Essay On How Did The British North American Colonies In 1750

How did the British North American colonies in 1750 differ politically and economically from those in 1650? Were there important continuities?

There are an abundant amount of differences, some major and some minor, between the two time periods of 1650 and 1750. There were also quite a few similarities as well. Firstly focusing specifically on the economics portion, in 1650 the slavery business wasn’t as widespread as it was in 1750. In fact, in 1650 indentured servitude was the more common variety of labor workers the colonists relied on. In the text it states, “About 80 percent of the immigrants to the Chesapeake during the seventeenth century came as indentured servants” (Roark 60). This evidence exhibits the fact that slaves weren’t exclusively

Tobacco is what saved the Jamestown settlement and helped it enhance its resources that deemed it valuable. And tobacco continued to be an important part of the colonies exports in 1750, “Tobacco was by far the most important export from British North America…” (Roark 122). This quote emphasizes the significance that tobacco held in the colonies market. Another difference between 1650 and 1750 economically would be the population spike in 1750. According to the book it states, “... British America is its phenomenal population growth: from about 250,000 in 1700 to more than two million by 1770” (Roark 107). So from this quote you can obviously deduce that the eighteenth century had a much higher citizenry compared to the amount of citizens it held within the seventeenth century. Another factor the remained the same would be the trading amongst the English colonies, trading amongst the colonies was fairly common due to the English creating the Navigation Acts. This is where we get to the political side, the Navigation Acts was a set of laws crafted by England that demanded the colonists to do all international/global trade to be shipped via the British

During the seventeenth century the majority amount of the colonists to come to British America were coming for religious freedom, they desired to be out of grasp of England’s strict laws on following and practicing Protestantism. Once the new colonists had arrived they carried their individual beliefs with them, although the majority was Puritanism. These colonists that were apart of the seventeenth century were very closed minded and had a genuine belief that they were above everyone else and too good to participate in helping the colonies grow, “... Colonists clung to English notions that gentlemen should not work with their hands and that tradesmen should work only in trades for which they had been trained,” (Roark 56). Essentially, the colonists held themselves of an esteem in such a manner that the colonies were bound for failure if they hadn’t given up to those ridiculous principles and lend a helping hand. But this example is such a sharp contrast to the colonists’ work ethic in the eighteenth century, that generation of colonists had such a strong motivation to succeed ad work hard for what they want, they were unstoppable. It can be deducted that the sudden shift in attitudes toward responsibilities shifted upon realizing that it was life or death to put in effort in the success of the new colonies, and eventually