Jeff Novich									        Donnison
Period 4								   September 22, 1996
Essay on three factors that shaped British North America from 1607 - 1763

 The society of British North America was shaped by a number of factors between 1607 and
 1763.  Three of these factors were the shortage of labor, British imperial policies, and
 colonial assemblies.  Because America had an agriculturally based economy with farming as a
 chief business and as a way of life for many, and as a result of the colonial frontier
 being either cheap or free land, thousands of frontiersmen went out in search of land to
 cultivate and settle on.  Labor soon became drastically scarce, and resulted in both
 positive and negative changes in the economy.  The economy was also greatly shaped by the
 economic policies of the mother country, imposed upon colonial America.  By restricting
 trade, but at the same time allowing monopolies over certain products, and trade and
 commerce with England in an enclosed market economy, the British empire profited under
 mercantilism.  Colonial assemblies clearly shaped what we now perceive as "American
 Democracy," as Charles M. Andrews’s sums up: "In the development of American political
 ideas and social practices, the influence of the popular assembly…is the most potent single
 factor underlying our American system of government," (The First American Revolution: By
 Clinton Rossiter; page 119).  The advancement of British North America’s economy and
 democratic values until prior to the Revolution, were due to the effects of a labor
 shortage, the mother country’s imperial policies, and colonial assemblies from 1607 to
 1763. An increase in cost and scarcity of labor became evident in almost all colonies as a
 result of the shortage of labor, causing wages to increase and conditions to be better than
 that of England.  There were both exceptional and detrimental effects of the shortage of
 labor on the American economy.  Since the laborers were small in population, they were a
 very important class, and because of their significance in the economy of British North
 America, they were able to make many notable accomplishments.  As the working class worked
 towards a "democracy of labor," there soon followed good wages and good working conditions,
 protection against capricious employers, a philosophy acknowledging the prestige of the
 work force, and opportunities for advancement and legal regulations that helped bolster
 against disaster.  Furthermore, it supported American liberty.  On the other hand, however,
 two very deep-rooted problems also occurred as a result of the shortage of labor.  The most
 straightforward problem was simply the restraining effect it had on the condition of
 manufacturing.  If there are very few people available to work, then clearly there can’t be
 any mass production of goods and merchandise.  Therefore, to correct this problem, the
 colonial system of labor turned to slaves to work.  Although the system made thousands free
 men, it also was one of the greatest factors which gave rise to the terrible plight of
 slavery in the colonies. Because the shortage of labor put a major damper on the economic
 aspect of British North American society in the 17th and 18th centuries, economic success
 rooted through British imperial policy.  The English imperial system was designed, not only
 to help England, but to sustain the whole empire as well as each individual unit,
 encouraging each part to ‘do what it could do best.’  England had originally created
 America in the early 1600s as a mercantilist state, an established area created solely as a
 source of money and resources to help their economy as well as their empire.  It was this
 ‘give and take’ idea that lead England to make colonial America a large component in the
 enclosed market economy between them, and immediate economic success on both parts was a
 result.  To regulate this economic growth, some restrictions were imposed upon the
 colonies.  One of these restrictions was the Navigation Acts from 1651 on through the
 1700s.  The effects of these acts on the economy were, although appearing detrimental, very
 beneficial for the economy of the colonies.  They did not allow the colonies to export to
 anyone but England, and, with the addition of the Staple Act of 1663, all imports had to go
 through England before going to the colonies.  However, they did create a near-absolute
 monopoly for the colonies over England in terms of resources, (for example, the tobacco
 colonies had a monopoly for their product), and England depended greatly on them for it. 
 They also helped greatly to protect the American carry trade, and stimulated shipbuilding
 in British North America.  The Navigation Act of 1660 allowed export of such products as
 flour and fish to the West Indies and southern Europe, "in order to pile up specie and
 credits to pay for still more English wares," (page 59). Although there were some major
 restrictions on colonial trade and export, if it weren’t for the English allowance of the
 colonies into the trade circle, their economy might well have collapsed.  On the other
 hand, however, it was all of the restrictions and limitations that Britain proscribed upon
 the colonies that cleared the way for a more resentful and surreptitious society as well as
 an economy that did not thrive as far as it could have.  With the introductions of the Wool
 Act of 1699, and the Hat Act of 1732, both of which prohibited the exportation of their
 respective products, and the Iron Act of 1750, which forbade the establishment of iron
 developers, the general reaction was disgust for the constraints.  Furthermore, when the
 Molasses Act of 1733 was created, which would have terminated the production of rum if the
 colonists had obeyed it, a ‘sneaky’ attribute to the British North American society was
 contrived.  Colonists were becoming very contumacious as a result of their ignoring these
 laws.  By 1763, the economy of the colonies had risen to such a great level, despite
 problematic laws and acts that confronted them, and the people of British North America
 came to "possess most of the requisites of an independent people," (page 63).  The
 colonists would not tolerate the British imperial policies any longer, and the collective
 desire of the society of the colonies was to overcome them in some way or another. This
 desire of most of the colonists by 1763 to rid themselves from the English reign about them
 arose likewise as a result of the colonial assemblies.  Since the assemblies were formed in
 the colonies, as a primitive democratic "ruling by the many," they struggled with the
 governors for power.  By opening up the proceedings of the assemblies for inspection and
 criticism, printing and distributing their journals, and thorough coverage by the colonial
 press concerning their exchanges with the governor, the direction of power consistently
 moved towards the assemblies.  As they gained more power, they were able to produce a line
 of techniques for representation:  "Residence requirements, constituency payments, annual
 elections, instructions, voting by ballot, and bans on place-holding by assemblymen is
 evidence that the assemblies were far more advanced toward the idea of a popular
 legislature than was the House of Commons," (page 104).  With the assembly’s ability to
 decide the governor’s payment, "they brought more than one recalcitrant to heel in such
 matters as personnel and jurisdiction of colonial courts," (page 117).  By the mid-1700s,
 the colonial assemblies were dominant in nearly every colony of British North America,
 which lead to very democratic ideology of the colonists.  It was because of these powers
 that the colonial assemblies "were the most important instruments of popular government in
 colonial America," (page 104), and that they "were influential schools of American
 political thought," (page 118).  The colonial assemblies of British North America, by
 fighting for legislature and liberty against the governors, were able to cause the colonial
 mind to begin thinking about liberty and freedom, and a government of democracy which
 eventually developed into the "American Democracy." As British North America developed
 between the years of 1607 and 1763, its path was dictated by many factors.  Three of these
 factors, the shortage of labor, British imperial policies, and the colonial assemblies,
 greatly refined and advanced many aspects of colonial society.  By causing the work force
 to be an important component in the cities, and making colonial America a very significant
 agent in the enclosed merchant economy with Britain, respectively, the economy of the
 colonies was shaped both positively and negatively.  While the colonial assemblies were
 making progress towards modern day democracy, they influencing the minds of the colonists,
 all three conditions helped immensely to shape the developing colonies.

