Vol. I Chapter 16

Virginia After Bacon's Rebellion

Tobacco suffered from low prices due to the Navigation Acts, and from compulsory cartels that tried to limit production. But it was still highly profitable and much was still grown. Some planters clamored for restrictions on planting to keep prices up, at the expense of consumers and more efficient planters, but they could not get a bill passed. This led to the "plant cutters' rebellion." Groups cut plants of those they wanted to put out of business.

Francis Lord Howard became governor and pressured the Assembly to take away local powers and give them to him and the Council, but the Assembly refused.

James II succeeded to the throne. Howard was Catholic. He fired officials and replaced them with fellow Catholics. There was fighting between Howard and the Assembly on maintaining a militia, and over export restrictions on tobacco.

In 1692, Howard was succeeded by Edmund Andros, former head of the Dominion of New England. In 1695, the Assembly gave in to demands to send aid to New York against a supposed French menace, financed by a liquor tax.

In 1698, Francis Nicholson succeeded Andros and instituted some reforms. Councillors could not simultaneously hold other offices, preventing them from being judges in their own cases.

Large land grants were still made to speculators, monopolizing largely unsettled land. Settlers either rented in quasi-feudal fashion, or paid a higher price to own it outright.

In 1703, Nicholson proclaimed the English Act of Toleration in Virginia, which meant freedom for religions except for non-Protestants.

The Crown became alarmed at the growing of cotton and wool, and manufacturing. The colonies were not supposed to compete with home manufacturers in England.

As the Negro population increased, slave revolts broke out regularly despite crackdowns.

Vol. I Chapter 15

The Glorious Revolution and its Aftermath

In 1688, Marylanders were fearful of Catholic plots, mirroring the efforts of Catholic James II to retake the throne. In 1691, the Protestant King William agreed to end the proprietary. But in 1715, proprietorship was regranted to the Baltimore family who had turned Protestant. The Anglican church was established, but religious toleration was granted except for Catholics. Catholics were heavily persecuted. People were forced to take a Test Oath denouncing Catholic beliefs.

North Carolina threw out Seth Sothel, who went to South Carolina where he was one-eighth owner. James Colleton became governor there and clamped down on the population, using martial law, collecting back quitrents, denying freedom of speech, and monopolizing trade with the Indians. Sothel led a rebellion a year later.

John Archdale, a Quaker, became governor of the Carolinas in 1695. He liberalized the Indian trade, ended the kidnapping of Indians for use as slaves, and granted amnesty for quitrents in arrears. A succeeding governor, Joseph Blake, granted full civil rights to the large Huguenot population and liberty for other Dissenters (but not Catholics), who made up a large part of the colony.

Fights about enforcing the Navigation Act and collecting quitrents continued. The proprietors got a dwindling amount of pay since most rents were absorbed in paying local officials, and because of a lack of enforcement. In 1706, the Anglican church was established in South Carolina by disqualifying the Dissenter majority from the Assembly so the law could pass. Similarly in North Carolina, establishment passed by disqualifying the Quaker majority in the Assembly. More rebellion and struggles led to the end of proprietaries in the Carolinas by 1730.

North Carolina grew rapidly during this time. Persecution of the Indians resumed, with a bounty for scalps and more slavery.

Vol. I Chapter 14

The Aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion in the Other Southern Colonies

The Navigation Act of 1673 put prohibitive costs on inter-colonial trade of tobacco. This crippled trade in North Carolina, which relied on New England shipping to export the tobacco and import other goods.

John Jenkins became governor and refused to enforce the tobacco tax. The Assembly was for enforcement and imprisoned the governor. The proprietors put new people in charge to enforce the Act and collect higher quitrents.

Bacon's rebellion, plus these grievances, made North Carolina ripe for rebellion. It was touched off in December 1677. Various struggles ensued. Finally the proprietors got their man in power: Seth Sothel. Sothel started seizing property and imprisoned owners who objected. He jailed anyone else who criticized him.

Vol. I Chapter 13

The Carolinas

In 1663, Charles II granted land to eight of his favorites, from present day North Carolina down to the Florida-Georgia border. The Albemarle settlement was in the north, and Charles Town (Charleston) in the south.

The government was set up much as in Maryland, with an Assembly, feudalistic land ownership, and freedom of conscience, even for Jews and Quakers. But the Anglican church was the established church (Church of England.) Only the governor, the hereditary nobility, and those who owned 500 acres or more could vote or be in the Assembly.

The proprietors tried to establish a feudal hierarchy but the Assembly rejected it.

Land was distributed widely through the headright system. Owners still had to pay quitrents.

There was a distinct lack of churches in North Carolina by the early 18th century. Private practice of religion was preferred. Many people moved to the Carolinas to flee the feudalism and religious intolerance of Virginia.

