Bonds of Empire

1
Bonds of Empire

• 1660-1750

2
Primitive Structure of Colonial America

• Colonies had a deep-rooted, and increasingly
  experimental, political culture.
• English forms of Representation
• Magna Carta (1215)
• Parliament (ca. 14th century)
• Explosion of political argument (1630-1660)

3
Self-government by the Kings Command

• Settlers came from intensely religious and
  political background, independent minded
• Charters allowed colonies to govern themselves
• Each colony develops representative government,
  but with restrictions on suffrage

4
Mercantilism

• Political-economic theory and practice common in
  Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries that
  aimed at guaranteeing prosperity by making a
  nation economically self-sufficient by
  eliminating dependence on foreign suppliers,
  damaging foreign competitors, and increasing net
  stock of specie.

5
Royal Centralization

• Crown attempts to recover power in its colonies
• Navigation Acts (1651)
• Revokes charters to create Dominion of New
  England (1686)
• Edmund Andros appointed governor

6
Mercantilist Empire

• Navigation Acts (1651 1733)
• First Navigation Act (1651)
• Required that all colonial trade be carried on
  English or colonial owned vessels in order to
  wrest control of trade from Dutch
• Navigation Acts of 1660 1663
• Barred colonial merchants from exporting sugar
  and tobacco anywhere but England

7
Mercantilist policies

• All governors instructed to discourage
  manufacture
• Legislation prevented colonies from being
  economic competitors
• Forbid colonies to export wool, yarn, or cloth
• Banned export of hats
• Iron castings allowed, but rolling mills or steal
  furnaces banned.

8
Effect of Navigation Acts Mercantilist

• Limited all imperial trade to British owned ships
• Contributed to Britain as a naval and shipping
  power
• Restriction of enumerated exports
• Colonists turn to non-restricted exports
• Encouraged Economic diversification
• Made colonies a protected market

9
Glorious Revolution, 1688-1689

• James II, a convert to Catholicism,
• Created a standing army
• Installed Roman Catholics in Army, Government,
  and Universities
• Declaration of Indulgence allowed Catholics and
  Dissenters to worship freely
• Birth of a son would allow for a Catholic
  succession

10
Glorious Revolution

• Kings daughter Mary married to William of
  Orange, protestant ruler of Netherlands
• William and Mary encouraged to deposed James II
• Army abandons the King in favor of William and
  Mary, James flees
• James II deposed without loss of life

11
Colonial Reaction

• Andros and councilors arrested
• Colonies resumed their separate existence
• Cotton Mather sent to London to work out new
  charter (witch hysteria breaks out in his absence)

12
Significance of Glorious Revolution

• Reestablished legislative government
• Ensured religious freedom for Protestants
• William and Mary allowed colonial elites to
  reassert control over local affairs, governors to
  call annual assemblies
• Identify interests with England

13
Why Colonial Control Failed

• Mercantilism on its last legs
• American Shipbuilding
• Colonial America had advantage in Ship building
• Cheapness of ship building encouraged fishing
• America had the most skillful whalers in the
  world
• America quickly and stealthfully catching up in
  manufactures

14
Mercantilism on its last legs

• Entrepreneurial capitalism on the rise
• American colonies fastest growing element in
  empire 500 expansion in half century
• Economic Output
• 1700 only 5 of Britains
• 1775 2/5s of Britains economy

15

• Standard of living in colonies higher than
  England or Europe
• Low poverty rates
• Only 2-3 of middle age white males were poor
• 1/3 had no property function of age
• No functional class barriers

16
Enlightenment

• Decline of Calvinism, not Religion
• High literacy rates
• Creation of public sphere
• Confidence in human reason, skeptical of beliefs
  not founded on science or logic

17
Undermining of Christianity Religion

• Age of Exploration
• Protestant Reformation
• Wars of Religion

18
Intellectuals

• John Locke (1632-1704)
• Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
• Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

19
Deism Natural Religion

• Belief in a creator God based on reason rather
  than revelation, who created the world, and left
  it to operate according to natural law.
• Clock-maker God Theory

20
Great Awakening

• American Religion
• Undogmatic, moralistic rather than creedal
• Began with German Pietism
• Emphasis on leading a holy life without worry
  about doctrinal disputes
• Rural

21
William Tennent, 1673-1745

• Log College
• Frontier Religion
• Camp Meetings
• Linked knowledge of God with spirit of knowledge
  itself

22
Jonathon Edwards, 1703-1758

• First major thinker in American History
• Polymath
• Salutary Terror
• Rejects Calvinist doctrine of Elect
• Emphasis on love
• Influenced John Wesley George Whitefield

23
George Whitefield

• Itinerate Preacher
• Camp Meetings
• First American Public Figure

24
Significance

• Turned European Churches into American
• Evangelical Vigor
• Downgrade the clergy
• Little stress on liturgical correctness
• Individual experience
• Emphasis on Education Founding of new colleges

25
Significance

• Spread beyond White male society
• New Lights reached out to slaves and Indians
• Emphasis on piety over intellectualism
• Increased female participation
• Blurred denominational lines
• Pulpits shared
• Emphasis on salvation over doctrinal argument