European-Indian Cooperation and Colonist Opposition of the Navigation Acts

Mercantilism and the Navigation Acts

Mercantilism describes policies that would cause a nation to become less dependent on external suppliers, sell more items overseas than it purchases to increase wealth, and hurt the economic interests of outside opponents, all in an attempt to guarantee its affluence. Britain’s mercantilism manifested itself in the many Navigation Acts which allowed commerce in the colonies to only be from English or colonial ships, required colonial exports like sugar and tobacco to only be sent to England, and forbid the importation of items unless from an English ship.

These acts helped start the shipbuilding industry in the colonies, furthered the shipping business, limited trade options, promoted different markets in the economy, and allowed various cheap British items to be exported and then sold in the colonies with no competition. The Navigation Acts and Mercantilism are important because they affected the colonial economies in various ways and led to a “consumer revolution” where colonists were able to buy many more British items as well as copy some aspects of the British way of life (95). (pg. 94-95)

James Oglethorpe

James Oglethorpe, Georgia’s first governor and founder, chose Savannah as the entrance for immigrants and abhorred slavery. He believed that slavery made Georgia economically worse since it took work from whites and was against the founding ideals, leading slavery to become legally banned in George as well as the amount of land owned by a person to be limited. Georgia would eventually become another plantation colony because it became clear that it was not economically profitable to manage Georgia in Oglethorpe’s original vision. James Oglethorpe would help the British efforts in the War of Jenkins’ Ear, but he is also a key figure because he was one of the few prominent leaders in that time who advocated against slavery.

Stono Rebellion

The Stono Rebellion was a damaging revolt by some slaves in 1739 that started when twenty slaves got weapons from a store. They had eighty more men join them and then set out for Spanish Florida in hopes of escaping. They caused a good amount of damage and killed some whites before the militia soon encircled and slaughtered them. This event’s significance is that hardened South Carolina’s slavery rules and maintained its racist views. (pg. 105)

Middle passage

The Middle passage was the journey by ships that transported African slaves from West Africa to the New World. These ships had horrific conditions for the enslaved Africans and some died as a result. The Middle passage is significant because it was how so many Africans were transported to the Americas for labor and it helped affect the ethnicity distribution. It is remembered today as an example of egregious European action that ruined the lives of millions with many descendants of those millions still living in America today.

Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was a movement of reason and understanding from the late 1600s to 1700s that emphasized the importance of logic as well as science. It inspired some colonists, particularly the well-educated, prompting them to engage more in science and affecting some of their views. The Enlightenment is quite a paramount event because some of its ideas influenced Anglo-American colonists as they revolted from Britain and established a new country of democracy. (pg. 90, 114, 116-117)

Deists

Deists were people who believed that in cases where reason and the Bible disagreed, it should be reason, not the Bible that should be obeyed. They also thought that God allowed his flawless universe to work based on natural laws and did not supernaturally interfere with what happened in it. Deists are important because they reflected how far some people applied Enlightenment ideas and how the Enlightenment affected quite a lot of people with some more radical than others. (pg. 117)

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards was a great thinker, but also a Congregationalist preacher who at his church in Northampton, Massachusetts, guided a revival in 1735. His sermon “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” is particularly famous for its clearness and candor. Jonathan Edwards is a notable person because he played a crucial role in the Great Awakening as well as its obscuring of Protestant sects, focusing more on the religious experiences of Protestants. (pg. 118, 120)

George Whitefield

George Whitefield, a young clergyman from the Anglican church, was a masterful orator and came in the colonies in 1739 to preach. His preaching around the colonies motivated thousands to convert to Christianity and he was very popular. In the aftermath, he also helped cause divisions between the ministers taking part in the revivals, the New Lights, and the rationalist clergymen, the Old Lights. George Whitefield is a noteworthy figure because he was another crucial figure in the Great Awakening, uniting its various revivals and helping weaken denomination segregation. (pg. 89-90, 118-120)

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was the most well-known colonial Enlightenment thinker and in 1732, published his famous Poor Richard’s Almanack of mottos and adages. He retired rather early at age forty-two because he was wealthy enough and began pursuing his interests in the community and science. He organized a group of scientific pursuit called the American Philosophical Society, showed that lightning was electrical energy with his kite experiment, donated his money to various organizations like churches, and contributed many new ideas to society. Benjamin Franklin is extremely significant because he was a key colonial figure in spreading Enlightenment ideals, and he would later play a vital role in the colonial Revolution against Britain as well as the creation of America. (pg. 90, 116-118, 100, 102)

Short Answer-Question Responses:

Good relations with nearby Indians mainly contributed to the relative strengths of the French and Spanish empires in North America, helping them maintain their large amounts of territory for some time. Many of the French colonists needed to trade for certain items and so maintaining at least decent relations with the Indians was very important. Furthermore, the French colonies depended quite a bit on items for their fur and skin trades which the Indians helped supply them with. In addition, due to their bad locations, some French colonies relied on the Indians to protect them since they could not attract many white immigrants and thus lacked a large population with several whites.

The Spanish also relied on the Indians to cooperate with them as they too were limited in number. This would allow the Spanish to try to compete in the southeastern commerce of deerskin, arrange attacks on English Carolina, and have some support in defending a few of their forts. However, relations with Indians were not always good for both countries and may have led to conflicts, fighting, or even enslavement of Indians.

