Settling Down

1. The Seventeenth Century--A Frontier Society
   1. Characteristics of the Environment
      1. Geographical Dispersion of Settlement
      2. Demographic Chaos
         1. Sexual Imbalance
         2. High Mortality
         3. Family Instability
         4. Rootless Population
   2. Result--Social Turmoil
      1. Lack of Stable Authority
      2. Short-Term, Exploitative Outlook
      3. Competitive Struggle for Resources
2. The Development of Community
   1. Demographic Stabilization
      1. Stable Families, Intergenerational Transmission
      2. Increasingly Native-Born Population
   2. Rise of a Unified Elite
      1. "One Vast Tangled Cousinage"
      2. Broad Prosperity
      3. Control of Government
         1. County Courts
         2. Church Vestries
         3. Colonial Assemblies
3. An "Aristocracy"?
   1. Deferential, BUT
   2. Qualifications
      1. A Business Elite
      2. Governing With the Consent of the Governed