History Comes Alive

As the English were solidifying their colonies in New England and the Caribbean, there remained a contested but largely unsettled area from the Chesapeake through Georgia. The Spanish and French had been there. But in the opening decades of the 17th Century, this area was all but abandoned. It opened the door for Jamestown in 1608. Later, the English crown would focus on Carolina. Charles I had first recognized the value of Carolina. Then came political unrest and the Civil War. After the Restoration, Charles II succeeded where his father had failed. In those days, "Carolina" basically represented today's North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Spain had claimed the region, operating out of Florida. The French had been removed, banished. The English would not be so easy to block; they'd move right in... and take over; the initial settlers came from Barbados. They brought their way of life with them, and that would shape the culture of the colony for centuries.

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With the growing relationship between New England and Barbados, the economy stabilized. The North to South trade benefited everybody. Sugar and rum seemed to share a co-monarchy. They were KINGS! The East to West trade across the Atlantic promised more. Men like Emanuel Downing, John Smith, and Thomas Keyser advanced the idea and practice of African Slavery. Men like Samuel Sewall challenged the growing slave industry. Despite his efforts, the practice grew. The profits and investment throughout the North American colonies quickly advanced local economies and industries throughout the colonies. The backbone of the colonial resources was built around sugar and rum. Many of the emerging commercial enterprises would have a major impact, not just in the days leading up to the American Revolution, but after. This episode sets the stage for the expansion of Carribean slave plantations to the mainland, the Navigation Acts, Writs of Assistance, targeted taxation, and how it had a ripple effect across the colonial landscape.

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Once the relationship between the Puritan New England colonies and the their Puritan counterparts had begun, there was a lot of opportunity for both regions. One obstacle that had to be overcome was the temptation for northerners to relocate to the warmer south. The final voyage of Captain William Pierce would resolve any temptation for population migration on the part of the northern colonists. It was also one of the final solidifying events of Bostonian hegemony.

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Puritan New England, more specifically, Massachusetts Bay, never experienced a lack of colonists. Their population exploded almost from the start. What they did experience was a lack of hard currency. Even with all the natural resources and commercial opportunities it took a while to establish a stable economy. With the advent of trade between Boston and the Caribbean the economy took off. Although there were a lot of connections between the Northern colonies and their Southern counterparts, it took the vision and actions of one man to make these connections work for the financial advantage of New England. That man was Captain William Pierce. In this episode we'll meet Captain Pierce, a most remarkable and influential man who has been largely lost to history.

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As Puritan New England's population grew, they needed a sustainable economy. They needed an industry that could build wealth. They needed a commodity and a currency. For a season, those needs were met by wampum and fur. Although that economy would fail, it, like the initial trade triangle of codfish and wool, would help to stabilize their growing society for a time. It was a most necessary stop-gap that helped to carry them until trade routes were developed that brought hard currency, gold, and silver to the colony.

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They say necessity is the key to invention. The English colonies had needs. They were very resourceful. As we develop the Puritan economy, we want to begin by asking some basic questions. How would you build an economy from scratch? What would you do if you had limited access to hard currency but needed commodities? Is it enough to say you would use what you had? Puritan New England enjoyed a consistent influx of currency while the population exploded in the 1630s. But those resources were not enough to grow an economy, let alone sustain it. And, eventually, they slowed to a trickle. In this episode, we will talk about the emergence of Triangular Trade. A system that not only saved the New England Colonies, but helped to build them into one of the most powerful, dynamic economies of their day. The demands for codfish and wool across the Atlantic may have been just a stop gap, but it launched a shipping empire.

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How do you process and apply history? What do you really know about history in the first place? ...just trivia, or deep understanding that impacts your beliefs and actions? What's the purpose of government? ...and how does your understanding of history impact how you answer that question? Jeff joins Doug Stuart of the Libertarian Christian Podcast to answer these questions and more.

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Mercantilism was the theory that drove colonial economic activity. In today's episode, we will introduce its core concepts and how it functions. We'll view this definition through two historical examples: Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Colbert and The Boston Tea Party. These are like bookends to the larger conversation. Colbert on the left, to begin the conversation. The Boston Tea Party on the right, to end the conversation. It's a little different consideration than we are used to, but necessary for our narrative. As we move forward in the weeks ahead, we will fill in that middle portion where all the action took place.

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How is wealth created? Who is in charge of the mechanisms for building wealth? Much of what we consider the study of history is really the study of applied economic policies. In this episode, we focus on the contemporary systems we are all familiar with, at least in a trivial sense. Our main focus is Capitalism, but we will talk about other "isms" as well. The goal is to prepare for conversations about the political economics of the Puritans. They would not recognize the systems we have today. Mercantilism was emerging as a replacement for feudalism. It was a precursor to Capitalism. It was also its antithesis. To really understand what it was, it's a good idea to have something to compare it to. Understanding these principles helps us to understand and apply history in our own lives... in more areas than just finance, as we'll see.

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The topic of education is a HUGE deal, and it has massive implications. What does it mean to be educated? What value does education bring to a society? Does literacy matter? How focused should society be around the education of its young? Many of the aspects of Puritan education have been lost. Their strict and determined process would make many of us uncomfortable today. But their system worked. It created more than just a literate population. It catapulted their small isolated community above their contemporaries. We may dismiss much of the specifics, but we ought to revisit the model. The fundamental question for our generation is: What are we getting out of the system we have today? Is this really the best we can do? How does a society prepare their children when the educational system has lost its vision, its mandate to prepare the next generation to understand the world they live in?

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