America: listening to the call of the almighty dollar

The economic motives behind the colonization of America affected every aspect of colonial life. Money was the essence of everything the colonists did from moving to the New World, interacting with Native Americans, owning slaves, moving within the New World, and revolting against England. Economic differences also defined each region of Colonial America and made them fundamentally more similar than different.

Only 2-5% of Europeans went to the New World. They went for primarily economic reasons, either to trade or earn money and go back to Europe, or to acquire land for economic stability in the New World. 5% of the people who went to the New World went for religious or political reasons, but even their happiness was influenced by their economic situations.

Arthur Barlowe was eager for both land and trade. In 1584, he wrote with astonishment about the ease of agriculture in the New World. He wrote not only about the diversity in the food available “every day a brace or two of fat Bucks, Conies [rabbits], Hares, Fish the best in the world…fruits, Melons, Walnuts, Cucumbers, Gourds…Country corn…” but also about the frequency it was harvested. “[The corn] groweth three times in five months.” He was amazed too when he stated, “The earth bringeth forth all things in abundance, as in the first creation, without toil or labour” and saw the New World as a modern Garden of Eden.

He was also eager to take advantage of the Native Americans in their ignorance of trade. Barlowe’s men “exchanged [their] tin dish for twenty dish skins, worth twenty Crowns, or twenty Nobles; and a copper kettle for fifty skins worth fifty Crowns.” Of more insight was his refusal to trade for the “great box of pearl” because it was so valuable to him and he wanted to find out where to get it without trading with the Natives.

The greed of settlers was inherent not only in the individual; but was also present in imperial proportions. The same year Barlowe was writing about the easy yields of the New World and enticing the commoners to go there, Richard Hakluyt was trying to convince Queen Elizabeth of the economic necessity of colonizing in the New World. Mercantilism caused competition between European countries for colonies and England needed colonies to survive. The countries would do anything for the land that would gain them an edge on the competition with other European countries.

Hakluyt told the Queen that “the soil yieldeth…all the severall commodities …that England tradeth withe” so that the profit would stay in the country. The cheap raw materials not available in England were a great benefit to the Queen because then she could eliminate trading with other parts of Europe and instead keep the profit. He also was sure to mention that the “passage cutteth not nere the trade of any prince” and thus wouldn’t start a war. Wars are expensive and the Queen wanted to avoid them. The passage was “neither longe nor shorte, but easie” and was “to be performed at all times of the year” so that there was no interruption in the income. To the Queen, the colonies meant new markets, new taxes, and status. The Queen wanted to have political and economic, and colonies were a reflection of this power. Additionally, Hakluyt suggested the Natives would provide a new market for England’s goods. The colonists too would provide a market for England and be able to relieve the Mother Country of its critical land shortage.

Robert Cushman’s “Reasons and Considerations for leaving England” of 1622 shows how this economic desperation of the people had grown. There was too much competition and not enough space and food to accommodate the English. “Each man is fain to pluck his means as it were out of his neighbour’s throat, there is such pressing and oppressing in town and country, about farms, trade…so as a man can hardly any where set up a trade but he shall be put down two of his neighbours.”

Cushman felt these economic pressures would be alleviated if there were more area over which to spread the people. He saw the “spacious land, the way to which is through the sea” as a land of great opportunity where they could “end this difference in a day.”

Even as early as Cushman, there is evidence of these economic motives affecting the relationships of Europeans and Native Americans to create mistrust and animosity. Cushman calls the Natives “heathens” and compares them to “foxes and wild beasts” so he can justify “the lawfulness of inhabiting” the New World and stealing the land.

In 1782, Hugh Henry Brackenridge wrote, “The Indians Have No Exclusive claim to America” indicating the motivation of settlement was so weighty that the Europeans had ceased to consider the Natives as even human. Brackenridge called them “animals” and compared their claim on the land to that of a buffalo occupying the land. He used their different culture in dress and decoration as proof of their being uncivilized, like an animal or criminal: “a wild Indian with his skin painted red, a feather through his nose…a second wild Indian with his ears cut in ringlets, or his nose slit like a swine or malefactor.” He continued his degradation of them when he wrote “[t]hey have the shapes of men and may be of the human species, but certainly in the present state they approach nearer the character of Devils.”

In contrast of his comparison to the Natives as “devils,” he sought to show Europeans as doing God’s work by taking the land: “Revelation said to man, ‘Thou shalt till the ground.’ This alone is human life.” Because the Natives did not make use of “civilized” methods of agriculture, they were not seen as human and did not deserve to be treated as such. Brackenridge felt extreme superiority to the Natives and had no qualms about stealing their land. Quite the contrary, he encouraged Europeans to completely drive the Natives out of the region.

