Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

37

CHAPTER 4

The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century,

1689-1763
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After you read and analyze this chapter, you should be able to:
1.

Compare and contrast the regional economies of British North America and analyze where new
immigrants could most hope to prosper.

2.

Describe regional differences in settlement patterns, family structure, labor systems, and cultural
adaptation and explain why they arose.

3.

Indicate which Enlightenment concepts and philosophical theories took root in the American
colonies and which significant new ideas and institutions were stimulated by the Great
Awakening.

4.

Describe the structures of government in the colonies, explain why the governors failed to
exercise much power, and analyze how Englishmen and colonials portrayed the role and power of
the colonial assemblies differently.

CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.

II.

The English Transatlantic Communities of Trade

A. Regions of Commerce
1. Englands colonies were divided into five distinct regional economies and a
backcountry economy.
a) Britains Caribbean possessions produced sugar.
b) The Lower South produced rice.
c) The Chesapeake economy centered on tobacco.
d) New England concentrated on fishing, timber, shipbuilding, and international
commerce.
e) The Middle Colonies focused on wheat and overseas trade.
f)
The backcountry had a subsistence-level economy.
B. The Cords of Commercial Empire
1. The colonies traded abroad widely.
a) The majority of their trade was with England.
2. The colonies also traded extensively with each other.
Community and World in Colonial Society
A. The Emergence of the Yankee
1. A wealthy merchant elite arose in the seaport towns by the end of the seventeenth
century.
a) Although economic success replaced older values, older attitudes toward
education remained.
2. Land became scarce in the eighteenth century.
a) New Englanders moved to new farming regions or to commercial centers.
b) New immigrants avoided settling in New England.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

38

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

B.

Planter Society and Slavery

1. Until the 1680s, much of the population consisted of indentured male servants engaged
to work in the tobacco fields.
2. In the 1860s, however, the drawbacks to African slavery began to vanish.
a) Mortality rates fell in the Chesapeake.
b) The Dutch monopoly on the slave trade was broken by the English and
competition among English slavers drove prices down and ensured a steady
supply of slaves.
c) The prosperity of the region depended on slave labor.
C. Slave Experience and Slave Culture
1. The transit from Africa to North America was a brutal experience, especially on the
middle passage.
2. Isolation on small plantations and continual new arrivals on larger ones made it
difficult for a distinctive slave culture to emerge.
D. The Urban Culture of the Middle Colonies
1. The urban life of New York City and Philadelphia was what made the Middle Colonies
distinctive.
a) Urban problems included overcrowding, disease, and crime.
b) Varied opportunities for employment were their major attraction.
2. The highest concentration of African Americans in the northern colonies lived in New
York City.
a) Urban racial tension took the form of fear of slave uprisings and led to great
violence.
E. Life in the Backcountry
1. Demographer Thomas Malthus believed the eighteenth-century population explosion
in the English mainland colonies was without parallel in history.
2. Most immigrants in the eighteenth century settled in the backcountry.
a) They were joined there by the sons of older families in the East, who were
searching for land.
III. Conflicts Among the Colonists
A. Slave Revolts, North and South
1. Slave owners lived in fear of revolts.
a) The odds against a successful uprising were high, and few slave rebellions
occurred; the Stono Rebellion was the most famous that did.
B. Clashes Between the Rich and the Poor
1. Backcountry inhabitants were often in conflict with colonial governments.
a) Disputes over Indian policy gave rise to conflict, as in the case of Pennsylvanias
Paxton Boys.
b) South Carolinas Regulators objected to insufficient government services in the
backcountry.
c) North Carolinas Regulators began an armed rebellion because of corrupt
government officials.
IV. Reason and Religion in Eighteenth-Century Colonial Society
A. The Impact of the Enlightenment
1. American colonists were influenced by the ideas of the European Enlightenment,
which stressed reason and progress.
a) Some were drawn to deism.
b) Many accepted John Lockes social contract theory.
B. Religion and the Religious Institutions
1. Religious toleration grew as the number of Protestant sects in the colonies increased.
a) Toleration did not extend to Catholics.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

b)

