Colonial Commerce II: New England and the Middle Colonies

1. The Evolution of the New England Economy
   1. Origin--A Religious Refuge
      1. Population
         1. Rural Gentlemen
         2. Petty London Merchants--The Boston Business Community
      2. Early Economy
         1. Rural Subsistence
         2. "Exports"--Services to Immigrants
   2. The Crisis of the 1640s
      1. The End of the "Great Migration"
      2. The Failure of Self-Sufficiency
   3. A New Strategy--Paying for Imports With Trade
      1. The Fish Trade to Southern Europe
      2. The West Indian Trade--The Sugar Economy
         1. High Demand for Imports:
            1. Slaves
            2. Food
            3. Livestock
            4. Lumber and Barrel Staves
         2. By-Products--Molasses (Rum)
   4. Impact
      1. A Wealthy Maritime Economy
      2. "Trickle-Down" Prosperity to Rural New England
      3. The First American Commercial Entrepreneurs
2. The Middle Colonies--The Breadbasket of the Empire
   1. Wheat and Livestock
      1. A Small-Farmer Staple--Pennsylvania as "The Best Poor Man's Country"
      2. A Magnet for Eighteenth-Century Immigrants
         1. Germany
         2. The "Celtic Fringe" of Britain
         3. New Englanders (Upstate New York)
      3. An Elaborate Marketing System
         1. Gathering Crops from Small Farmers--The Country Storekeeper
         2. Processing--Flour Milling, Baking, and Meat Packing
   2. Prosperity and Rising Demand--An Emerging Consumer Society
   3. A Spur to Urbanization--Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia
   4. An Expanding Urban Entrepreneurial Class--Philadelphia as a Magnet
      1. Merchants
      2. Artisans--Benjamin Franklin as the Prototype