Adding New Colonies: The Restoration and the proprietary Rise of Proprietary Rule in North America

Chaos in England and the Restoration Period

• The English Civil War and the Republic ($1640$ - $1660$):

  • These two decades were characterized by political upheaval in England.
  • King Charles I was executed by beheading.
  • England was transformed into a republic governed by the Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell.
  • During this period of internal conflict, no new colonies were founded in the Americas, although existing colonies continued to receive immigrants.

• The Restoration ($1660$):

  • Monarchy was restored when Charles II, the son of Charles I, took the throne.
  • Charles II introduced a renewed interest in overseas colonization along with a lifestyle of fiscal excess and elaborate court culture.
  • Between $1660$ and his death in $1685$, Charles II rewarded loyalists who had supported him and his father during the English Civil War by granting them massive tracts of land in North America.

Proprietary and Royal Colonies

• The Proprietary Model:

  • Under Charles II, colonies such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Carolina were established as proprietary colonies.
  • Proprietary colonies functioned similarly to medieval fiefdoms; the proprietors acted as the ultimate authorities, maintaining control over all governmental institutions and actions.
  • At various points in their history, colonies including Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware operated under proprietary rule.

• Transformation to Royal Colonies:

  • By the early $18^{th}$ century, many proprietary colonies transitioned into Royal Colonies, placing them under the direct administration and control of the English Crown.

The Maryland Colony

• Origins and Founding:

  • Captain John Smith originally encountered the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay region during his early explorations.
  • In $1632$, George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, petitioned King Charles I for a royal charter. Having previously established a colony in Newfoundland, Calvert sought a new territory because the Newfoundland climate and soil did not meet his expectations.
  • George Calvert was a devout Catholic convert and intended the new colony to be a sanctuary for English Catholics who faced religious restrictions in England.
  • Calvert desired a southern location with a kinder climate suitable for the cultivation of tobacco, the era’s primary cash crop.
  • George Calvert died in April $1632$ before the charter was finalized. The charter was instead granted to his eldest son and heir, Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore.
  • The colony was named Maryland in honor of Henrietta Marie, the wife of King Charles I.

• The Maryland Charter and Social Structure:

  • The charter was unique because it granted the Calverts actual ownership of the land. Colonists were required to swear oaths of allegiance specifically to the Baron.
  • The Baron held the authority to sell land to aristocrats, effectively creating a landed aristocracy within the colony.
  • Maryland became the first proprietary English colony in North America.

Settlement and Early Life in Maryland

• The Arrival:

  • Leonard Calvert, the younger brother of Cecilius, was appointed governor.
  • Approximately $300$ colonists traveled on two ships, the Ark and the Dove.
  • They landed at St. Mary’s on March $27$, $1634$.
  • The initial settlers included both Catholics (including Jesuit priests) and Protestants.

• Progressive Governance:

  • Maryland is noted among the original $13$ colonies for its relatively progressive stance on religious freedom and Indigenous relations.
  • The administration practiced fairness toward Native peoples, which included the formal purchase of land rather than seizure.
  • The colony initially guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians.

• Labor and Slavery:

  • The first Africans arrived in Maryland in $1642$.
  • As Maryland was intended as a tobacco-growing state, a large labor force was required. While indentured servants were the standard, Africans arrived as slaves.
  • Early Marylanders were hesitant to enslave fellow Christians; consequently, if an enslaved African was baptized, there was a possibility of them being set free. This created a tension between religious practice and the financial interests of slave owners.
  • Eventually, the colony enacted laws to explicitly protect the property rights of slaveholders and those with indentured servants.

Conflict and Religious Policy in Maryland

• External and Internal Tensions:

  • Maryland faced immediate conflict with Virginia, its neighbor to the south. Virginia, already a royal colony, wished to incorporate the Maryland territory into its own and feared competition in the tobacco market.
  • The English Civil War exacerbated internal tensions: the Catholic Calverts supported King Charles I, while many Protestant settlers in Maryland and Virginia supported the Parliament.