39

Toleration was not defined as separation of church and state; established churches
remained.
2. Indifference to religion also grew.
a) Women, however, tended to remain more involved in the churches.
C. The Great Awakening
1. This movement for religious revival stressed the importance of fiery preaching.
a) The greatest preaching of all was that by the visiting George Whitefield.
2. The revival movement caused conflict in colonial society.
a) More traditional clergymen and the wealthy resented attacks on them,
controversies broke out within churches and denominations, and religious
affiliation often translated into political positions and to class tensions.
3. New colleges were established.
V. Government and Politics in the Mainland Colonies
A. Imperial Institutions and Policies
1. Reorganization of the British Empire in 1696 resulted in the creation of the Board of
Trade.
a) In reality, authority over the colonies remained divided among many agencies in
the British government.
2. The British governments policy for the colonies was one of salutary neglect.
B. Local Colonial Government
1. Each colony had the same governing structure: a governor, a council, and a
representative elected assembly.
2. Governors possessed extensive authority but often could not exercise it.
a) The assemblies paid the governors salaries, among other reasons for their
weakness.
3. The assemblies continually broadened their powers.
a) The members had the advantage of being from a small, intimate, and permanent
elite.
C. Conflicting Views of the Assemblies
1. English authorities and colonists had very different ideas about the powers of colonial
assemblies.
a) The colonists saw a two-level system: England responsible for the British Empire
and the colonial assemblies responsible for local government.
b) The English saw only a single system: the king and Parliament were supreme in
everything.
VI. North America and the Struggle for Empire
A. Indian Alliances and Rivalries
1. Many Indian tribes had formed alliances with colonists to assist the newcomers,
protect themselves and advance their own interests, or defeat local rivals.
a) Imperial rivalries, however, often took precedence over alliances with European
newcomers.
B. An Age of Imperial Warfare
1. The first four wars (of five) fought by England, France, and Spain angered the
American colonists.
a) Serious hostilities occurred in North America, but the only outcomes were taxes,
inflation, impressment of colonial sailors, and greater commercial regulation.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

40

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

C.

D.

The Great War for Empire

1. Worldwide conflict between England and France began in 1754 and lasted until 1763.
a) In the wars North American theater, the French and their Indian allies attacked
deeply into English territory.
b) Britain eventually counterattacked in Canada and defeated the French at Quebec.
c) All of New France fell to the English in 1760 with the capture of Montreal.
The Outcomes of the Great War for Empire
1. France lost most of her possessions around the world.
a) In North America, France ceded Canada to the British.
2. England emerged from war deeply in debt.
3. Mutual suspicion split the American colonists and the British.
a) The Americans had continued to trade with the French during the war.
b) The British military had behaved arrogantly, seized colonial goods, and quartered
troops at colonial expense.

IDENTIFICATIONS
Identify the following items and explain the significance of each. While you should include any
relevant historical terms, using your own words to write these definitions will help you better remember
these items for your next exam.
1.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney

2.

religious revival

3.

Yankee

4.

alma mater

5.

discrimination

6.

seasoning

7.

middle passage

8.

urban

9.

apprentice

10. milliner
11.

manumit

12. demographics
13. Scots-Irish
14. Stono Rebellion
15. Paxton Boys
16. Regulators
17. Enlightenment
18. philosophe
19. deism
20. social contract
21. Trinity

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

22. established church

23. Congregationalism
24. charismatic
25. itinerant
26. Great Awakening
27. George Whitefield
28. denomination
29. proprietor
30. insubordination
31. sovereignty
32. salutary neglect
33. enumerate
34. corporate colony
35. bureaucrat
36. power of the purse
37. deference
38. oratorical
39. ad hoc
40. Creek Confederacy
41. Great War for Empire
42. Treaty of Paris

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
Select the correct answer.
1.

2.

3.

The economies of most of the English colonies revolved around

a.
fishing.
b. manufacturing.
c.
agriculture.
d. mining.
Backcountry regions throughout colonial North America
a.
produced large crops for export to England.
b. traded extensively with the Spanish Empire.
c.
had a low-level subsistence economy.
d. produced precious metals in competition with the gold and silver mines of the Spanish
Empire.
In New England during the eighteenth century,
a.
scarce land impelled many to move farther west or to commercial centers in the region.
b. slavery increased dramatically in importance.
c.
farming declined in favor of the logging industry.
d. a surge of new immigration depressed labor costs.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

41

42

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

4.

