Colonial America: A History to 1763

The story of how the thirteen North American colonies established by Great Britain went on to form the nucleus of the United States is both fascinating and complex. Since its initial publication in 1992, Colonial America has garnered wide acclaim for its accessibility and well–balanced approach in revealing the myriad influences that shaped early American history to a wide audience. The fourth edition is certain to enhance its sterling reputation as the standard textbook for students of this seminal period of American history.

Fully updated and revised to reflect the most recent scholarship, the fourth edition features extensive new coverage of the simultaneous development of French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies in North America. Other additions include enhanced coverage of the English colony of Barbados and trans–Atlantic influences on colonial development, as well as re–written and updated chapters on families and women. More focused attention is also given to the perspectives of Native Americans and their important influences in shaping the history and development of the colonies.

With its continued in–depth coverage of the background, founding, and development of the thirteen English North American colonies, Colonial America: A History to 1763, 4th Edition offers the most complete portrait of the diverse people, events, and influences that lead to the creation of the United States.

List of Figures.

List of Maps.

List of Documents.

Preface to the Fourth Edition.

Acknowledgments.

Part I: Old and New Worlds Meet:.

1. The Peoples of Eastern North America: Societies in Transition.

1 America Before Columbus and the Problem of History.

2 The Americas in Ancient Times.

3 The Eastern Woodlands, 1000 1300.

4 Eastern Woodlands Societies in Transition, 1300 1500.

5 Earliest Contacts with Europeans.

2. The Age of European Exploration.

1 Western Europe, 1300 1450.

2 The Portuguese in Africa.

3 Spain Encounters the New World.

4 Sixteenth–Century European Competitors.

5 England: The Elizabethan Prelude.

Part II: The Seventeenth–Century Settlements:.

3. The English Conquer Virginia, 1607 1660.

1 Virginia Before the English.

2 The Virginia Company: Early Settlement.

3 The Charter of Liberties.

4 The Massacre of 1622 and Fall of the Company.

5 Growth and Consolidation, 1625 1660.

4. The Conquest Continues: New England, 1620 1660.

1 New England Before the English.

2 The Pilgrims.

3 Massachusetts: A City on the Hill.

4 Establishing and Defending Order.

5 Challenges from England.

6 Stable Societies.

5. Diverse Colonies: New France, New Netherland, Maryland, and the West Indies.

1 New France.

2 New Netherland and Delaware: The Dutch and Swedish Beginnings.

3 Maryland: A Catholic Proprietary.

4 English Colonies in the West Indies.

6. The Restoration Era.

1 The Return of Charles II.

2 Mercantilism: The Navigation Laws.

3 New York Becomes an English Colony.

4 The Carolinas: Early Settlement.

7. The Later Years of Charles II.

1 Virginia: Bacon s Rebellion and Its Aftermath.

2 Massachusetts: The Struggle to Remain Self–Governing.

3 New Jersey and Pennsylvania: The Beginnings.

8. James II and the Glorious Revolution.

1 The Dominion of New England.

2 Massachusetts Reclaims Control.

3 New York: Leisler s Rebellion.

4 Maryland.

5 Aftermath.

9. The Eras of William and Mary, and Queen Anne.

1 William and Mary s Colonial Policy.

2 The Salem Witchcraft Trials.

3 War on the Northern Frontier, 1689 1713.

4 War and Political Change in the Carolinas.

5 Proprietary Problems in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Part III: The Eighteenth–Century Provinces in a Changing Continent:.

10. The Economy and Labor System in British North America.

1 The British Atlantic Economy.

2 The Southern Plantation System.

3 Northern Farming and Commerce.

4 The Mercantilist System.

5 Money and Taxation.

6 The Standard of Living: Poverty and Prosperity.

11. Settler Families and Society.

1 New World Families.

2 Children.

3 Patriarchal Authority.

4 Social Structure: Rank and Class.

12. White Women and Gender.

1 Gender and the Settler Experience in the Seventeenth Century.

2 Regional Variations.

3 Gender in a Commercializing Culture: The Eighteenth–Century Refined Lady.

4 Gender in a Commercializing Culture: Middling and Working White Women.

13. British North American Religion, Education, and Culture, 1689 1760.

1 Religion.

2 Education.

3 The Anglicization of Taste.

4 Libraries, Literature, and the Press.

5 Science and the Arts.

6 Popular Culture.

14. Slavery and the African American Experience, 1689 1760.

1 Slavery: An Evolving Institution.

2 Slaves Experiences.

3 The African American Family.

4 African American Culture.

5 Free African Americans.

6 Resistance to Slavery.

15. Expanding Spanish and French Empires in North America.

1 Florida.

2 New Mexico.

3 The Growth of New France.

4 The French Upper Country, or Pays d en Haut.

5 Louisiana.

6 Texas.

7 Significance for the British Colonies.

16. Native American Societies and Cultures, 1689 1760.

1 Native American Societies in the Eighteenth Century.

2 The Nations of the Northern Frontier.

3 The Nations of the Southern Frontier.

4 Adaptation or Decline?.

17. Immigration and Expansion in British North America, 1714 1750.

1 The Germans and Scots–Irish.

2 The Founding of Georgia.

3 The Urban Frontier.

18. British North American Institutions of Government.

1 The Royal Framework.

2 Local Government: Town Meeting and County Court.

3 The Provincial Assembly: Crown versus People.

4 Parties and Factions in the Age of Walpole.

5 Toward a Republican Ideology.

19. Britain, France, and Spain: The Imperial Contest, 1739 1763.

1 The War of Jenkins Ear.

2 The Struggle for the Ohio.

3 The Conquest of Canada.

4 The War s Consequences.

Selected Bibliography.

Index.

Richard Middleton was for many years head of the American Studies department at Queen s University, Belfast. He is the author of several books, including The Bells of Victory: The Pitt Newcastle Ministry and the Conduct of the Seven Years War (1985), and Pontiac s War: Its Causes, Course and Consequences, 1763–1765 (2007). Now retired, Middleton is currently working on a book about the American War of Independence.

Anne Lombard is Associate Professor, California State University, San Marcos. She is the author of Making Manhood: Growing Up Male in Colonial New England (2003). Her current research examines riots and other forms of collective violence by white men in British America during the eighteenth century.