Jennifer M. Ports
One way to approach the theme of economy in colonial America is to consider the different ways of life that develop between the northern and southern colonies. The study of maps and drawings of northern cities and homes verses plantation layouts can help support what seems to most the common knowledge that the north developed most in industry and the south in agriculture. Students can revisit
View of Mulberry House
and
Plantation Scene
, both mentioned earlier, and discuss their conclusions about plantation life, and how what they see supports what they know about plantations of the south. This can lead into a discussion of many details that appear in these images. These images can then be compared to images and maps of cities from the time period, like of New Haven or Boston. Discussing and comparing these types of land formations can lead into a discussion of city planning, of which there are three styles: organic, grid, and radial,
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and land art as displayed in the layouts of plantations and farms in the southern colonies.
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Both survived well beyond the colonial period, but could still help students see and understand the economic development of the time period.
Depending on the level of the students being taught and their prior knowledge, it could be a fun warm up to list the different occupations that could be found in the colonies at the time (artisans, farmers, plantation owners, bankers, merchants, shopkeepers, laborers, perhaps even slaves) and have each student match the title to a piece of craftsmanship or other object that represents the product made or maintained by the worker. This would introduce them to some important elements of the colonial economy and help them familiarize themselves with what was going on in the colonial workforce. This exercise could be followed by having students compare the maps of the cities to views of plantations and discuss these pieces as they would other pieces of art. After comparing and contrasting them students can then get into a discussion of how the north differed from the south in their economies, using the art as the foundation for the discussion. This could also connect to the prior activity by having students then discuss which occupations would be found where, based on the discussions already had. The activity could be accompanied by a reading or graphic organizer that further details the economies of the northern, middle, and southern colonies. Activities such as these would help students to gain a better understanding of the economy within the colonies, but it should be followed up with a discussion of the colonies as part of a larger global economy as well.
Colonial Americans were artisans, farmers, plantation owners, bankers, merchants, and shopkeepers who not only traded with their mother country in Europe, but were involved in cross cultural, global trade. As already evidenced in
Phebe and Elizabeth Moheegan's Wigwam
and
William Penn's Treaty with the Indians in 1683
, the colonial Americans participated in global trade by purchasing furniture, china, sugar, and Africans from different parts of the world, and emulating styles of architecture, painting, and craftsmanship found back home in Europe. Examine any map depicting the triangular trade and you will see how different parts of the world connected to one another. This participation in the global market helped the colonists foster a sense of independence from Britain and eventually aided in the decision to declare independence.
Examining crafted objects can further aid in understanding the economy of Colonial America. In early colonial America, before portraits became more common in the 18th century, crafted objects were most prized. Even today we tend to assume paintings were valued most then, but many crafted objects were more highly valued then because of their material value than a portrait that was only valuable to the family it was commissioned by. They were made of expensive materials, such as gold and silver, and displayed high quality workmanship. What took place in the American colonies in the eighteenth century has been called a "consumer revolution," where colonists who benefitted from the practice of mercantilism, along with the increasing wealth and success of artisans, plantation owners, bankers, merchants, shopkeepers, laborers, helped make the colonies part of the larger global economy.
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During this time we even see locks introduced to furniture when a new importance place on privacy and property developed in the colonies. One beautiful piece that exemplifies this is a chest built in Pennsylvania between 1767 and 1770. Many of the details have German influences with the patron's initials carved into the top, above the ornate design that displays great craftsmanship. It certainly shows the influence of European cabinetmaking on the colonies.
Tobacco, potatoes, corn and sugar were all crops that contributed to the global economy, but we see craftsmanship displayed mostly surrounding sugar. Silversmiths in Boston, New York, and other places used silver from Natives in Mexico and commandeered silver off ships going to Madrid to craft containers to hold sugar. One example of a craft that exemplifies the global economy that the colonists were a part of is a sugar box crafted by Edward Winslow for a patron in New England. It was made of Mexican silver to hold sugar from the Caribbean that would then be used to sweeten tea purchased from England. On top of that its design is influenced by trends that were current in Europe at the time.
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There are other important pieces that show the British merchant class' rise to power near the end of the 1600s, overshadowing the dominance of the Puritan oligarchs that founded the area.
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These include Jeremiah Dummer,
Pair of Candlesticks
(1686, Yale University Art Gallery), and John Coney,
Monteith
(c.1705, Yale University Art Gallery), adorned with ornate design and the family coat of arms. A great example of mid–eighteenth century American silver is Joseph Richardson Senior,
Teakettle on Stand
(c. 1745–54, Yale University Art Gallery). Other silver cups, pots, dish rings, candlesticks, sugar bowls, and tea pots show this change in the colonies and increased attention being brought to luxury goods later in the colonial period, most of which was a result of increased wealth in the colonies as they become increasingly involved in the global market.
Monteith
Teakettle on Stand
In the classroom, to approach this idea of the colonies as part of the global market students should first understand the triangular trade (getting them to see what goods went where), mercantilism (its definition and its effects on colonists), and the Navigation Acts (what they did and their effects on the colonial economy). With this background the students, with scaffolding built in by the teacher, could be lead to different paintings, furniture, and silver goods made by the colonists to look for evidence of global trade.