Slavery increased in the South after 1680 because

a.
fear of slave rebellions dramatically declined.
b. French slave companies aggressively marketed more Africans.
c.
the supply of indentured servants fell off.
d. Virginia shifted from subsistence agriculture to tobacco growing.
5. Few cities developed in the Chesapeake region because
a.
it was a depressed, poverty-stricken area.
b. merchants did not settle there.
c.
it was too warm for dense settlement.
d. legislation there imposed high taxes on urban development.
6. Slaves in the Lower South were more readily able to develop their own culture than those in the
Chesapeake because
a.
their owners permitted it.
b. they were concentrated in large numbers on plantations.
c.
their life span was longer.
d. All of these
7. The Stono Rebellion in 1739
a.
was one of the revolts by indentured servants in American history.
b. pitted a planter aristocracy against backcountry farmers.
c.
existed mostly in the paranoid imagination of southern whites.
d. convinced southern whites that the possibility of slave uprisings was high.
8. The Middle Colonies were distinguished by
a.
the absence of conflict with the backcountry.
b. disinterest in the theories of John Locke.
c.
escaping harm in the French and Indian War.
d. the dynamic urban life of New York City and Philadelphia.
9. According to social contract theory,
a.
business contracts can always be altered if both parties agree.
b. people have a right to rebel if the government violates their natural rights.
c.
a monarch has a contract with God to rule on earth.
d. government should provide social services for a communitys citizens.
10. A wonderful power was in the room and with one accord they began to cry out and weep most
bitterly for the space of half an hour. Some of the people were . . . crying to God for mercy. This
quotation is a description of a Great Awakening sermon preached by a(n)
a.
Old Side Congregationalist.
b. Old Side Presbyterian.
c.
Methodist.
d. deist.
11. Colonial assemblies tended to
a.
take a dim view of slavery.
b. be dominated by generations of elite families.
c.
promote a spirit of egalitarianism and democracy.
d. liberally pay the governors.
12. The growth of Protestant sects and denominations in colonial America led to
a.
the growth of the concept of religious toleration.
b. equality for Catholics.
c.
an end to established churches.
d. a surge in religious participation and attendance at church services.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

43

13. The policy of salutary neglect meant that England

a.
centralized all authority for administering the colonies.
b. abolished the Board of Trade.
c.
decided that London would pay the royal governors.
d. permitted relaxed enforcement of a great many laws and regulations.
14. What Europeans called the Seven Years War the colonists were more likely to call
a.
the War of Jenkins Ear.
b. Queen Annes War.
c.
the French and Indian War.
d. King Georges War.
15. The Great War for Empire
a.
ended with Britain victorious everywhere over France.
b. led to the expulsion of the Spanish from the Western Hemisphere.
c.
removed the Iroquois League as a threat to the American colonists.
d. brought Britain and the colonies closer together than ever before.

ESSAY QUESTIONS
1.

Internally, the American colonies during the eighteenth century were anything but calm places.
Describe the issues that created tension within colonial America and provide examples of how
they sometimes boiled over in open conflict.
DEVELOPING YOUR ANSWER: The presence of large slave populations made white colonists
fearful of slave uprisings. To keep the slaves under control, slave patrols guarded the roads, and
brutal punishments were meted out in the southern colonies. Although the odds against successful
uprisings were great, several uprisings did occurand not just in the southern colonies. Examples
are the slave plot of 1712 in New York City and South Carolinas Stono Rebellion in 1739. You
could also discuss the repression in New York City in 1741 that followed rumors of a slave
conspiracy.
Tension between settlers in the backcountry and colonial governments in the East also existed,
arising frequently around the issue of what to do about the Indians along the frontier, but also
because of corrupt government officials and insufficient government services. Open conflicts
between East and West erupted in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina, each of
which you should describe and analyze.
You might also discuss the different kinds of controversies that occurred because of the Great
Awakening.

2.

Suppose for a moment that the British government decided to abandon its policy of salutary
neglect and to assert greater control over the American colonies. Explain why the colonial
governors would have had a hard time implementing the new policy.
DEVELOPING YOUR ANSWER: Although on paper the colonial governors had broad powers,
in reality they were weak. Their written instructions often limited them. They were often men of
little ability. They were unable to use patronage in order to exercise control. Worst of all, the
governors were under the thumb of the assemblies because the latter paid their salaries.
You should also explain that colonial political leaders belonged to a small elite whose members
knew each other. The governors had little chance of cracking open this fraternity and taking
control.