Meanwhile, the British empire’s relative strengths in North America came from expanding into new territory, conquering hostile Native Americans, using a lot of slaves, and a large population. British colonists wanted more land and so they often pressured or fought nearby Natives for theirs. Other factors may have helped, but this expansion allowed farms and plantations to enlarge while also helping some new colonists to obtain land. The British colonies also used extensive amounts of slaves, most of whom were foreign Africans.

With slaves, some colonists were able to amass large amounts of wealth from their plantations while most others who had slaves prospered a little bit from the extra labor. Lastly, the English colonies originally attracted numerous immigrants although the rate of which eventually slowed. But, these new immigrants combined with normal population growth helped the English colonies to have much larger populations than their foreign competitors, resulting in many more workers who helped diversify and grow the various economies. (109-114)

America in the mid-1700s was made up of mostly British people, followed by Africans, and then various other European groups. The majority were still whites, but the black population had roughly doubled from around eleven percent in the early 1700s to about 20 percent in the mid-1700s. The amount of other Europeans in America had increased during the mid-eighteenth century because improved conditions in England meant that less English were immigrating to the colonies while problems elsewhere led to more people immigrating. The black population had increased so much because the increased use of slavery, mostly on plantations and farms, resulted in more imported Africans and more African families. White masters also began keeping their slaves in better health, increasing the average African person’s lifetime and African population growth.

As for the social class structure of America in the mid-1700s, wealth and race played large factors in determining one’s social standing. Slaves and Indians were at the bottom of this structure as whites saw them as inferior and maintained “new slavery”. A level above them were the creoles and very few free blacks who could better communicate with whites and had slightly better conditions than slaves. Above the creoles and free blacks were the poor, indentured, and servant whites in America.

They lacked economic stability and depended largely on their superiors for work and money. Moving up the social “ladder”, there were the farming families and the middle-class who lived decent lives with moderate income. Lastly, the elite and upper class of society was the gentry, who had plenty of wealth and controlled a lot of the land in colonies. The gentry was further divided between the greater gentry, the top two percent in wealth, and then the richest two to ten percent was also known as the lesser gentry.

The Enlightenment’s most significant results in the British colonies were its effects on religion, science discovery, and its eventual effect on the American revolution. Because the Enlightenment increased emphasis on logic, many of its followers embraced a religion that was less focused on emotion and more “rational.” This led some to follow deism, a new idea that God created the universe and does not interfere with it. The Enlightenment also highlighted science and encouraged people to question how things logically function.

As a result, colonists gathered together to discuss and explore nature with some people forming collaborative groups like the American Philosophical Society. Lastly, many of the Enlightenment ideals would inspire the American Revolution, important American figures during the revolution, and the creation of America afterward. Someone who was involved in all three of these effects and embodied the Enlightenment was Benjamin Franklin, a very well-known figure even today.

The most significant results of the Great Awakening in the British colonies were its many effects on Protestantism, the creation of new colleges, empowering of white women, and the spread of Protestant beliefs to other ethnicities. Contrary to the logic and science which the Enlightenment emphasized, the Great Awakening’s emphasis on emotion meant that ministers spoke directly to people’s emotions and were amazing speakers. This would result in revivals that would convert thousands of people, but would also promote divisions within Protestantism. Because of the division between Old Lights and New Lights, new colleges became created as both groups did not want to be affected by the other.

Meanwhile, the Great Awakening would also help weaken some Christian sects such as the Quakers and promote other denominations like the Presbyterians. All in all, the many effects on Protestantism would stress the importance of similar experiences and cloud the distinctions of Protestant groups. In addition, the Great Awakening would give some more power and freedom to white women in church meetings, allowing them to have more influence and leadership. Finally, an important result was the extension of Protestantism to blacks and Indians, some of whom would adopt this faith or merge parts of it with their current religion.

Mercantilism benefited the colonies by starting the colonial ship-making industry, helping the shipping industry, and promoting the formation of productive cities. Because these acts allowed trade to be only be conducted with British or English ships, more ships needed to be constructed and utilized. This encouraged the rise of shipbuilding, a new commercial industry, as profitable and important to the Anglo-American economies.

Better and more ships improved the shipping industry by increasing transportation methods and allowing for easier long-distance shipping. More shipping led to the need for things like storage spaces and ports with ideal harbor locations or cities like Philadelphia quickly supplying these needs. Inevitably, more ships moving in and out of docks would lead to more commercial activity and more diversity. With more and more people becoming involved, this would either allow the development of a larger, more prosperous city or the formation of a new city.

Even though there were benefits, the colonists opposed the Navigation Acts because they limited the general economic activity of the colonies and restricted trade with foreign nations or businesses. As trade outside of Britain may have been brought in more profit, these limitations may have restrained the economic prosperity for some colonists. Especially for merchants who traded or sold lots of items, they may have lost quite a profit if they were limited to only British consumers when foreign consumers might have been willing to pay more. In addition, limited trade with other nations would have meant that colonists who wanted to obtain foreign goods would be severely restricted.

This would have led them to oppose the Navigation Acts because they were inhibiting the colonists from acquiring what they wanted. These acts would have also imposed more British control over the colonies, something the colonists may not have liked very much and furthered their opposition. Ultimately, for all those who were negatively affected by these acts, resentment toward the British would have increased or continued to grow.