Development of the North American Colonies

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Development of the North American Colonies
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Pennsylvania Colony (1680)

• Proprietary colony William Penn (devout Quaker)
• 45,000 acres west of the Delaware Ri.
• It was established as a place of religious
  toleration

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Quaker Religion

• George Fox founder
• Inner Light
• Unique Beliefs
• People are born innately good
• People were social equals
• Pacifists
• Religious toleration
• Equality of the sexes
• They believed in being plain
• Dress
• Meeting houses where they worshiped
• No ceremony to their lifestyle

4
Preachers of their Faith

• Evangelical
• Puritans did not appreciate this
• Mary Dyer
• She died at the hands of people who, ironically,
  came to America seeking religious freedom, yet
  were intolerant of other religions

5
Pennsylvania Economy

• Farming - weather and soil were good for growing
  crops like wheat.
• Longer growing season than NE
• Effective transportation route (Delaware R. )
• Commerce

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Government

• Government led by Quaker leaders (Penn was
  governor)
• Established religious toleration
• Fair to Natives
• Denounced slavery
• Some owned slaves

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The Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania

• Protestants from the borderlands of England
• Rough people moved to wilderness
• No respect for native cultures
• The Scotch-Irish had problems dealing with the
  government
• Paxton Boys

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East v. West - The Backcountry

• Backcountry populated by poor like Scotch-Irish
  in all colonies
• Had to deal with native Americans
• Eastern capitals out of touch w/ western problems
• Bacons Rebellion

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Economic Management of the Colonies

• Mercantilism
• Navigation Acts (1651) - Help manage mercantilist
  economic system
• Examples
• British captains and crews
• European nations could not trade directly with
  the colonies
• Certain commodities like sugar, tobacco could not
  be traded to other nations
• England was a guaranteed market
• Enforcement was lax up until 1763
• Customs officials could be bribed

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Salutary Neglect

• England granted American colonies with a great
  deal of autonomy
• Robert Walpole
• Colonists became used to having autonomy, so when
  Britain tried to rein them in after the F-I War,
  there were issues.