3.

While the colonies shared many experiences, they also differed greatly. Compare and contrast
them in as many areas as possible.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

44

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

DEVELOPING YOUR ANSWER: The question requires that you explain what similarities
existed. Items you can explore include fear of slave uprisings; insufficient land for newcomers and
the younger generation, forcing many to settle in the backcountry; conflicts between western
settlers and colonial governments; the Great Awakening; and the colonists view of their
assemblies.
Contrasts include very different economies; residence in towns in New England but scattered rural
settlement elsewhere; planter elites in some colonies; and greater reliance on slavery in some
colonies.
4.

Before the controversies that preceded the American Revolution (1763-1776), the English
colonists did not question Britains right to rule them. The seeds of rebellion, however, were
probably present long before. Do you agree?
DEVELOPING YOUR ANSWER: The colonists absorbed John Lockes theory of the social
contract during the eighteenth century, which included the idea that people have the right to rebel
against a government that tramples on their natural rights.
Aside from theory, actual experience made the colonists assertive when it came to political issues.
The most prominent example is their insistence on controlling the governors, something that was
possible because the assemblies set their salaries. Moreover, their experiences during the Great
Awakeningarguing, debating, and opposing established authorities like the traditional ministers
imparted habits conducive to standing up for their rights and for what they believed in.
The colonists view of their assemblies also made them assertive. In claiming supreme authority
for the assemblies in local matters, they already were indicating opposition to the British claim
that the assemblies were subordinate to the king and Parliament.

MAP EXERCISES
1.

To analyze the regional distribution of different ethnic groups in colonial America, consult the
Chapter 4 opening map. Why did English immigrants concentrate where they did, and why did
immigrants from Germany and Ireland tend to settle elsewhere? Why were the Dutch concentrated
in one particular area?

2.

Why were Native Americans in the northeast prone to becoming involved in the struggles for
empire that engulfed North America in the eighteenth century? Consult Maps 4.1 and 4.2 in order
to explain this development.

INDIVIDUAL CHOICES
Eliza Lucas Pinckney
To answer the following questions, consult the Individual Choices section at the beginning of the
chapter.
1.

What happened to Eliza Lucas when she was 16? Was her situation unique? Why or why not?

2.

Was she successful in her management of the plantation? What accounted for this success or lack
thereof?

3.

What is the best source of information we have about Eliza and her life and work? Could you use
the same type of source to document life today? Why or why not?

4.

How did Elizas work affect her interest in marriage? Did she differ from her contemporaries?
Why or why not? Would you have made the same choice in your personal life if you were Eliza?
Why or why not?

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

5.

45

How did history repeat itself during Elizas life? Does this surprise you? Why or why not?

INDIVIDUAL VOICES
Examining a Primary Source: Eliza Lucas Challenges Traditional
Plantation Life
To answer the following questions, consult the Individual Voices section at the end of the chapter.
1.

What is a patriarchal society and why is that significant to this discussion?

2.

Why was Elizabeth Lucas unique?

3.

Explain what is meant by her demanding schedule. How does it differ from your schedule?

4.

What do her comments tell you about race relations on her plantation?

5.

Do you think the men of the period spent the same amount of time devoted to learning?

6.

What arguments could be raised against the program to educate slaves? What benefits might come
from the education of slaves?

7.

Eliza is clearly proud of her latest moneymaking project, yet she doesnt want to go into too much
detail about her plans to her friend. What reason does she give for this hesitancy? Would you feel
the same way? Why or why not?

ANSWERS TO MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

1.

2.

3.

c.
South Carolina and Georgia produced rice and indigo, the Chesapeake colonies grew
tobacco and wheat, and the Middle Colonies produced wheat. See pages 89-92.
a.

Fisheries were of economic significance only in New England. See pages 89-92.

b.

None of the colonies possessed an industrial capacity. See pages 89-92.

d.

This was of no economic significance in any of the colonies. See pages 89-92.

c.

