A Perspective of Change in Colonial America
European immigrants that arrived on North America between 1607 and 1750 brought with them their European ideology that over time would be changed and molded to be as new and unique as the nation that they would help to build, America.
Changes can be seen in the many ways the colonists developed, including economically. The European way was based on a system of mercantilism and land ownership through primogeniture and entail. The state regulated and protected the industries and commerce, thus creating a balance of trade enriching the nation. A good trade system would in turn fill the royal coffers through taxes and customs duties and so increase the royal power. The primogeniture land ownership ensured that the land would pass down through the family to every first son and so be securely maintained within the family for many future generations to come. This system favored the very short land supply of Europe, however did not make much sense in the new American settlements where land was plentiful and seemingly endless. The new settlers could work hard and soon own their own pieces of land and achieve more success and freedom then ever possible through the constrained European system. Free trade allowed for more success as a settler could work as hard as he wanted to achieve what he desired. Wealth could be obtained with more ease with trade routes in place and a plentiful supply of highly desired products from the colonies.
Another example of change is the political ways that the colonies differed from Europe. The colonists were coming from a feudal system in which the king essentially owned the whole of the land and delegated portions of it out to various lords, knights and other nobility who in turn allowed peasants and farmers to live and work on their land in exchange for payments known as quit rents. This did not make sense in America and the idea of inalienable rights that say any man should...