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"In Small Things Forgotten" by James Deetz is one of the best and most accessible books on the archaeology of colonial America. one of the many ideas that Deetz proposes is that the American colonial adventure followed a three-fold development cycle.
In his view, the English colonists that first came to virginia, Massachusetts, and Maryland in the first part of the seventeenth century were essentially yeomen who are very much similar to their kith and kin in England.
So stage 1 is the first few generations of colonists that are very much tied to England for supplies, immigrants, and products. Deetz uses the term "yeoman" to describe the English culture of this stage, so we can call this the yeoman stage.
However, by the middle of the seventeenth century the colonies were maturing economically, socially, and politically. the colonists had become more self-sufficient, and they were creating their own culture that was increasingly distinct from the mother country. this is a distinct phase, or stage 2. we can call this phase the "colonial self-sufficiency" phase.
At the outset of this phase, there is a kind of unofficial colonial independence as England is occupied in its own civil war between Charles I and parliament. from the British isles, the colonies are a distant affair, as parties in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland are engaged in a terrible conflict.
However, following the restoration of the monarchy after Cromwell's commonwealth period in England, there is an effort in England to consolidate the realm in the latter 17th century. the colonies were gradually brought back in to the cultural, economic, and political sphere of the mother country. we can call this third stage the "re-anglicization" phase. as the 1700s progress, the British colonies increasingly become re-tethered to the British isles.
In this model, the ironic thing is that the colonies enter the revolutionary period of the 1760s and 1770s during the time when they were the most connected to the mother country since the first generations of colonists in the early 17th century. it's the ultimate full-circle story.
in the early years of the English colonies, say, 1625, we have Jamestown in virginia and Plymouth in Massachusetts. these early colonies are populated by residents that are just recently arrived from England, and they are largely dependent on the mother country for supplies, political support, and new immigrants.
However, in a place like Jamestown, changes are happening. in the 1610s, John Rolfe had successfully introduced tobacco into virginia, providing the colony with its first cash crop. and by the 1620s there is a new sense economic independence. it's no longer a one-way street from England to America, as the colonies have a money-making product that the mother country wants.
In addition, skilled workers are arriving in America, bringing skilled workers like blacksmiths to American villages.
and then the English civil war gets going in the 1640s. England has its own major issues to work though, and the American colonies essentially function independently.
however, two major events will happen in the latter seventeenth century to draw the colonies back into the sphere of the mother country. the period of colonial "drift" from the mother country will continue, but these events will slow the drift and ultimately reverse it.
with the end of the English civil war period and Cromwell's protectorate era, the English monarchy is restored after 11 years. this era, the restoration of the monarchy, is a sea change in relations between England and her colonies.
King Charles II enacts navigation acts in 1660. king charles does not want the colonies acting so independently, as they had been trading with the French, Spanish, and Dutch. charles wants the English colonists to stop trading with these rival powers, in order to keep the wealth within the realm of England. the navigation acts require that English goods from America are exported back to England, not to rival powers.
The 18th century, the final phase of the colonial period, will see the British colonies ever more pulled back into Britain's sphere. Britain by about 1750 is entering the first industrial period, and a major product of that era is refined earthenware ceramics.
refined ceramics which had been a luxury for aristocracy, are now widely available by about 1760, produced in Staffordshire, England. these creamware and pearlwares are heavily imported into the American colonies, and they mark the widespread practice of British tea time.