Much that is uniquely American derives from the colonial period. To start with, we should recognize that the development of America was rooted in competition. Although the notion of "social Darwinism"—the idea that the laws of nature, sometimes characterized as survival of the fittest, does or should obtain in political and economic society—has been discredited. But life in the early modern world was often about survival, and survival involves competition, both as a personal and family level, and at higher levels of political society.
The early impetus for colonization in England was about competition with Spain and Portugal and later with Holland. In order to be great, England felt she needed colonies, not only in America but everywhere. The English had multiple goals: to produce, consume, and protect the British economy against weaker rivals, and to convert the heathens by carrying out the missionary spirit.
Economic Forces. The English colonies were also exercises in an early form of capitalism, which is essentially the creation of wealth through investment. According to historian Carl Degler, "The capitalists arrived in the first ships." The growth of modern capitalism parallels the growth of America—in many ways America has been history's most successful experiment in capitalism. That entrepreneurial spirit was seen not only in the investors who sunk their pounds into the chartered companies, but also in the colonists themselves. People in those times, not unlike today, wanted to improve the material quality of their existence, not so much out of greed or a desire to accumulate luxury items, but simply to make it the bare survival for existence less burdensome.
Social Leveling. Although the joint stock companies hoped that by investing in colonial enterprises they might get rich quick through the discovery and mining of gold and silver. But the colonists quickly discovered, sometimes more rapidly than their proprietors, that the real gold in America was the land—land that produced tobacco, rice, timber, and later cotton and other crops. Thus when the promise of profits from gold and silver did not materialize, the companies declared dividends of land, their only asset. The great problem in Europe was finding enough land for the people—in America, the reverse was true. The fact that labor was scarcer than land made it worthwhile to trade land for labor, which constantly undercut European notions of class differences: In Europe landowners were aristocrats; in America, landowners were beggars.
Despite the pressure toward egalitarianism, some elitism existed in the colonies. It was commonly felt that "God's will" mandated that some people be rich, some poor. Social mobility was more possible than in England, but was still seen as threatening. (In New England at one point, wearing clothes above one's station was considered a crime.)
Religion. The quest for religious freedom is often stated as a motivating factor in the colonization of North America, but its exact nature is often misunderstood. Our concept of religious freedom today means that people of all faiths Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, or any other, including those who lack faith, should be free to follow their own religious inclinations without interference from others and especially not from the government. During a time of colonization England and the rest of Europe were in the throes of monumental religious controversies. The religious tension was more than just Catholic and Protestant; Puritans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Methodists, Baptists and others all had their own particular forms of worship and systems of belief. People who came to America in the 17th and 18th centuries were not seeking land of religious freedom for all so much as a land where they could practice their own form of religion free of interference from rival denominations.
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One overriding theme of religion in colonial America was hatred of everything Catholic. Thousands of people died in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe during the struggles between Catholics and Protestants, beginning with King Henry VIII's replacement of Catholic Rome with his own Anglican structure, a conversion that was later rejected by his daughter Queen Mary, who clung tenaciously to her Catholic faith.6 When the Protestant Elizabeth came to the throne, she was constantly advised to be wary of Catholic suitors for her hand as well as Catholic threats to English sovereignty.
That religious tension was carried into the colonies, as much of British colonial policy-such as it was-was directed against Spain. Catholic Maryland was an exception to the religious exclusionism, but even there problems existed, as tension existed between Maryland and surrounding colonies. The famous Maryland act of religious toleration passed in 1649 was repealed before very long.
Native Americans. Native Americans were seen in various ways: The "noble savage" was a common characterization, though others thought of them as barbarians. As mentioned above, some religious groups saw Indians as a lost tribe of Israel. Both sides took from each other-both good and bad-in what became known as the "Colombian exchange." In the end, tragically but almost inevitably, Indians were the losers in the colonial and later revolutionary experiences.
The Social Contract. Despite the hardships, colonization proved to be a study in the concept of the social contract: Survival conditions required contributions by all, regardless of birthright or other status symbols, and that need eventually made republicanism and later democracy a natural solution to problems of government. The colonists were gradually lib-eralized-they got used to doing things their own way. Experiments in communal living, however, failed.
In a word, colonization involved exploitation-exploitation of human and natural resources. Life was fragile, and the first step people took before coming to America was often making a will. Colonization had a fearful price; it has been said that more people died as a result of colonization and perished on all the beachheads of World War II. In one single year in Jamestown, 80 percent of the population perished.
Probably the most important point in considering the development of America was that the North American English as well as other European colonists were freer than their European counterparts. The colonists were European in character but were nevertheless different; early on they developed a sense of independence and to a certain extent contempt for authority. Americans did not have the luxury of holding onto the old ways because of "tradition"; they had to go with what worked. Flexibility was an American characteristic. The frontier experience tended to favor individualism and a certain egalitarianism. It mattered less who your parents were than how well you could survive.
World History
