Colonial Life and Institutions

The process of establishing new colonies resulted in creating economically stable and ethnically diverse societies in North America. In quite a short period – from 1630 to 1700, European and African settlers transformed the map of North America. Among the major colonizing powers – Spain, France and England, the latter was the most successful. In comparison to widely scattered Spanish missions and French trading posts, English colonies were densely populated, well-ordered and ready to expand to new territories.

By the end of the 17^th century, British colonies hardly resembled those isolated outposts of the early 17^th century – they developed as settlements. Population of the colonies increased every year, by the mid of the 18^th century, many colonies represented various groups and religious sects. There was the largest overseas concentration of Europeans – mostly the English, Welsh, German, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, and French. The colonies also became the enforced home for African population, who now could speak English and were mainly Christian. Many Native Americans in the territory of the colonies also adopted European dress and manners.

The mid-18^lh-century colonies differed much from the first British settlements – the life became much more stable and secure, new towns and settlements grew.

Such rapid population growth demanded goods and services, which led to the development of colonial manufacturing and creation of a complex trading network – new roads, bridges, mills and stores were built to serve the new communities. Close ties with mother country – Britain shaped the character of colonial development – economically colonies in North America remained an integral part of the British Empire. Trade with Europe was based on mutual needs – Europeans demanded American products like tobacco, rice, indigo, while colonists wanted European manufactured goods.

The colonies differed regionally – there were three distinct groups – New England included the colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the Middle colonies (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey) and Southern colonies, which, in their turn, preserved local division into Chesapeake colonies (Virginia and Maryland) and Low South (Carolinas and Georgia). Each group of colonies developed specific economic and living patterns.

New England

As the colonies of New England grew they developed trade with each other and Great Britain. With the growth of trade the ways of colonial life were changing – big cities as Boston and Salem developed.

Puritans valued education highly – they started schools and in 1636, Harvard College was founded near Boston. It was the first college in the thirteen colonies. Later it grew into Harvard University.

In New England, where soil was rocky and thin, the farms were worked mainly by family members, so there were few hired laborers. Instead, there were many merchants, whose income was drawn from overseas trade, and sailors, who served the ships.

The settlements of the colonies quickly grew – for example, the Massachusetts Bay Colony had more than one hundred towns by 1717. A legal preconditioning for founding these towns was signing a governing compact (like the Mayflower Compact), in which the settlers agreed to obey society's laws and church's ordinances.

The New England towns were ruled by a unique institution – the town meeting. The political assembly was open to all free men – people, who owned a minimum amount of property. Town meetings assembled at regular intervals and discussed such important issues as dividing common land fencing fields against stray animals, erecting bridges and building roads. The meeting elected a moderator and seven selectmen to serve as an executive committee. Town meetings were the initial stage of the future American democracy, as they made settlements really independent, though colonial legislatures had to answer to a governor appointed by the British King.

The development of self-government in New England could not remain unnoticed by British officials. The Massachusetts colony, for example, ignored the King's acts and declared its citizens exempt from all laws and royal decrees from England except for a declaration of war.

In 1686, King James II approved a proposal to create a Dominion of New England, which limited self-government and deeply affected the Puritan idea of "a city upon the hill". The creation of Dominion was opposed in the colonies and led to growing tension until in 1688 the Glorious Revolution in England changed the situation in dominions. New English rulers King William and Queen Mary reestablished colonial legislative government and ensured religious freedom for Protestants.

Gradually New England colonies were becoming more and more independent, but British foreign policy had great impact on the economy of New England, because the latter's participated in the wars on the side of mother country. In 1739, the War of Austrian Succession undermined Boston's economy, and the effect of that war could be felt for a decade after it had been finished. The taxes rose, shipbuilding declined, and the city experienced a severe blow.