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 The British government was trying to make a profit from the colonies, and they put taxes on many imported goods.  The colonists skirted around the taxes put in place by the British and smuggled many goods past the authorities.  The British didn’t enforce the laws and taxes against the colonies for a long time, and let the colonies essentially run themselves. This was labeled salutary neglect.

 This neglect allowed many of the colonies to form their own governments, and to practice governing themselves.  The governments created were modeled on the British Parliament. They were bicameral, with one house chosen by the British government, and the other house elected by the colonists.

 The different regions of the colonies developed different economies.  In New England, farming was on the subsistence level so other industries had to develop. Timber, fishing, and later factories would power the economy in the region.  The middle colonies had better farmland and larger port cities, so they had a combination of agriculture, industry, and trade.

 The Southern colonies consisted almost exclusively of agriculture. There were two systems in the South; the plantation system and the small independent farm system.  The plantation system was based on selling a cash crop, such as tobacco, cotton, sugar, or rice. These were large estates, where the majority of slaves would work. This system was run by the rich and powerful.  The small independent farms were the ones that grew most of the food that was exported, and had few, if any, slaves.

 The use of slaves, not only in the British colonies but the Spanish and Portuguese as well, created a huge demand for African slaves.  The trading of slaves became an integral part of the Triangular Trade, moving raw materials and finished products between the New World, Europe, and Africa.  The trade mixed populations as well as cultures together that continue to influence those continents today.

 The Enlightenment had a profound affect on European ideas, and those ideas would find their way to the colonies.  John Locke wrote Two Treatises on Government that stated that the purpose of government was to protect the natural rights of its citizens. If the government failed in its job, the citizens had the right to replace it.  Montesquieu wrote that the best form of government divided the power to keep too much authority out of the hands of one person or a small group.

 These and other ideas had a profound influence on the formation of American government. These ideas would form the basis for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  The Enlightenment also caused concern in the religious establishment. The Enlightenment taught that people were essentially good in nature, which contradicted what religion had taught. Religious leaders felt that society would just devolve into a pursuit of wealth.

 This fear spurred a religious revival starting in the 1730s called the Great Awakening. Many people returned to their religious roots, and they felt more connected to their religion than before.  There was also an increase in immigration to the new colonies. Many non-British groups were changing the culture, adding their own experiences to what was happening in the colonies.

 Literacy rates were higher in the colonies than in Europe. Plays, concerts, libraries, universities, and fine arts all developed in the colonies  Goods from all over the globe were coming into colonial harbors. Newspapers were connecting the colonists to all parts of the world.

 There was still the battle of imperialism between Spain, France, and England.  In 1754, war broke out between France and England in many of their colonies overseas.  In America, the British suffered many defeats early on, until the British government began to use the colonists in the army.  They also forced the colonists to supply the army, and housed soldiers in civilian homes.

 During the war, Benjamin Franklin tried to unify the colonies to help the war effort.  The Albany Plan of Union was the first attempt to bring the colonies together, an although was not adopted, the plan did give a framework for later attempts at unification.  The British would eventually defeat the French, and take over their North American territory.

 Although the French were defeated, their Indian allies continued to fight for several more years. The British would eventually sign a treaty with them to halt the violence.  There were two main effects of the French and Indian war that would cause anger in the colonies. First, there was a huge war debt that the British government needed to pay off. Second, the British did not allow the colonists to move west past the Appalachian Mountains to prevent problems with the Native Americans, called the Proclamation of 1763.

 Write 3 things you learned today, two things you want to learn more about, and one thing you didn’t understand.  Then talk to someone and find out one thing they learned that you did not write down, write that down with their name.