Vol. I Chapter 12

Maryland

Virginia was a chartered company, run for profit by several shareholders. Maryland was the first proprietary colony, far more feudalistic. It was a grant of land to a single proprietor. There was less incentive for immediate profit.

Lord Baltimore could rule with king-like powers. But like the English king, he could only levy taxes with consent of the assembly of freemen or landholders.

Maryland was made a haven for Catholics. But no religious test was required, in order to encourage settlement. Protestants soon outnumbered Catholics 10 to 1.

There was generally peace with the Indians. Baltimore's men dealt fairly with the Indians and purchased land. But settlers could only get land as feudal tenants, paying quitrents to the proprietor. This hampered settlement.

The assembly and proprietor fought over powers, and the assembly won the right to initiate legislation. The governor could dissolve the assembly, but the assembly only voted to approve one year's worth of taxes.

In 1649, the assembly passed the Toleration Act. All Christians had free exercise, but there was a death penalty for Jews, Unitarians, and other non-conformists. This act prohibited certain speech, and certain acts on the Sabbath, which was more a compromise with Puritans, who came to power in England.

In 1652, Parliament sent commissioners and ousted the proprietary government. There was more religious conflict as the restoration of Charles II led to reinstatement of the old proprietary.

Maryland was similar to Virginia in that it had large tobacco plantations and was thinly settled. But it was much more feudal -- nobody could buy land outright until later when this restriction was relaxed to encourage settlement. Negro slaves were used, as in Virginia.

Vol. I Chapter 11

Bacon's Rebellion

Revolutions are dynamic. The individuals leading it do not all have the same exact goal. There are competing directions as the revolution proceeds. Grievances against the existing order pile up over time until the situation boils over into revolution.

The revolutions in the colonies were not class struggles in the sense of poor against rich, but rather the oppressed versus the oligarchy. In Virginia, the settlers wanted a war against the Indians to grab their land, and they wanted to throw off the tyranny of mercantilist restrictions: taxes, monopoly, feudal landholdings, oligarchic rule, infringements on their liberty.

In Bacon's Rebellion, even neutral parties were persecuted. Indians were treated collectively as a race. Nathaniel Bacon raided the Indians, gaining popularity with the whites. He got elected to the House of Burgesses, and got legislation passed against the Indians, but also more freedom overall (for whites.)

Governor Berkeley would not give up and continued against Bacon. This forced Bacon to go all the way for independence from the Crown. Bacon called a convention and assumed power as dictator over the colony. He forced the assembly to take an oath to resist English troops. He terrorized the population. Bacon died in October 1676, ending the revolution.

Berkeley tried and hanged leaders involved in the revolution. The assembly repealed Bacon's laws, hung more rebels by acts of attainder, and forced others to beg for their lives.

Both sides demanded loyalty oaths. This punished people caught in the middle. Royal commissioners were sent to make peace and finally removed Berkeley.

The Green Spring oligarchy continued to rule. Petitions were punished severely.

Vol. I Chapter 10

Relations with the Indians

Indian land was owned collectively by the tribe and was inalienable. But the tribe often claimed large tracts of land that were unused.

Massacres and theft started on both sides between whites and Indians. There was also "savage treachery" on both sides. For example, whites poisoned Indian peace negotiators.

Governor Argall outlawed various relations with Indians. Trading was only allowed at forts. This gave monopoly power to those running the forts.

Governor Berkeley used individual incidents of Indians harming whites to justify collective punishment, i.e. slaughter of Indians. Indians had no standing in Virginia courts to collect debts or get justice. They resorted to taking payments for debts and finding their own recourse to problems with whites. One example was the taking of hogs in repayment for a debt. This was followed by more treachery by whites. Even Indians from other tribes who were not involved in hostilities were killed.

John Washington was charged in leading a war of aggression against the Indians. Berkeley ended up with a defensive war. He built a chain of expensive forts, garrisoned soldiers, and refused peace with the Indians. This prolonged the war, caused militarization of society, and created a heavy tax burden.

The settlers were still suffering Indian raids but not getting any protection. Planters started raising their own militias. The effectiveness of the militias led Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. to start a mutiny against the Virginia government.

Vol. I Chapter 9

British Mercantilism over Virginia

Mercantilism was the grant or sale of monopolies and subsidies to favored groups of businessmen. The Crown, feudal nobility, and privileged capitalists ruled over everyone else, including all the non-privileged merchants.

Tariffs on imports from the colonies meant money for the Crown. Collections could be increased by requiring the colonies to ship goods to English ports first, even when shipping to other countries. This was first applied to tobacco.

