CA - Mid-Atlantic Colonies (Lesson)
Colonial America: Mid-Atlantic Colonies
Pennsylvania was in the territory between New England and Virginia. It was a colony founded by William Penn and the religiously tolerant Quakers. Further north, New York was settled by the Dutch, who called it New Amsterdam. From the beginning New Amsterdam (later New York) was a diverse colony with colonists from many nations settling there. The Dutch colonized for trading and commercial purposes—they wanted to make money.
In 1664, the British conquered the colony and renamed it New York when the king gave the colony to his brother, the Duke of York. The diverse population kept this center of trade and commerce founded by the Dutch alive; the British invited the Dutch colonists to remain there after the colony came under British control. New York continued the Dutch tradition of tolerance for different religions and cultures. (The “official church" of all the colonies was the Church of England and colonists were required to pay taxes to the colonial governments for the support of the church and the clergy there.) It must be noted that indigenous people in all the regions were often relied upon for translation and assistance with trade. Furthermore, tolerant viewpoints allowed for a more positive relationship between colonists and natives than compared to the other colonial regions.
Economic activities in the Middle Colonies were varied. In Pennsylvania settlers farmed—they raised livestock, and cultivated corn and other grains for export to the Caribbean in many cases to feed the enslaved population there. In New York and eastern Pennsylvania (ex. Philadelphia) colonists engaged in shipping, shipbuilding and merchants engaged in imports and exports. These colonies benefited from deep rivers and major ports. Not only did this allow for the transfer of goods into these colonies, but it also allowed for goods like furs to be efficiently exported to England. The Middle Colonies centered on merchant goods and trade but also had an agricultural base, especially in wheat and corn. The Middle Colonies served as a good mix of major agriculture of the Southern Colonies and manufacturing of the Northern Colonies
View the presentation below for more information about the Restoration Colonies.
Mercantilism
The founders of the British colonies were greatly influenced by an economic theory known as mercantilism. This theory held that Earth had a limited supply of wealth in the form of natural resources, especially gold and silver, so the best way to become a stronger nation was to acquire the most wealth and to keep it. Because the world's wealth was thought to be limited, the more one country had, the less any other country could have. Consequently, as a nation became stronger and wealthier, its enemies became poorer and weaker. The European monarchs in the period espoused this economic model, so the monarchs were in a protracted competition to acquire the most wealth.
Mercantilism inspired the British government to view its American colonies as sources of wealth that would make Britain wealthier and stronger than other European nations. The more land the British could colonize in America, the less land in the New World there would be available to France and other European countries. The more American goods the British could sell to other countries, the less money those countries would have for themselves. Great Britain would get greater, and its European rivals would get weaker. In the mercantilist model, exports were desired and imports were negative.
Mercantilism also inspired Parliament to control trans-Atlantic trade with its American colonies. All goods shipped to or from British North America had to travel in British ships, and any goods exported to Europe had to land first in Britain to pay British taxes. Some goods could be exported to Britain only. Once the enumerated goods reached England, they were used for manufacturing or taxed and then exported to Europe and back to the colonies. (Enumerated goods were the most valued by England ex. sugar, cotton, tobacco, wood, pitch, and tar. The leaders in England particularly wanted to restrict the colonists from trading these goods with their biggest competitors, Spain and the Netherlands.)
These restrictions, called the Navigation Acts (dating to 1651), were a series of acts designed to prevent the colonists from competing with Britain. The acts were vigorously enforced at times and virtually ignored at other times. Some Americans responded by becoming smugglers to trade freely and set their own prices. (Salutary neglect: Britain’s leaders practiced salutary neglect for much of the 17th and 18th centuries, meaning they didn’t actively interfere in the colonies’ economic activities. As long as the colonists shipped their raw goods to England, the leaders in England were satisfied. After the French and Indian War, the government officials took a more active role in governance in the colonies, and salutary neglect ended.)
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