• The Plundering Time:

  • In $1644$, Captain Richard Ingle seized St. Mary’s and initiated a period known as the Plundering Time.
  • Ingle terrorized citizens, seized property, and captured Jesuit priests to be sent back to England as prisoners.
  • Order was only restored in $1646$ when Governor Leonard Calvert returned from exile in Virginia.

• The Maryland Toleration Act of $1649$:

  • After Leonard Calvert’s death in $1647$, Thomas Greene took the governorship, followed by William Stone in $1648$ (the first Protestant governor appointed by Lord Baltimore).
  • To ease tensions between the Catholic minority (who held power) and the Protestant majority, the Maryland Toleration Act of $1649$ was passed.
  • This act guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians, representing one of the most liberal religious policies in the English colonies at the time.
  • However, the act was restrictive: it only applied to Christians, and anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ could face the death penalty.

• Repeal and Restoration of Control:

  • The act did not fully ease Protestant suspicions of Catholic favoritism, leading to recurring rebellions until $1689$.
  • Following the execution of Charles I in $1642$ (with Cromwell coming to power), Oliver Cromwell gave control of Maryland to William Clayborne, a loyal supporter.
  • Clayborne influenced the Maryland Assembly to repeal the Toleration Act and passed a ban making the public practice of Catholicism illegal.
  • Lord Baltimore eventually negotiated with Cromwell's government to reinstate his own governor, though Protestant unrest persisted until the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, who fully supported Baltimore.
  • Philip Calvert served as temporary governor before Charles Calvert (the heir) arrived in $1661$.

The Restoration Colonies: The Carolinas

• Establishment and Governance:

  • In $1663$, Charles II issued a charter to $8$ loyal supporters to serve as feudal-style Lord Proprietors of the province of Carolina.
  • In $1670$, they founded Charles Town (later Charleston), named for the King.

• Economic Development:

  • Around Charles Town, settlers produced livestock for export to the West Indies.
  • In the northern regions, pine tree sap was harvested to create turpentine and tar for waterproofing wooden ships.
  • Rice and indigo (a plant used for dark blue dye favored by royalty) became the primary crops in the southern region by the $1700$s.

• Migration from Barbados:

  • In $1669$, settlers from Barbados (an English colony since $1624$) migrated to Carolina as land opportunities on the island diminished.
  • These migrants brought significant experience in colony building and a firm belief in plantation-style slavery as the primary solution to labor needs.

• French Huguenot Influence:

  • French Protestants, or Huguenots, fled to Charleston starting in $1685$ due to religious persecution.
  • Their rights in France had been established by the Edict of Nantes in $1598$ (signed by King Henry IV) but were revoked by Louis XIV in $1685$.
  • Many Huguenots were skilled artisans, contributing essential crafts to the colony. They founded the town of Bath in $1704$, the first town in what would become North Carolina.

• Political Division and Slavery:

  • Escalating disagreements between the northern and southern settlements led to the formal creation of two separate colonies, North and South Carolina, in $1729$.
  • South Carolina became a Royal Colony in $1719$ due to dissatisfaction with the Lord Proprietors and the threat of sea attacks (including a $1718$ blockade by the pirate Blackbeard, who demanded medical supplies). North Carolina followed in $1729$.
  • Slavery was deeply entrenched in the south; by $1715$, South Carolina had a Black majority.
  • Slave laws in the Carolinas were modeled after the Barbados slave codes of the late $1600$s, reducing Africans to the legal status of property or commodities.

The Middle Colonies: New York and New Jersey

• Anglo-Dutch Rivalry:

  • The English initially ignored the land between New England and the Chesapeake, allowing the Dutch and Swedes to settle the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.
  • During the Anglo-Dutch wars ($1650$s and $1660$s), the English sought to seize Dutch commercial advantages.
  • In $1664$, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War ($1664$ – $1667$), English forces took New Netherland. Charles II granted the territory to his brother James, the Duke of York.
  • Dutch resistance remained strong; they briefly recaptured the colony in $1673$ during the Third Anglo-Dutch War before the English regained final control.

