English Colonies in an Age of Empires

The American Journey
A History of the United States
Chapter 4
Economic Development and the Imperial Trade in British Colonies
The British leaders came to see the colonies as indispensable. Raw materials were shipped from the colonies back to the mother county. To improve its competitive position in the transatlantic trade, England adopted the policy of mercantilism, consisting of several, but four major regulations. This policy proved beneficial for them and colonial economies grew in tandem with Great Britain. The first regulation ended Dutch dominance in overseas trade was named the Navigation Act of 1651. This act required all trade in the empire to be conducted in English or colonial ships. The second stipulated that certain colonial goods could only be shipped to England or another English Colony. The third and fourth regulations further enhanced the advantage of English manufacturers who produced for the colonial market by subsidizing certain goods. This allowed the colonies and cities to grow and become more profitable. It also allowed the rich to become richer and the poor became poorer.
The Transformation of Culture
Many influential settlers worried that America remained culturally inferior to Great Britain. This led to the British elites building grand houses and filling them with British imported goods, thus making it more consistent with the British gentry. Colonists imported “courtesy books” which contained rules of polite behavior, the practice of personal cleanliness, social ranking in society, and information about respecting other people’s feelings, traits all trait exhibited by the English. Some colonists even reshaped their religious beliefs, from strictly Puritans to Anglican and eventually others chose their right to the right to exercise their religious choice.
The Colonial Political World
Religion also fostered the development and progression of politics. When James II became King, he decided to take control over the colonies. This was not implemented before, when his brother Charles, was King. James II sought to combine the colonies into three or four larger provinces. He appointed powerful governors to carry out the policies, which he created. James II was rejected by the colonists, mainly because of anti-Catholic sentiment, and his plan did not work.
Expanding Empires
By the middle of the seventeenth century, Spain and France increased their competition with England for land, trade, resources and Indian Allies, in America. The Spanish expanded into Texas and California to create a buffer zone around their existing colonies. The Spanish encountered resistance in Texas, when they escorted the French and Indians allied with the French. Spain then established forts in California to keep the Russians from gaining a foot hold. They erected forts and used the natives as slave labor. The natives experienced treatment from the Spaniards which was cruel and not humane. Women were sexually exploited and they lived in overcrowded unsanitary dwellings. Spain’s empire grew, even as they weakened.
The French expanded along the Mississippi and Louisiana. The French relied on their allies, the Indians, for expansion. That was also particularly true for communication. With over one thousand miles between colonies, the French needed to be allies with the Indians in order to communicate to the other colonies. If the Indian chose not to allow the France “free passage” over their land, France’s New World Empire would be seriously compromised.
A Century of Warfare
The expansion of empires in North America resulted in competition for power and wealth. English foreign policy limited the expansion of French influence. This in return resulted in four wars, fought on both American and foreign soil. As the eighteenth century progressed, the conflicts between the two countries involved more and more of their American colonies as well as Spain and their colonies.
War of the league of Augsburg (also known as King William’s War), involved the Dutch Protestant William of Orange and the Catholic king of France. William then brought England into the war. The war lasted eleven years with a negotiated peaceful ending. The war of the Spanish Succession (also known as Queen Anne’s War) followed in 1702 and lasted until 1713. That war also had a negotiated peaceful ending. Both wars reestablished the balance of power and very little territory changed hands. The third war, War of the Austrian Succession (also known as King George’s War), began as a small war between Britain and Spain, in 1739. In 1844, France joined the war against the Britain and violence erupted in America. The war ended in 1748, when Britain returned Louisbourg to France. The final war was the Seven Years War (also known as French and Indian War), beginning in 1754 and ending in 1760. The war involved French soldiers and began when they erected a fort in Virginia. The troops plan was to oust Washington’s British forces. When the war was over, Britain acquired Canada and all of French territory east of the Mississippi. Britain also gained Florida from Spain. When everything was said and done, the British had accomplished what they set out to do, moving closer to an equal partnership with England, in the world’s most powerful empire.