Colonial America

by Richard Middleton, Anne Lombard

  Although slavery was now the predominant form of labor, its prevalence did not cause the disappearance of white servitude. Considerable numbers of indentured servants continued to be imported into the Chesapeake, especially from Ireland. Most masters still preferred a mixed labor force to give them some control over their African slaves. Others had to invest in servants because they required a smaller initial outlay. In all, 18,000 came to Maryland between 1718 and 1760.

  The employment of slaves, convicts, and indentured servants was confined largely to the production of staples for export. Fifty percent of the white population were subsistence farmers with no labor other than their own. Although this chapter has focused on colonial exports, at least 80 percent of all economic activity was purely domestic, a fact which has led some historians to suggest that the role of exports in shaping the colonial economy has been grossly exaggerated.11

  Small-scale tenant and freehold farmers were especially numerous in the backcountry of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, where most families grew a little tobacco in exchange for other essentials. In the lower South the common surpluses were wheat, horses, cattle, and hogs. Since there were few towns to buy their produce, their opportunities were necessarily limited. Towards the end of the colonial era, however, corn and wheat began to be exported to the Mediterranean and West Indies. Even the poorest farm families wanted to market some produce so that they could improve their lot. By 1760 farmers in the Shenandoah Valley and south side of Virginia were trading up to one-quarter of their produce in the market.12

  Almost no manufacturing took place in the South, except for the production of pig and bar iron. Most foundries were concentrated in Maryland close to the Delaware, though there were some furnaces scattered throughout Virginia and North Carolina. Another obvious aspect in which the southern colonies differed from their northern neighbors was lack of towns, which for many southerners explained the failure of their economy to diversify. Of course, South Carolina had a commercial center at Charleston and Maryland the beginnings of a port at Baltimore by 1760. Virginia, however, remained stubbornly rural despite numerous attempts by the House of Burgesses to establish towns.

  The lack of diversification in the southern economy has induced much speculation. It is usually attributed to the institution of slavery, which absorbed the region's available capital while burdening it with a labor force with limited skills. In addition southerners preferred to invest in the area which they knew best and in which they had the greatest competitive edge: growing cash crops.

  Certainly diversification was not a major worry in the eighteenth century. The South paid its way vis-à-vis Britain, something that the North found more difficult. Nor did it feel itself to be a beleaguered or inferior region. The planter class bought the best goods from Europe and displayed far more obvious wealth than did the northern elites. Indeed, the per capita income of the region's white inhabitants was twice that of either New England or the middle colonies.13

  3 Northern Farming and Commerce

  While the South was dominated by the production of cash crops, the northern British mainland colonies from an early stage had a more varied economy. This diversity increased during the eighteenth century, though somewhat paradoxically the actual percentage of persons engaged in agriculture remained around 85 percent. The region nevertheless had a growing commercial sector and even the beginnings of manufacturing, though mainly of a craft or cottage kind.

  Northern farm sizes ranged from between 50 and 100 acres to 300 acres. Not all the land could be cultivated at one time. Like his southern counterpart, the northern farmer exhausted his soil and then moved on to freshly cleared land. In general a man could harvest only between five and ten acres. So even with two or three sons and a couple of servants, a farmer could not cultivate more than 50 acres, though a much larger pasturage could be handled.

  The most common products on the northern farm were hogs and corn. Indian corn was an extraordinarily productive crop and easy to grow. It provided bread for the family and fodder for the animals, especially hogs, which were said to fatten best on this crop. The usual method of cultivation was to sow the plants at regular intervals in small hillocks, which were created by scraping the surface of the soil with a hoe, an unavoidable procedure in ground not yet clear of roots and stumps. But even in well-cultivated land, this method was often used, since it avoided the necessity of plowing – no mean consideration for small-scale farmers who had neither plow nor draft animals. Approximately 1,200 to 1,500 could be planted to the acre. On the larger farms, especially in Pennsylvania, wheat became an increasingly popular and valued crop, since it produced a finer flour than Indian corn and hence better bread. Barley and rye were also grown in some areas. These crops all required the ground to be plowed.

  The other pillar of British North American agriculture, the hog, was also easy to raise. Hogs foraged for themselves and provided meat for much of the year. By the latter part of the colonial period, however, cattle were also becoming popular, especially in New England, as better pasture became available following the importation of European grasses. Unfortunately, the readiness of farmers to let their cattle forage made breeding improvements difficult and also meant the loss of much valuable manure, something that European visitors were quick to criticize.

  All farm families tried to produce what their members needed, at least insofar as purchased substitutes were unavailable. Poultry provided extra protein, while most farms had a good orchard. Beer was brewed with barley malt, and in the spring the maple trees could be tapped for syrup. Many farm families also kept some sheep; their wool, although coarse, made excellent working garments. Unfortunately, the lack of pasture resulted not only in inferior fleeces but also in the loss of much wool in the scrubby terrain. For this reason some farmers cultivated flax for making linen yarn.