From north to south, the frontier region produced just enough for survival. See page 90.

a.

For the subsistence economy of the backcountry, see page 90.

b.

See page 90.

d.

See page 90.

a.

See pages 92-93.

b.

See pages 92-93.

c.

See pages 92-93.

d. Scarcity of land and urban poverty diverted new immigrants away from New England. See
pages 92-93.
4.

c.

See page 94.

a.
Fear of slave rebellions was a constant preoccupation, well into the next century. See pages
96-97.
b.

See page 94.

d. Virginia had raised tobacco from the beginning of its existence early in the century. See
pages 94-95.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

46
5.

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

b.
The population there imported goods directly from England and had little need for
merchants who were intermediaries. See pages 98-99.
a.
While there were poor people, there was also a prosperous slaveowning class. See pages 9899.

6.

7.

c.

There is no evidence for this. See pages 98-99.

d.

There is no evidence for this. See pages 98-99.

b.
96.

Isolated there in large numbers, they were more able to develop their own culture. See page

a.

It was the absence of their owners that counted. See pages 95-97.

c.

There is no evidence for this. See pages 95-97.

d.

Only 6b is correct. See pages 95-97.

d.

This uprising resulted in actual deaths among white settlers. See pages 99-100.

a.
Rather than a revolt by indentured servants, the Stono Rebellion was a revolt by slaves. See
pages 99-100.

8.

b.

The revolt in no way resembled Bacons Rebellion. See pages 99-100.

c.

The Stono Rebellion was very real. See pages 99-100.

d.

See pages 95-98.

a.
The rebellion by the Paxton Boys in Pennsylvania demonstrated that conflict between the
East and the backcountry existed in the Middle Colonies. See page 101.
b.

Lockes ideas were widely accepted throughout all of the colonies. See page 102.

c.
The colony of New York suffered from attacks by the French and their Indian allies. Albany,
New York, was threatened. See pages 110-112.
9.

b.

Social contract theory justified revolution. See page 102.

a.
Social contract theory defined the limits of governments power; it had nothing to do with
business law. See page 102.
c.
In social contract theory, a governments right to rule is derived from the consent of the
people and not from God. See page 102.
d.

This twentieth-century idea was not part of Lockes social contract theory. See page 102.

10. c.
The quotation describes the passion associated with the Great Awakening, and George
Whitefield, its author, was associated with Methodism. Followers of the Great Awakening often
joined the Methodists. See pages 102-104.
a.

The term Old Side connoted opposition to the Great Awakening. See pages 102-104.

b.

For the reason given in 10a. See pages 102-104.

d. Deists were not involved with religious movements like the Great Awakening, although like
Benjamin Franklin, they could be moved by its preaching. See pages 102-104.
11.

b.
This gave the assemblies an advantage over the colonial governors because it made its
members into a cohesive group. See pages 105-107.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4: The English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, 1689-1763

a.
Opposition to slavery did not develop during the Colonial Era of American history. See
pages 105-107 for what primarily concerned the assemblies: their power in the British imperial
system.
c.
If anything, they benefited from the colonial tradition of deference to members of the elite.
See pages 105-107.
d. The assemblies sought to constrain the power of the governor, doing so mainly by
controlling his salary. See pages 105-107.
12. a.
b.

See pages 102-103.

Catholics could not vote or hold office in any colony. See pages 102-103.

c.
They continued in the southern colonies, in Connecticut, and in Massachusetts. See pages
102-103.
d.
13. d.

The numbers that did not participate actually grew. See pages 102-103.
Salutary neglect meant that the colonies were largely left alone. See page 105.

a.

See page 105.

b.

See page 105.

c.

The colonial assemblies always had this power. See pages 105-107.

14. c.
It received this name because the English fought not only the French but also their Indian
allies. See page 113 (Table 4.1).
a.

See page 113 (Table 4.1).

b.

See page 113 (Table 4.1).

d.

See page 113 (Table 4.1).

15. a.
England triumphed over France in North America, India, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.
See pages 110-113.
b. It was the French who were expelled from virtually all of North America. See pages 110113.
c.

The Iroquois were allied with the English. See pages 110-113.

d. The war drove a wedge between the English and the colonies. Each resented the actions of
the other during the war. See pages 110-113.

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

47