There were other acts called Navigation Acts. These prevented foreign ships from trading in the colonies without a license. This caused a shortage of shipping and made it difficult to export goods. Other restrictions were added during the 1600s. Vice admiralty courts were added to the colonies to enforce the acts. These courts operated under Roman law, preventing trial by a jury sympathetic to smugglers trying to evade the restrictions on trade.

The trade laws cut demand for tobacco, hurting Virginia farmers. This also made imported goods more expensive.

The English government forbade Virginia from restricting the slave trade. English slave traders benefited highly from this trade. The English won a monopoly on the slave trade after wars with the Dutch.

Governor Berkeley tightened oligarchic control at all levels of government within the colony. Quakers were often the first to be persecuted whenever there was a crackdown. Berkeley is famously quoted as being against free schools and printing, because these led to learning, and disobedience, heresy and sects would follow.

A proprietary grant of all of Virginia was made in 1673. This would mean absolute rule of the whole colony by a company, with no guarantee of rights to the colonists. Virginia sent negotiators for removal of the grant and succeeded, except for the right of the company to collect quitrents and escheats.

Some small efforts were made at tax rebellion.

Vol. I Chapter 8

The Royal Government of Virginia

Governor John Harvey was very cruel and high-handed, and was eventually removed by the Crown.

Governor Sir William Berkeley was fairly liberal in comparison and ruled from 1642 to 1677. There was less oppression - only the Assembly could allow levying of taxes.

The colony took the side of the Crown in the English Civil War, even after Charles I was executed and the Parliamentary forces took over. The colony welcomed Cavalier emigres, who fit into the landed and merchant class.

Parliament denounced Virginia, and forbade trade with foreign countries or foreign ships lacking a special license. Virginia protested, claiming the right to their own livelihood. Parliament sent a commission that put power in the House of Burgesses instead of the Royal executive. This granted more power to the people. Trade barriers were lifted.

In 1659 the Virginia House proclaimed its "supreme power" until England should reassert its rule. This was a new experience in temporary independence of a colony from the home country.

Vol. I Chapter 7

Religion in Virginia

Virginia was set up to be Anglican. But church rule was decentralized and informal because of the thin population and the distance from England. It was called "low church" because of the lack of formality and ritual, compared to "high church" ceremony in England.

Attendance was required at Anglican services. This was partly to combat Roman Catholic influence in the colony - neighboring Maryland was predominantly Catholic.

A loyalty oath was imposed on all Virginia colonists, but the proprietary company had an interest in not enforcing it too heavily, so as not to discourage new settlement. However there were harsh penalties against Catholics.

Vol. I Chapter 6

The Social Structure of Virginia: Bondservants and Slaves

There were two types of bondservants: voluntary and involuntary. They were treated very poorly, sometimes beaten and tortured. There were cases of bondservant rebellions.

The supply of bondservants dried up, and Negro slavery became important. The large plantations would be uneconomic without slavery.

The feudal system never really took hold. Labor was more important than land, because land was much less scarce than in Europe.

The Indians did not make suitable slaves, and some Catholic thinkers found Indian slavery to be against Christian doctrine. However, Europeans still largely viewed Negroes as "natural slaves" and did not consider Negro slavery to be a big moral problem.

The oligarchs in Virginia were in a more precarious position than the aristocrats in Europe. They had to trade, work, and be mobile to stay profitable.

Vol. I Chapter 5

The Social Structure of Virginia: Planters and Farmers

There was an oligarchy of large landowners, and they held the government posts.

There were many yeoman farmers who had considerable freedom and worked their own farms.

By 1670, small planters had a hard time competing with the large plantations, which used slave labor.

Vol. I Chapter 4

From Company to Royal Colony

Virginia was thinly settled over large areas because of the large land grants. It was a Puritan company. James I was concerned about increasing Puritan influence in England, so he got the charter annulled and turned the colony into a royal colony. But this did not disturb the existing land titles and privileges.

The colony got a royal governor appointed by the king, and a council nominated by the governor and approved by the king. The leaders were chosen from the prominent planters of the colony.

Vol. I Chapter 3

The Virginia Company

The government's view of the colonies was that the upper class should act as feudal lords, and the excess poor should be exported to the colonies, relieving overpopulation in England. The colonists would provide products from the New World to the trading companies.

In 1604, the government raised customs duties. This made smuggling more profitable. Tobacco became an important item for smuggling. But Parliament was starting to oppose government and wanted to abolish the monopoly trading companies. Sir Edwin Sandys was for free trade and against monopolies, and spoke out for liberty in trade and the right of subjects to work in their industry without restraint.

The royal government got money from monopoly grants and tariffs using its prerogative power. This helped fund the government if Parliament failed to vote funds. If the king failed to call Parliament into session, then Parliament could not vote funds for the royal administration. The king tried to get independent streams of income to be independent from Parliament. Parliament protested these extensive royal prerogatives. Common law courts and Magna Carta provided some opposition to government interference in trade. The common law courts stopped enforcing the monopolies when they could get away with it.

