walls helped contain the heat.

The worshipers spent most of their Sundays at the meetinghouse. The Bible was read. Psalms, songs

praising God in the form of poetry, were sung to simple tunes by the entire congregation either without

accompaniment, or with a stringed instrument such as a bass viol. The sermon, often used more than once,

was sometimes read by the minister and sometimes delivered from memory. Occasionally, ministers'

sermons were published, to be read at home by parishioners. To make sure that everyone stayed awake

during the long services, a "tithing man" walked among the congregation carrying a long pole to prod people

who were falling asleep. There was time between morning and afternoon services for a meal. Church

members went home if they lived close enough, or (as the town grew) to a tavern for the noonday meal.

http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/classroom/curriculum_6th/lesson4/bkgdessay1.html (modified)

The Virginia House of Burgesses

The first legislature anywhere in the English colonies in America was in Virginia. This was

the House of Burgesses, and it first met on July 30, 1619, at a church in Jamestown. Its

first order of business was to set a minimum price for the sale of tobacco.

…The House of Burgesses soon became a symbol of representative government. The 22

members of the House of Burgesses were elected by the colony as a whole, or actually men

over 17 who also owned land. Royally appointed councilors (of which there were usually six)

and governor rounded out the legislature. The governor was originally appointed by the

Virginia Colony and later by the Crown.

The House of Burgesses, which met at first only once a year, could make laws, which could

be vetoed by the governor or the directors of the Virginia Company. This continued to be

the standard until 1624, when Virginia became a royal colony. At this time, England took

much more control of things in Virginia, restricting the powers of the House of Burgesses.

…The fact that the burgesses could make their own laws was very much on the mind of

many people in the American colonies, especially when Great Britain continued to pass

harsh laws that the colonists viewed as "taxation without representation."

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/houseofburgesses.htm

Why is the Virginia House of Burgesses considered an early attempt at democracy?

Region/Colony Names Climate Major Industry

Northern Colonies

Middle Colonies

Southern Colonies

British

Colonial Act

Name What did it do?

What was the colonist reaction to the Act?

(What did they do)

Navigation Acts Restricted foreign trade Ignored them, smuggled goods

Stamp Act

Quartering Act

Townshend Acts

Tea Act

Massachusetts

Act

Administration

of Justice Act

Protested and Petitioned, also called it the

Murdering Act

Boston Port Act

Prohibitory Act

Intolerable Acts