• Government and Social Structure:

  • James, Duke of York, resisted local governance until $1683$, when a representative legislature convened the Charter of Liberties and Privileges, guaranteeing trial by jury and representative government.
  • The English maintained the Dutch "patroonship" system, granting huge estates. Robert Livingston received the largest, totaling $160,000$ acres in $1686$.
  • New York City was highly diverse, housing Dutch, English, French Huguenots, Jews, Puritans, Quakers, Anglicans, and enslaved populations.

• Iroquois Neutrality:

  • The Five Nations of the Iroquois (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) maintained a policy of neutrality between the English and the French in Canada during the first half of the $1700$s.
  • This allowed them to remain in their villages under their own government while trading with both powers.

Pennsylvania: The Quaker Experiment

• Founding:

  • Established in $1681$ when Charles II granted the land to William Penn to settle a debt owed to Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn (who had helped the Crown take Jamaica in $1655$).
  • The name Pennsylvania means ‘Penn’s Woods’.

• Quakerism (The Society of Friends):

  • Founded by George Fox in the late $1640$s, Quakerism rejected Puritan predestination in favor of the "inner light" or a spark of divinity in everyone.
  • Quakers practiced radical social equality, refusing worldly ranks and using the egalitarian terms ‘thee’ and ‘thou’.
  • Persecuted in England and colonies like Massachusetts (where some were executed), they sought refuge in Pennsylvania.

• Society and Native Relations:

  • Pennsylvania had no official church and practiced unrivaled religious tolerance.
  • William Penn was a pacifist and established friendly terms with Native groups. He bought land fairly from the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) and signed a treaty with the Susquehannocks in $1701$ to avoid war.
  • To encourage labor, Penn used a headright system giving $50$ acres to indentured servants who completed their service.
  • While some Quaker merchants participated in the slave trade, others were deeply troubled by the practice and initiated early abolitionist efforts.

Georgia: The Last Colony

• Dual Purpose: Buffer and Social Reform:

  • Founded in $1732$ by James Oglethorpe and $20$ other proprietors via a charter from King George II.
  • Imperial Goal: Act as a "garrison province" and buffer between the Carolinas and Spanish Florida.
  • Social Goal: Provide a fresh start for England’s "worthy poor" and debtors.
  • Georgia was the only colony to receive direct funding from Parliament, which paid for the migration of $2,500$ settlers over a decade.

• Settlement and The Oglethorpe Plan:

  • Oglethorpe arrived on the ship Anne in $1733$ with $113$ immigrants.
  • The Oglethorpe Plan for Savannah was intended as a utopian agrarian model, granting each male immigrant $50$ acres, tools, and a year of supplies.

• The Southeastern Borderlands and Conflict:

  • A lucrative Indian slave trade developed in the region, with the British using captive-raiding alliances to expand their influence.
  • The Spanish maintained a mission system in Florida and coastal Georgia (including Guale, Timucua, and Apalachee missions) centered in St. Augustine and Tallahassee.
  • During Queen Anne’s War ($1700$ – $1703$), Carolina Governor James Moore raided Spanish missions, razing St. Augustine but failing to take the Castillo San Marcos fortress.
  • In $1704$, Moore conducted the "Apalachee massacre," killing or enslaving much of the Apalachee province. This destruction of the Spanish labor and food supply significantly weakened Spain’s hold on the region and paved the way for the Georgia colony.

Questions & Discussion

• 1. Why did slavery become especially entrenched in the Carolinas compared to other colonies, and how did the Barbados connection influence this development?
• 2. How did the proprietary nature of Pennsylvania and its Quaker foundation shape its social, political, and economic character?
• 3. How did conflict and cooperation between Catholics and Protestants in Maryland reflect broader tensions in the English Empire?
• 4. To what extent were the Restoration colonies a continuation of earlier colonial patterns, and to what extent did they represent new imperial strategies?