There was conflict between England and the Dutch. These conflicts usually arose over trade and rights to the sea. The Dutch jurist and father of internation law, Hugo Grotius, wrote Mare Liberum to support freedom of the seas.

English shipowners wanted a navigation act requiring English trade to use English ships, which were losing business to the more efficient Dutch. The English were less efficient because their ships were required to be convertible into warships. This made the ships more expensive to operate, with lower cargo capacity. The merchants were against this because it would impose greater costs on them.

The Virginia colony had a slow start. The indentured servants were effectively slaves for a term of years and this reduced the incentive to work. The Virginia Company imposed communistic living where all were required to work, but the product of the work was equally shared. This was a great disincentive to work, and martial law had to be imposed to force people to work.

In 1619, the Virginia Company went to Edwin Sandys, a Puritan. The laws were relaxed and land was given out to settlers. Scarcity turned to plenty in a short time as individuals were allowed to keep what they produced. A general assembly was formed of freemen of the colony.

Tobacco became an important crop for export to England. Virginia tobacco had been inferior to that introduced by the Spanish, but a way was found to make Virginia tobacco acceptable to European tastes. This was a big factor in saving the colony. But tobacco cultivation required much larger estates than other types of farming.

A headright system was developed where land was given out to those who could bring over more settlers. The wealthy could pay for many immigrants to come over, and thereby acquired much more land. This resulted in large plantations owned by a small group of rich people. These large plantations needed labor, and would not be economically viable without forced labor. This led to the importation of Negro slaves and the establishment of slavery for generations to come.

England did not want French or Spanish settlements in North America. The Virginia Company was used to attack settlements and shipping of foreign powers.

Vol. I Chapter 2

New World, New Land

How is a property right in land acquired? The method described by John Locke involves a settler homesteading land that has not been developed. He gains a right in the land by mixing his labor with it--maybe by clearing it to make it suitable for farming or by building something on it.

In contrast, what prevailed in North America was the feudal view that the king had a prior claim to large territories and had the sole right to assign overlords, or to parcel out the land arbitrarily as he saw fit. The State assumed prior ownership. Under the feudal system, the laws of primogeniture and entailing prevented land recipients from selling the land or breaking it up into smaller parcels. This froze ownership of the land within the nobility.

Labor service required of the peasants in England eventually turned into money service. Tenants paid quitrents to their landlords. Feudalism had already been imposed on the Irish--they had no right to own land. This model was to be applied in America. This was somewhat mitigated however by having monopoly proprietary companies get land grants that were then parceled out to settlers. There was a profit incentive here, since the companies wanted to attract settlers. The promise of land was a good incentives for settlers, who did not wish to leave Europe only to remain serfs in America. The companies were motivated to sell the land at a profit to provide a return to their shareholders.

Vol. I Chapter 1

Europe at the Dawn of the Modern Era

The first chapter is an extensive history of the development of feudalism and mercantilsm in Europe. It is impossible to do it justice here by trying to summarize the whole chapter. In short, during the Middle Ages, many people lived under feudalism. This was subsistence-level living, where the virtually enslaved serfs worked to support the feudal estate. However there were some islands of freedom such as the Italian towns that were involved in a revival of industry and world trade. The trade and freedom of these towns led to general overall prosperity.

This prosperity was a tempting target for the lords of the nation-states such as France and England. The leaders in these nations wanted to get a share of this wealth to support an expanding state apparatus and for making war. The plundering of this wealth from Jewish merchants and Italian bankers, for example, brought prosperity to a halt around the 14th century. The state granted monopolies to insure collection of taxes, stifling innovation and consumer choice. Profits were guaranteed for the monopolists.

When the burden of monopolies gets too high, people resort to smuggling to evade the high taxes and restrictions on trade. This then requires law enforcement to catch people. Special admiralty courts were set up in England to evade the common-law requirement of trial by jury, since juries were often sympathetic with the accused.

Mercantilism disrupted the voluntary trade and harmonious relations between towns and states, and instead introduced hostility.

The Spanish treatment of the Moors during the reconquest of Spain, and English treatment of the Irish set the pattern for behavior in the New World -- serfdom, violence, and enslavement of lower caste types by the rulers.

There is much more in this chapter on trade, exploration, and developments in the New World.

Introduction

This is an attempt to summarize the monumental four-volume work by Murray Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty. I have tried to condense each chapter into about one page of notes to then be transcribed here. This will hopefully give an idea of what is contained in the original work for the reader who doesn't have time to sit down and read a couple thousand pages of colonial history.

The Mises Institute is posting many works online, and you can find Volume I of Rothbard's work here.