The first settlement of England, Jamestown in the Chesapeake, is more evidence of the economic motivation of the Mother Country. Jamestown was initially settled as a charter by the Virginia Company. The Shiplist of the Merchant’s Hope of 1635 reflects the attitudes of the English. (Even the name of the ship belies the motivation for going to the New World – to make money quickly, then return to Europe and England to spend it). The list is disproportionately young men. There are no families and the labor status is primarily servants or freemen. The people on the list all had “taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy” because the Crown was afraid that the people might otherwise be politically or religiously changed by the Spanish and Portuguese (both nationalities practiced the Catholic religion) who were also in the New World.

The Laws of Virginia in 1619 reflect this continued obsession with money. Laws “against idleness, gaming, drunkenness, and excesse in apparel” were all enacted to discourage behaviors which would inhibit the ability to make money. Additionally, specific areas of plantation of Mulberry trees were allotted to people as well as regulations concerning silk-flaxe. “Whosoever do faill in the performance of this shalbe subject to the punishment of the Governour and Counsell of Estate.” This was again a way to make money and reduce foreign trade. Silkworms eat mulberry and by producing silk-flaxe, England would be able to discontinue its trade with China.

Because the Chesapeake was comprised of mostly young men, there was little chance to form natural families. The result was an inability to procreate and produce “home-grown labor.” To counteract the labor shortage, George Alsop lied to his own countrymen in his 1666 “Narratives of Early Maryland.” He promised indentured servants would have days of leisure where they would be able to “do little or no work or employment…unless their Ingenuity will prompt them to hunt the Deer, or Bear…for every servant has a Gun, Powder and Shot allowed him, to sport him withal on all Holidayes and leasurable times, if he be capable of using it, or be willing to learn.”

This description was a far cry from Landon Carter’s “Growing Tobacco” of 1770 where he explains the grueling days spent on this process. The motive for Alsop’s deceit was to supply the Chesapeake with the much-needed labor to continue to grow and thrive in order to make money. As the conditions had improved in England, fewer indentured servants went to the Chesapeake. Alsop’s failure to recruit laborers and the continuing shortage resulted in the need for slaves.

Alexander Falconbridge’s “Account of the African Slave Trade” of 1788 recounts the methods used to procure the labor Alsop was unable to entice. “Kidnapping is not only the general, but almost the sole mode, by which slaves are procured.” The slaves were beaten, raped, starved, and finally sold into a life of bondage so that the English colonies in the Chesapeake would be able to continue to produce their quantities of tobacco and maintain their economic standing.

Compared to the Chesapeake, the people who went to New England were very different. Those bound for New England were of the 5% who left seeking religious freedom. Mostly large families went to New England. Although they were seeking religious freedom, they wanted to attain economic stability as well.

J. Pond’s "Letter to Parents" of 1631 addresses these economic motivations to go to New England. “Spring cattle thrive well here, but they give small store of milk. The best cattle for profit is swines & good swine is here at 5 pounds price, a goose is worth 2 pounds, a good one got. Here is timber [in] good store & acorns [in] good store, and here is good store of fish if we had boats to go for [them] & lines to serve to fishing.”

Reverend Thomas Welde’s document of 1632 is very similar. It is especially telling of the economic motives how each document is so careful to detail the exact prices of goods. “And although there was wanting at the first that provision at the first glut of people that came over two years since, but blessed be God, here is plenty of corn that the poorest have enough. Corn here is at five shillings six pence a bushel.”

People bound for New England wanted to re-create Old England minus what they didn’t like and be as a “citty upon a hill” for the rest of the world. Winthrop’s idea of utopia also included economic stability. He said they would be empathetic to each other’s needs, “make others’ conditions our oune.” He felt that this “citty upon a hill” must have a close bond between community members. Although it was fate that some were richer or poorer, they needed to all have the same ideas, desires, assumptions, etc.

First through the “great migration,” and then through natural reproduction of New England, overpopulation led to conflicts within and between families, churches, and towns. King Phillip’s war increased the already-difficult land pressures. It was very difficult to divide land between the settlers. Each new generation only served to increase the problem.

These conflicts are easily seen in Edward Johnson’s “Founding of the Town of Wooburn, Mass.” of 1654. It demonstrates the difficulties New England leaders experienced in regard to land pressures. “These seven men ordered and disposed of the streets of the Town, as might be best for improvement of the land, and yet civil and religious society maintained.” The conflicts of the New England colonies eventually led some people to migrate into the Middle Atlantic colonies.

The Middle Atlantic was the best Poor Man’s Country. There was a lot of inexpensive land available so people came from the Chesapeake and New England to claim it. The westward movement allowed continuing low land prices and high wages.

