Summer 2001, American History I, Notes from 6/07/01

American History I
Notes from 6/7/01

Today, I discussed the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries, covering material from both chapters 3 and 4 of the text. We tend to associate the movement for American independence with taxes, but as we saw today, through the 17th and 18th centuries there were also broader social, cultural and demographic factors widening the gulf between Great Britain and its American colonies.

All of the colonies experienced phenomenal growth during the century and a half leading up to the movement for American independence. Particularly during the first half of the 18th century, populations skyrocketed, from 260,400 in 1700 to 1,593,600 in 1760. Most of the American population remained rural (as it would until 1920), but colonial towns and cities also grew. In these cities, particularly in the northeast, there emerged a sophisticated commercial elite that was growing increasingly hostile to British mercantilism (see notes from 6/6).

British mercantilism had led to the passage of a Navigation Act in 1660; these and earlier measures sought to protect British merchant interests at the expense of American consumers, farmers and manufacturers. The 1660 Act stipulated (1) that no ship could trade in the colonies unless it had been constructed in England or the colonies, and (2) that certain goods produced in the colonies -- sugar, tobacco, cotton, etc. -- could be transported only to England or other colonial ports. A second law, known as the Staple Act (1663), stated that nothing could be transported to America unless it had been transshipped through England (thus raising the price of goods paid by colonial consumers. These kinds of restrictions aroused the ire of New England merchants, who were making great profits trading directly with the Dutch. They also generated opposition among Virginia's planter class, since duties and trade barriers cut into their tobacco profits. However, the Navigation Acts were largely ignored or circumvented, and although Parliament acted to close significant loopholes in 1673 and 1696, the tension over trade would not boil over until the mid 18th century.

In the south, a wealthy slave-holding planter class had emerged that began to take on the trappings of the English aristocracy and consider themselves peers rather than subordinates to the English. Class conflict in Virginia led to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, which some consider a precursor to the American Revolution (that may be an overstatement). Nathaniel Bacon was a wealthy aristocrat who arrived in Virginia expecting to be cut in on the lucrative trade with frontier Indians. But Virginia's royal governor, William Berkeley, had already given a select few of his friends the monopoly on the Indian trade, and was not about to cut Bacon and other newcomers in. Rebuffed by the governor, Bacon led a rebellion with other well-to-do recent arrivals, all of whom resented their exclusion from the royal governor's circle. Perhaps in a bid to gain wider support, Bacon also took up the cause of poorer land-hungry farmers, who wanted the royal governor to remove or exterminate Indians in Virginia, thus clearing the land for more tobacco cultivation. Bacon's men destroyed Jamestown in September, 1676. However, when Bacon died of dysentery a month later, the rebellion petered out. Bacon's Rebellion highlighted the growing tension between the royal governors, who answered to the Crown (and their own interests), and the South's emergent aristocracy.

Meanwhile, events back in England were driving immigration to America and creating instability in the colonies. A Civil War between English Puritans and the Anglican aristocracy had led to the execution of King Charles I in 1649, and the creation of a Puritan republic. From 1649 to 1658 a man named Oliver Cromwell ruled England as a virtual dictator, naming himself "Lord Protector." Cromwell instituted many of the measures that had been demanded by the Puritans, transforming England into a much more strictly regimented society. Not surprisingly, many loyal Anglicans and closeted Catholics would leave for North America during this time. By the time of his death in 1658, many Englishmen and women had tired of Puritanical rule, and began to call for a restoration of the monarchy. So in 1660, Charles' son, Charles II was asked to return to England and become king. This is known as the Stuart Restoration. Charles II had a relatively successful reign (1660-1685). However, his brother, James II, who became king in 1685 was not nearly so fortunate. Many of the English viewed James II as a Catholic sympathizer, and after the birth of a son by his second wife (a Catholic), the Parliament sought James' removal from the throne. In what is known as the Glorious Revolution (1688), James was forced into exile and replaced by his niece, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange. William and Mary, as king and queen, implicitly acknowledge the supremacy of the Parliament, and England was well on its way to developing a truly limited, constitutional monarchy.

While all this conflict was going on in England, the North American colonies were being settled. Migration to North America was directly related to the political, economic, social and religious turmoil back in England. Moreover, given England's own problems, the practice of benign neglect (allowing the colonies to develop with little interference) set in, and colonial legislatures grew stronger and more vocal. Moreover, the idea of a limited monarchy (or no monarchy at all) and participatory government, which culminated with the Glorious Revolution, would be at the heart of the American movement for independence which begins in earnest after 1765.

