Colonial Elections

Examples of Colonial Elections in the following topics:

• An Emerging Colonial System

  • The colonies began as disparate political units, eventually merging themselves into thirteen cohesive colonies.
  • Elections were carnivals where all men were equal for one day and traditional restraints relaxed.
  • Saybrook Colony was founded in 1635 and merged with Connecticut Colony in 1644.
  • Carolina colony was divided into two colonies, North Carolina and South Carolina, in 1712.
  • Both colonies became royal colonies in 1729.

• Blue Water Imperialism

  • In practice, this meant that British "liberties" and cultural practices were extended to the colonies through overseas trade, weaving the colonies together while forcefully displacing American Indians from their land and building the economy on the exploitation of slave labor.
  • Therefore, Anglo-American colonies were extensive communal cultures, centered on the civic and political sphere.
  • Elections became the main forum in which men could publicly profess political allegiances, demonstrating local civic pride to a community that placed high importance on it.
  • Such widespread participation in local community governments was characteristic solely of the Anglo-American colonies.
  • This 19th century lithograph depicts colonial sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean.

• The Language of Liberty

  • The American language of liberty is a concept deeply rooted in the Anglo-American colonial experience as well as the American Revolution.
  • Therefore, Anglo-American colonies were extensive communal cultures, centered on the civic and political sphere.
  • Elections became the main forum in which men could publicly profess political allegiances, demonstrating local civic pride to a community that placed high importance on it.
  • Such widespread participation in local community governments was characteristic solely of the Anglo-American colonies.
  • Instead, American colonial politics revolved around the notion of public civic life and responsibility, an ideology that included:

• The Election of 1816 and the Monroe Presidency

  • The doctrine was issued at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal had achieved independence from the Spanish Empire (except Bolivia, which became independent in 1825, and Cuba and Puerto Rico).

• English Administration of the Colonies

  • Each colony had a paid colonial agent in London to represent its interests.
  • Provincial colonies, also known as royal colonies, were under the direct control of the king, who usually appointed a royal governor.
  • Proprietary colonies were governed much as provincial colonies except that Lords Proprietors, rather than the king, appointed the governor.
  • Massachusetts began as a charter colony in 1684 but became a provincial colony in 1691.
  • In a charter colony, Britain granted a charter to the colonial government establishing the rules under which the colony was to be governed.

• Conclusion: Patterns of British Settlement in the Colonies

  • Through the 17th century, Great Britain established 13 colonies in North America and greatly expanded its colonial reach.
  • In the early 1700s, the population in the colonies had reached 250,000.
  • The early colonies also contributed to the rise in population in English America as many thousands of Europeans made their way to the colonies.
  • The colonies differed substantially in their economics; while northern colonies relied heavily on the emergence of industry and the production of goods to sell or trade, southern colonies arose out of agriculture and the production of staple crops.
  • Southern colonies especially relied on slavery, but all colonies benefited from the institution.

• The Economy of the Middle Colonies

  • The Middle Colonies flourished economically due to fertile soil, broad navigable rivers, and abundant forests.
  • The Middle Colonies comprised the middle region of the Thirteen Colonies of the British Empire in North America.
  • The partly unglaciated Middle Colonies enjoyed fertile soil vastly different from the nearby New England colonies, which contained more rocky soil.
  • Because of the large grain exports resulting from this soil, the colonies came to be known as the Bread Basket Colonies.
  • While the Middle Colonies had far more industry than the Southern Colonies, they still did not rival the industry of New England.

• Georgia

  • The Province of Georgia was chartered as a proprietary colony in 1733 and was the last of the 13 original British colonies.
  • The Province of Georgia, also called Georgia Colony, was one of the southern colonies in British America and the last of the 13 original colonies established by Great Britain.
  • In 1755, Georgia officially ceased to be a trustee colony and became a crown colony.
  • In practice, settlement in the colony was limited to the vicinity near the Savannah River.
  • The Georgia Colony would act as a "buffer state" (border) or "garrison province" that would defend the southern part of the British colonies from Spanish Florida.

• Settling the Middle Colonies

  • The Middle Colonies consisted of the middle region of the Thirteen Colonies of the British Empire in North America.
  • The Middle Colonies tended to mix aspects of the New England and Southern Colonies.
  • Its large exports led to its constituent colonies becoming known as the Bread Basket Colonies.
  • While the Middle Colonies had far more industry than the Southern Colonies, they still did not rival the industry of New England.
  • Compare the culture of the Middle Colonies with that of other English colonies

• English Colonies

  • A single person or family owned proprietary colonies, also called charter colonies.
  • Investors owned Joint Stock colonies.
  • A Joint Stock colony would sell shares.
  • The Jamestown colony became a small city within the larger colony of Virginia (which became an economically successful colony due to tobacco).
  • The colonial South included the plantation colonies of the Chesapeake region and the lower South.