Thomas Parke’s letter to his sister in 1725 expresses the opportunities to buy low-priced land in the Middle Atlantic.

Land is of all Prices Even from ten Pounds, to one hundred Pounds a hundred, according to the goodness or else the situation thereof, & Grows dearer every year by Reason of Vast Quantities of People that come here yearly from Several Parts of the world, therefore thee & thy family or any that I wish well I would desire to make what Speed you can to come here the Sooner the better.

Some of the people who took advantage of this opportunity, were migrants from the Chesapeake. In the 1687 the List of the Inhabitants of Kent County, Delaware, small families owned incredibly large amounts of land. The families of Thomas Pemberton and Georg Kendall jointly own 1848 acres of land. Using the capital they had earned from the Chesapeake, they were able to purchase vast amounts of land in the Middle Atlantic to fulfill their ambitions of wealth of security for their families.

The Middle Atlantic was economic center of the Atlantic trade route. It was in the middle of the Chesapeake and New England and thus people from both those colonies migrated to the Middle Atlantic. The cities that developed in the Middle Atlantic allowed for the specialized labor of the settlers. People were able to get jobs regardless of their occupation (because all occupations were necessary) and make a profitable living.

Gabriel Thomas’s “High Wages in PA” of 1698 shows this ability to find employment:

I must need say, even the present Encouragements are very great and inviting, for Poor People (both Men and Women) of all kinds, can here get three times the Wages for their Labour they can in England or Wales [including]: Blacksmiths, Sadlers, Carpernters, House and Ship Coller-Makers, Masons, Barbers, Taylors, Printers…

Through its inexpensive land, key location, and excellent opportunity for workers, the Middle Atlantic had grown into a mature colonial economy. Jacob Hamm’s inventory reflects this mature economy. When Hamm died, his inventory shows that he had in his possession items from Africa (slaves), the Caribbean (rum), Spain (Madera Wine), England (pots and pans), China (China bowl), and Dutch (Dulphware). The ability to procure and sell all these items shows that the Middle Atlantic region was a very profitable one.

Part of the reason this region was more economically stable from its onset than either the Chesapeake or New England was its diversity. In Hector De Crevecouer’s “Religious Toleration in Pennsylvania” (1770), his supposition of a walk down a common PA street includes the houses of a Catholic, a Lutheran, and a Puritan all living peacefully side-by-side. These people were not met with persecution due to their different religious beliefs:

How does it concern the welfare of the country, or his province, what this man’s religious sentiments are, or really whether he has any at all? He is a good farmer, he is a sober, peaceable citizen: William Penn himself would not wish for more.

People were accepted instead at their productivity and their good for their city: “This is the visible character, the invisible one is only guessed at and is nobody’s business.”

The settlers progressed beyond being merely accepting of diversity and made friends among the other classes. Rev. Andrew Burnaby’s “Thumbnail Sketch of NY” (1760) shows how although they were of “different nation, different languages, and different religions,” they enjoyed each others’ company and held “balls and sleighing expeditions in the winter; and, in the summer, going in parties upon the water and fishing.” This account also is evidence to the confidence of the settlers that the economy would remain stable. Additionally, it is more evidence of the mature economy with luxuries including balls and Italian chaises.

The mature economy is again reflected in Peter Kalm’s “Impressions of New Jersey and New York”(1750). He wrote about how the acceptance and generosity shown to the people of the Middle Atlantic extended to visitors as well. “[W]e were welcome to go into the fine orchards and gather our hats and pockets full of the choicest fruit without the owner so much as looking at us.”

As time progressed, the Enlightenment and its economic appeal came to America. The Enlightenment taught people they could rise above their born station and that hard work would be rewarded in this world. Ben Franklin’s "Poor Richard's Almanac" reflects the economic appeal of the Enlightenment’s messages: “Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright.” Benjamin Franklin was the poster boy for the Enlightenment and the messages of that time period were influential in causing the Revolution.

Like all aspects of the New World, the Revolution was a result of a preoccupation with economic motivations. After the French and Indian War, England wanted to impose a small tax on the colonies to help pay for the war. The colonies did not want to pay this money. They wrote in the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, “That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives.”

Time progressed and England imposed additional taxes. The colonies felt more embittered and became more vociferous in their rejections of the taxes. As the feelings of both sides escalated, each felt more justified in their stance. Thomas Paine wrote "Common Sense" in 1776 in which he compared Parliament to “parasites” which were slowly sucking the life out of the colonies. This was the catalyst the colonies needed to make a decision. Short months later, the Declaration of Independence was signed and there was no turning back on the fighting that had already begun.

From the first thoughts of leaving England through the American Revolution, economic motivations were the driving factor that affected the decisions of the colonists.

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