I referred to increasing non-English immigration to North America yesterday. As the percentage of native Englishmen in the colonies declined, the allegiance to the English crown would become more tenuous. Germans, Irish and Scots-Irish who migrated to the backcountry had no particular affinity towards Great Britain. Moreover, these groups, and African-Americans, would be greatly influenced by the religious revival known as the Great Awakening during the early 1700's. The revival movement was sparked in New England, by the Congregational minister Jonathan Edwards. During the 1730's, Edwards preached an uncompromising Puritan message, urging that people were totally dependent on God's will. Implicit in Edwards' sermons was the idea that Americans (particularly New Englanders) were a people chosen by God to "show the way." The English-born George Whitefield popularized Edwards' message during the 1740's and 1750's. His evangelical ministry attracted thousands, and ordinary people were encouraged to take a more personal, direct role in their own salvation. Moreover the evangelical movement gave many people a sense for the first time of belonging to a larger (American) community. As the religious fervor convinced some that Americans were indeed a chosen people, with a special relation to God, the inference that they were purer or more moral than their English counterparts was also drawn, thus further widening the gulf between colonists and the mother country.

A growing sense of self-righteousness also expressed itself in American political attitudes. The British prided themselves on the constitutional system which had culminated in the Glorious Revolution, but in reality British politics was quite corrupt and undemocratic. Because of property qualifications and other restrictions, only 20% of England's adult males could vote in elections for the House of Commons (the lower house of the Parliament), and in practice only Britain's landed aristocracy and commercial elites had real voices in government. By comparison, the American electorate was quite large. In Virginia, as many as 85% of adult white males could vote; in Massachusetts an even higher percentage. Popularly elected colonial legislatures during the 1700's became increasingly protective of their roles, often overpowering the royal governors. Whereas the royal governors were often (an not unfairly) seen as there to line their own pockets, the legislative assemblies began to self-righteously assert that they, and they alone, truly expressed the will of the people.

The cities of North America also began to produce a home-grown intellectual elite, epitomized by Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Franklin was a thinker of the Enlightenment, the European intellectual movement that championed scientific inquiry and rationalism. Englishman John Locke (1632-1704), another Enlightenment thinker, wrote strong arguments against absolute monarchy and in favor of government by consent, arguments that would resonate with Franklin and others of his generation. The Frenchman Montesquieu (1689-1755) expanded on Locke's views, and argued for constitutionalism, the idea that the rule of law should act to safeguard against both arbitrary kings and chaotic democracy. Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws (1752) would later provide a blueprint for the American constitutional system.

Beginning in 1689, four wars were fought on North American soil: King William's War (1689-1697); Queen Anne's War (1702-1713); King George's War (1743-1748) and the French and Indian War (1756-1763). For our purposes, the most important of these is the French and Indian War. You need not know the military details, the important point is that the war ended with the defeat of the French and their allies in 1763, and gave the English possession of almost all of the French holdings in North America:

But, as we will see on Monday, this newly-won empire would be costly to defends, meaning that the English would have to start looking to the colonies for additional tax revenues. The longstanding practice of benign neglect would soon give way to much more active oversight. Moreover, defending Canada and the Louisiana territory would require the permanent stationing of British troops in the colonies, creating a new tension in the relationship between colonists and mother country. The long period of imperial wars had other important ramifications as well. Some colonial leaders began to see the need for greater cooperation among the separate colonies. These included Benjamin Franklin, whose proposed a loose colonial union in 1754 to coordinate common defense and deal with Native Americans. Franklin's Albany Plan of Union was ultimately rejected by the colonies (who did not want to give up any of their autonomy) as well as by the British Parliament. But the Albany Congress and Franklin's proposal set an important precedent for potential future intercolonial cooperation, which would become vitally important after the British begin to raise taxes in 1764. Another important effect of this century of imperial war in North America was the creation of a better-trained officer class, drawn largely from the southern aristocracy. This group included a young George Washington, whose command of the Continental Army would be pivotal in the upcoming struggle for independence.

So, by 1763, most of the ingredients for an independence movement were in place:

Greater (non-English) ethnic diversity;
A more distinctly American religious awakening, and a slowly evolving sense of "being American";
A clash of political cultures;
Commercial, intellectual and landed elites;
A trained officer corps;
And (after 1763), a British Parliament that will begin to view the colonies as an important (and subordinate) source of revenues to finance Britain's newly-won empire.

Of course, when George III became King of England in 1760, the overwhelming majority of colonists were loyal to the crown. How and why that all changed, and the story of the movement for independence, will be taken up on Monday.