Wealth: A Main Contributing Factor to Limits on Colonial Unity
Wealth: A Main Contributing Factor to Limits on Colonial Unity Colonial America was a veritable melting pot of individuals of all nations fused into a new race of men whose labors and posterity would shape the future. Legends about America painted the picture of a land unsoiled and pure, an asylum, and a venture at a new beginning for all who desired it. But those who fled from their home countries were met with a more realistic landscape, and were unprepared for the bleak ruggedness of unexplored territories. Soon colonies formed on rocky foundations and prospered into stable communities. Nevertheless, the metamorphosis from a group of colonies to an independent country was not an easy one. Before the thirteen colonies could merge, forming the United States, they experienced hardships and barriers to forming a cohesive union. The distribution of wealth within the colonies, competition for money and differences in assets between the colonies, and failed attempts at unification were all limiting factors of colonial convergence. It seems quite clear that class lines hardened throughout the colonial period. The distinction between rich and poor became sharper. A study of colonial New England showed that the poor numbers conti
The internal conditions of each colony were also unstable, as many were dominated by a rich upper class. In 1678 a petition from Deerfield Massachusetts to the Massachusetts General Court proudly illuminated the way the upper class dominated society. "You may be pleased to know that the very principle and the best of the land; the best for the soile; the best for situation; as laying in yer center and middle of the town; and as to quantity, near half belongs unto eight or nine proprietors. Because the colonies had rejected it, they were also, in essence, failing to take any joint action for their common defense. The colonies could not join together while their own towns boiled and seethed with discontent and class anger. Although this middle class was better off than the slaves were, they still resented the treatment of the wealthier class. This is because here, aristocracy, wealth, landowners, rich merchants, professional men, and prosperous farmers were found in abundance (Carman and Syrett 157). Maryland was strongly influenced by the aristocratic ideals of its proprietors, and its life centered on the plantation and not the city like New York or Philadelphia. During this time, England was fighting in Queen Anne's War and King George's War. A People's History of the United States.
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