American colonies by 1763 Flashcards
Governors
Each colony had a governor, who was appointed, and could only be removed by, the king (apart from in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware, where the proprietor of the colony appointed the governor, and in Connecticut and Rhode Island, where governors were elected).
The power of the governors was limited by the British government, and by the colonial legislatures who they depended for revenue and their salary.
Colonial legislatures
The upper house tended to be appointed by the governor, dominated by the colonial elite, and could veto the lower house. Lower houses were elected and wielded considerable power - because they were elected they held greater legitimacy, and they controlled taxation and spending. The legislatures tended to meet once or twice a year to make laws and deal with money matters.
British political hegemony
The colonies were legally tied to Britain by their charters. The king and privy council could review colonial laws, but vetoed them sparingly (just 5% of the time).
The Board of Trade, Secretary of State for the Southern Department, Treasury, War Office and Admiralty were all involved in imperial administration.
Most colonies employed agents in London to communicate their concerns.
Salutary neglect
Policy of leaving the colonies to govern themselves.. As far as Britain was concerned, Parliament was still the ultimate authority in the colonies, but salutary neglect meant that, by 1760, many colonists no longer recognised this.
Agriculture in the colonies
farming remained the dominant economic activity, employing 90% of Americans.
NE economy
New England remained a land of small subsistence farms.
New England fishermen brought back great quantities of cod, to be dried and exported.
More than half of New England’s export trade was with the West Indies, which supplied the colonies with sugar, molasses and other tropical products.
New England distilleries turned molasses into rum.
Middle colonies economy
The Middle Colonies were a major source of wheat and flour products for export to other colonies, the West Indies and Europ
Southern colonies economy
Tobacco was the main product of the southern economy. Tobacco exports rose from £14 million in the 1670s to £100 million in the 1770s. Rice, indigo and grain were also produced for export.
Mercantlism
The belief that colonies existed essentially to serve the interests of the mother country. The colonies existed to supply the mother country with raw materials, buy its manufactured goods and provide employment for its shipping.
Mercantilist policy
Between 1651 and 1673 the Trade and Navigation Acts were designed to establish an English monopoly of the colonial shipping trade, the colonial market and certain colonial products:
All cargoes to or from the colonies were to be carried in ships built and owned in England and manned by English crews.
Enumerated commodities such as sugar, cotton, indigo, dyewoods, ginger and tobacco could only be exported from the colonies to England, even if they were ultimately destined for elsewhere.
Laws restricting colonial manufacturing
the Woollen Act 1699 forbade the export of woollen yarn and cloth outside the colony in which it was produced
the Hat Act 1732 prohibited the export of colonial beaver hats
the Iron Act 1750 banned the export of colonial iron outside the Empire (these laws affected comparatively small industries).
Flaws in mercantilist system
smuggling was rife, and customs officials were routinely bribed.
How did war of Austrian Succession 1940-48 affect relationship with the colonies
Britain was too absorbed fighting in Europe to send much help to the colonists, but the Royal Navy ensured that French and Spanish colonists faced the same problem.
The New England colonies, particularly Massachusetts, bore the brunt of the colonial war effort, being closest to the centres of French population. Sailors were pressed into the Royal Navy, young men served in militia, and the economy was damaged. Hundreds of militiamen were killed.
War of Austrian Succession outcome
The colonists’ greatest victory came in 1745 when they captured Louisbourg, but they were appalled when the British handed Louisbourg back to the French in 1748, following the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle.
Tension between France and colonies
Fort Duquesne, 1754: The French began to build a chain of forts along the forks of the Ohio River, threatening the interests of the Ohio Company.
Washington led a Virginia militia to stop the French, meeting them at Fort Duquesne. Fighting broke out when Washington’s force attempted to take the fort, but it was forced to retreat and fell under siege. Washington surrendered. The British sent a force to Fort Duquesne, but General Braddock and 2000 troops were destroyed in a French-Indian ambush. This marked the beginning of the French-Indian war, fought from 1754-63 (this conflict would later merge with the wider Seven Years’ War).