  Although northern farmers had no southern-style cash crops to sell, they were still keen to market their produce. The opportunities were twofold. One was the growth of towns, especially the seaports along the coast, which by mid-century had a total population of 120,000. The other was the development of export markets to the West Indies and southern Europe.

  Prosperous commercial farming was confined largely to the coast or major river valleys like the Hudson, Connecticut, and Delaware, which offered not only the best land but also water transport. The majority of northern farmers were not blessed with such resources, especially in New England, where the rivers were not generally navigable, the soil was often rocky, and the climate harsh. As a result most of the population in these areas engaged mainly in subsistence farming.

  Since the time of Jefferson, Americans have glorified the small farmer as a self-sufficient individual who provided for himself and his family without depending on outsiders or entangling himself in the marketplace. This idealization should be qualified on a number of counts. In the first place, the image of the individual farmer is a myth. It was virtually impossible to run a farm without at least two adults, typically a husband and a wife, to divide the necessary labor, usually with substantial assistance from children, servants, or slaves. Second, subsistence did not equal self-sufficiency, something that no farm family could ever attain completely. Farmers always needed tools or other equipment and of necessity bartered surpluses to secure them. Third, a farm family's existence was by no means enviable. Farming was a hard business, dependent on the climate, and precarious too should either adult be injured or fall sick. Hence farmers always aimed to increase production beyond mere subsistence level. If they were fortunate they might secure additional land and purchase servants or slaves, in which case a family might live in greater comfort. Subsistence farming was never seen as anything other than a prelude to entering the market.14

  The principal provisions exported by the east coast producers were pickled beef and pork from New England; wheat from New York; and wheat, flour, and bread from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Because it was the easiest farm commodity to sell, most New England far
mers kept a few head of cattle on their limited pasture, driving them to Boston and other seaports for slaughter and pickling. This practice became so common that meat exports from New England reached a value of approximately £80,000 by mid-century, the most important area of production being the Connecticut River Valley. The middle colonies also produced some meat, though from the early days they concentrated on the cultivation of grain, especially wheat. Pennsylvania in particular produced some of the finest flour, instituting a rigorous inspection system in 1725 to maintain its high quality. Pennsylvania and New Jersey in addition exported some corn and peas, and the total annual value of their combined exports amounted to about £300,000 by 1760.

  Figure 18 West Indian slaves processing indigo. From Pierre Pomet, A Compleat History of Drugs (1725). Slave-based societies in the West Indies provided the northern colonies in British North America with their main market for food and other products, since West Indian planters generally did not grow enough food to feed the slave population.

  As in the South, the principal export markets were southern Europe and the West Indies. By 1750 the value of shipments of flour and pickled meat to southern Europe amounted to some £150,000 a year. Equally important, those trading there brought little back with them, thus ensuring a net gain to the balance of payments. Most cargoes comprised wine from Madeira and the Canary Islands.

  The annual value of victuals exported to the West Indies was about £200,000 during the same period. This market existed because planters in Barbados, Jamaica, and other British West Indian islands now devoted virtually all of their resources to the production of sugar, and had to import food to provision both themselves and their slaves. Exports to the West Indies in turn financed further trade transactions. Most captains returned from their provisioning voyages with cargoes of sugar and molasses, the thick syrup that was drained off from the sugar. Molasses was an important commodity because it could be fermented and distilled into rum, a useful stimulant after a long day's work and a valuable anesthetic in the event of injury. Rum was also a key item in the trade with Native Americans. Its manufacture consequently supported over 100 refineries and distilleries in the northern colonies, with the heaviest concentration around Boston and Newport. Other goods imported from the Caribbean included cocoa, coffee, cotton, and mahogany.

  A variant on direct trade between British North America and the West Indies was the so-called triangular voyage via Africa to purchase slaves. The volume of slaving voyages on ships owned by North American merchants has been difficult to estimate because of incomplete data; however, the best currently available evidence shows that about 2,000 slaving voyages set out from North American mainland ports between 1714 and 1807, carrying some 200,000 slaves. British carriers transported more than 10 times as many slaves as North Americans did during the same period. Nevertheless, the shipment of slaves was a lucrative business for a small group of North American merchants. The most active slave traders were from Newport, Rhode Island, while a few also operated from New York.15

  At the start of the eighteenth century the dominant force in the export of victuals was Boston, whose merchants had pioneered the trade in provisions with the West Indies and elsewhere. When supplies from its own hinterland proved scarce, the Boston merchants had scoured the other colonies for alternative sources, effectively replacing the Dutch as general carriers. By the third decade of the eighteenth century, however, both Philadelphia and New York were developing their own commerce at Boston's expense, resulting in a stagnation in its growth after 1720.

