Early Us History
Patrick Newman
Dr. Christine Eisel
U S to 1877 - HIST 2010 M51 December 7, 2012
Final Exam
1. The economy plays an important role in colonial America. The leaders on the New England colonies prided themselves on the idea that religion was the primary motivation for emigration, but economic motives were hardly unimportant. The American colonial economy was export-driven, although by far the largest share of output was consumed internally. Joint stock companies financed the initial conquest of New England and the Chesapeake colonies. Investors were expecting profits from the riches of the New World but would end up basically paying the colonists' bills. After several years of trial and error, the colonists discovered that agricultural goods such as corn, wheat, tobacco, rice, indigo, and naval stores were in great demand in England and Europe. By the mid-seventeenth century, trade under England's support was mutually beneficial. The English navy protected colonial commerce, and colonists gained a guaranteed market in England and access to English and Scottish credit and manufactured goods. The English gained markets for manufactured goods, profits from the sale of colonial staples on the Continent, and interest payments on the credit they extended. Each colonial region developed its own peculiar economy. Staple export economies, using indentured or slave labor, developed in the southern colonies. Although a majority of free and indentured white colonial migrants came from towns where they had been artisans and wage laborers, the colonies were overwhelmingly agricultural. Farm operators relied heavily upon their families for labor. While fathers and older sons cleared land and planted, cultivated, and harvested grain or other staples, mothers and older daughters operated the dairy and vegetable gardens. The greater the level of staple production, the higher the likelihood that farm operators had access to labor beyond the family. Tobacco was
Dr. Christine Eisel
U S to 1877 - HIST 2010 M51 December 7, 2012
Final Exam
1. The economy plays an important role in colonial America. The leaders on the New England colonies prided themselves on the idea that religion was the primary motivation for emigration, but economic motives were hardly unimportant. The American colonial economy was export-driven, although by far the largest share of output was consumed internally. Joint stock companies financed the initial conquest of New England and the Chesapeake colonies. Investors were expecting profits from the riches of the New World but would end up basically paying the colonists' bills. After several years of trial and error, the colonists discovered that agricultural goods such as corn, wheat, tobacco, rice, indigo, and naval stores were in great demand in England and Europe. By the mid-seventeenth century, trade under England's support was mutually beneficial. The English navy protected colonial commerce, and colonists gained a guaranteed market in England and access to English and Scottish credit and manufactured goods. The English gained markets for manufactured goods, profits from the sale of colonial staples on the Continent, and interest payments on the credit they extended. Each colonial region developed its own peculiar economy. Staple export economies, using indentured or slave labor, developed in the southern colonies. Although a majority of free and indentured white colonial migrants came from towns where they had been artisans and wage laborers, the colonies were overwhelmingly agricultural. Farm operators relied heavily upon their families for labor. While fathers and older sons cleared land and planted, cultivated, and harvested grain or other staples, mothers and older daughters operated the dairy and vegetable gardens. The greater the level of staple production, the higher the likelihood that farm operators had access to labor beyond the family. Tobacco was