The Economic Development of British North American Colonies

The economy of British North American colonies can be divided into three types, namely, the capitalist system in the north, the tenancy system in the middle and plantation slavery in the south.

Let's take a look at the development of the capitalist mode of production in the North:/kloc-In the middle of the 8th century, the capitalist economy in the North American colonies accelerated, especially in shipbuilding, metallurgy, textile, flour processing, sawing and glass manufacturing. Although the northern states are still in the stage of capitalist handicraft workshops, they represent the direction of economic development.

Let's look at the central tenancy system again: it was moved from Britain and linked to the ownership of big land. In fact, this kind of big land ownership means that the land is concentrated in the hands of a few big landlords, and then these big landlords rent the land into small pieces, arbitrarily raise the land rent, and brutally exploit the tenant farmers. In order to maintain the ownership of large land, most colonies implement the law of eldest son inheritance (the land is inherited by the eldest son after the death of the big landlord), as well as the southern and central colonies. However, this semi-feudal tenancy system has not developed generally, and it is limited to some areas in the central region. This is because North American colonies have vast virgin land, which makes it easier for workers to occupy land. Therefore, due to the semi-feudal tenancy system, the central region's economic development is relatively slow, and agriculture accounts for a large proportion in the economic structure, so it is called "bread colony". However, due to the closer economic ties between the central and northern regions (such as new york and Massachusetts), the capitalist relations of production have developed to a considerable extent.

Finally, the southern plantation slavery: in fact, there were two forms of plantation slavery in colonial period, namely slavery and white contract slavery. Plantation owners are both landlords and slave owners and agricultural capitalists. They squeezed the blood and sweat of slaves to the maximum extent, and the products produced by slaves were mainly sold as commodities in the European market. Therefore, slavery in North America is still an important part of the capitalist world. The prominent feature of the southern economy is its close trade ties with Europe, especially Britain and France. However, it is precisely because of this strong dependence and some insurmountable problems in slavery itself that the industry and commerce in the southern region are underdeveloped, and advanced agricultural technology is almost difficult to spread because of the high-intensity exploitation of agriculture. Therefore, the southern economy actually showed signs of decline before the War of Independence. Among the three major regions of British North America, the southern economy is relatively backward.