  New Englanders were involved in two other forms of commerce: fishing and whaling. Fish was a common ingredient in many colonial diets and was similarly important in southern Europe, where the Catholic Church proscribed the eating of meat on Fridays. Like rice, fish could be shipped directly, not being an enumerated product, and consequently numerous vessels were employed for this purpose. What made the industry so important in New England was the region's proximity to the great fishing banks of Maine and Newfoundland. Each catch was usually dried or pickled with salt and put into barrels. The highest-quality fish were dispatched to Europe, while the inferior refuse fish were sent to the West Indies to feed the slaves. Fishing was New England's most valuable industry, its exports amounting annually to some £150,000.

  Whaling constituted a similarly valuable commerce both for the domestic market and for export to England. Whale meat was an important addition to the colonial diet, while the fat could be made into candles or used as oil for lamps and for tanning leather. Whale bone was also used for decorative combs and for stays in women's corsets. Lastly, the intestines of the whale produced the odoriferous ambergris, which was used as an ingredient of perfume. The whaling industry has traditionally been associated with Nantucket, but whalers operated from most New England and eastern Long Island ports, mainly patrolling the areas around Newfoundland and Greenland; the searching of the Seven Seas occurred only in the nineteenth century. Annual export values of whale products were in the region of £50,000 by 1760.

  Although the fur trade had declined in relative importance since the seventeenth century, it remained significant for the merchants of Albany and other centers near the frontier. Indeed a fierce rivalry continued between New York, Pennsylvania, and of course New France for access to the Great Lakes and Ohio country. The principal pelts were deer and beaver. Deer hides were used for making leather goods like saddles, bags, belts, and shoes. Beaver pelts were prized for making hats. It is difficult to put a total value on the trade, but it probably averaged around £30,000 a year for the northern colonies.

  Another important commodity industry in the north was lumber. In the early settlement period each man cut his own crude requirements. However, as areas became well established, settlers increasingly demanded finished products for their timber-frame and clapboard houses. Such quality necessitated water-powered saw mills. By the middle of the eighteenth century all the colonies had such mills near the fall line. New Hampshire was particularly blessed in this respect, having both timber and water power near the coast. For this reason New England exported more timber than any other region, mainly to the West Indies, where many of the sugar islands lacked even firewood. Consequently, on voyages there vessels usually carried items like hoops for making casks, boards, and posts for building houses, and shingles for covering roofs. Though the annual export value of such commodities was about £60,000, this was one industry whose products were intended mainly for the domestic market.

  Maine and New Hampshire, like the southern colonies, also benefited from the 1704 Naval Stores Act. Their forests produced the timber for the very large masts required for the battleships of the Royal Navy. Here, too, bounties were paid to encourage production, and the result was an important trade, centered on Portsmouth, worth perhaps £20,000 in an average year.

  Commerce provided employment for hundreds of ships and thousands of seamen. In addition the export of provisions required a sizable processing industry for their preparation and packing. Warehouses were needed to store the goods, middlemen to distribute them once they had arrived, and clerks to settle accounts between customers who lived thousands of miles apart. Increasingly complicated logistics led to the emergence of counting houses. Insurance was also increasingly used, as was credit. Although no banks were actually set up during the colonial period, attempts were made to establish one in Boston. Here was the economic sophistication and diversification that eluded the Chesapeake economy.

  Another way in which commerce benefited the North was by stimulating manufacturing. So much tonnage required a considerable shipbuilding industry to sustain it. Ships needed replacing on average every 10 to 15 years and had to be repaired in between. The northern colonies were extremely well placed to develop shipbuilding; they had almost inexhaustible supplies of timber and could supply practically all the materials required for the construction of the largest ocean vessels, in addition to having a skilled labor force.

  Much of what the colonists bu
ilt they exported to Britain. Indeed, it was frequently the practice to sell both the ship and the cargo on arrival there. The reputation of colonial builders was such that by 1760 their yards were producing 25,000 tons a year, one-third of all British requirements. This trade was an important element in enabling the northern colonies to pay their way, contributing perhaps £140,000 annually to their balance of payments.

  As the century progressed, other types of manufacturing also began to develop, although unlike shipbuilding, they were devoted mainly to supplying the domestic market. Most of these enterprises were concentrated either around the Delaware, where Quaker pragmatism was conducive to manufacturing skills, or in southern New England, where a similar environment and concentration of skills existed.

  Among the more important manufacturing processes were the smelting of iron and production of metal wares. John Winthrop, Jr. had made the first attempt to produce iron in Massachusetts in the 1640s. But the industry did not become established until the second decade of the eighteenth century. Most of the furnaces for producing pig iron, slitting mills for fashioning it into bars, and forges for making finished goods were concentrated in the two key regions of the Delaware and southern New England. By 1750 colonial iron output was sufficiently important for Parliament to pass an act controlling the industry, by which time British North America was producing one-eighth of the world's pig iron.