Learning Objective One

Define salutary neglect and discuss the background and development of Puritanism: 1620-1686

The definition of "Salutary Neglect" is Great Britain's unintended policy to allow its American colonies to develop independently politically, socially, and economically.

Salutary neglect occurred in three time periods. From 1607 to 1696, England had no coherent imperial policy regarding specific overseas possessions and their governance, although mercantilist ideas were gaining force and giving general shape to trade policy. From 1696 to 1763, England (and after 1707 the Kingdom of Great Britain) tried to form a coherent policy through the Navigation acts but did not enforce it. Lastly, from 1763 to 1775 Britain began to try to enforce stricter rules and more direct management, driven in part by the outcome of the Seven Years War in which Britain had gained large swathes of new territory in North America at the Treaty of Paris in 1763. 

Salutary neglect was a large contributing factor that led to the American Revolutionary War. Since the imperial authority did not assert the power that it had, the colonists were left to govern themselves. These essentially sovereign colonies soon became accustomed to the idea of self-control. They also realized that they were powerful enough to defeat the British (with help from France), and decided to revolt. The effects of such prolonged isolation eventually resulted in the emergence of a collective identity that considered itself separate from Great Britain.

To best understand how the process of Salutary Neglect it is useful to examine the Puritan Movement of the seventeenth century.

To be a Puritan in the sixteenth and seventeenth century was not a simple, clear-cut thing. There was no formal organization, no political party, not even a church called "Puritan." It was a social movement that was not clearly defined and often underground and revolutionary. In many ways it was a movement aimed at recovering a "lost" way of life-- communal values .

The leaders of the movement almost never used the term "Puritan," in fact it was a word used most often by their critics. Puritanism originated in England in the mid 1500's when a group of religious reformers sought to "purify" the Church of England of bishops, church courts, and other remnants of Catholicism.

The English Crown, which under Henry VIII had renounced Catholicism, replaced it with the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church, or the Church of England as it came to be called, retained many aspects of Roman Catholic theology and ceremony.

During Queen Elizabeth's reign (1558-1603), a noticeable trend toward Protestant doctrine and ceremony developed. By the time King James I (1603-1625) came to the throne, some Englishmen were content with the Anglican Church as it was; others hoped to reintroduce much of the ritual and some of the tenets of Catholicism, although they had no desire to return to papal control; and still others took an extreme Protestant position.

The extreme Protestants were called Puritans because they wanted to "purify" the Anglican Church still further. With official Anglican doctrine the Puritans had no quarrel; but they wished to do away with bishops, deans, and all clergy above the rank of parish priests, to abolish set prayers, and to reorganize

the Church either by a hierarchy of councils (Presbyterianism), or on the basis of a free federation of independent parishes (Congregationalism).

The Puritans were mostly members of the urban middle class. Engaged in trade and commerce, they resented James' arbitrary and illegal taxation and wanted to secure laws for the protection and expansion of English commercial interests. Puritans all agreed on what was wrong with the Anglican Church, but they disagreed on how to make it right. They all relied on the Bible for guidance and they all extracted different opinions from it about how God wanted his Churches to be run. Consequently by the late 1500s early 1600s Puritanism was divided into three main groups:

• Presbyterians wanted a central authority or a hierarchy of councils and accepted all comers into the faith. They made no distinction between 'visible saints' and inhabitants as the Congregationalists did.
• The Congregationalists were organized into independent parishes with each congregation governing itself (but with a state supported religion) and was made up of only true believers--'visible saints' versus inhabitants.
• The Congregationalists wanted to purify the Church from within, but later established the colony of Massachusetts Bay, for religious reasons, as internal improvements were found to be impossible in the Old World.
• (The Separatists, the most radical group, felt the Church could not be purified from within and to support such a corrupt institution was like shaking hands with the devil; thus, they wanted to separate and form their own church. The Separatists also felt that each congregation had the right to completely govern itself and thus rejected the idea of a state imposed religion--separation of church and state.

The two leading religious sects in England were Presbyterian and Congregationalist, and the Separatists both took much of their theological beliefs from John Calvin. Although the Separatists were the smallest group within the Puritan movement, they were considered the most dangerous by the Crown because they were the most radical.

Learning Objective Two

Discuss the background to and the development of New Plymouth and how it represents the principle of "Salutary Neglect".

The phrase "salutary neglect" is justified in describing this period because all of the colonies within a relatively short period of time were able to become virtually independent, acknowledging allegiance to whatever authority had control in England, but making their own laws, trading · where they pleased, defending themselves without help from home and working out and developing their own institutions and value system.

The significance of this period is that it allows the American Revolution as an evolutionary process to take place. It is during this time that the colonists in Virginia, Georgia, New Plymouth and the rest of England's continental colonies were developing their own economic, political, social and cultural identity. This new identity was a reflection of the new set of values and the new ways of doing things that led to the development of. new institutions that were emerging from the colonies. This can be exemplified in several ways.

First by the colonial practice of annual elections of all officers--governor as well the colonial legislature--on a definite date. This practice became popular throughout the colonies and still survives in the federal government, with the election of the President, senators, and representatives on the same day.

Next, in the area of representation, the differences were significant. In order to vote or hold office in the colonies a man had to be a land owner or freeholder in the colony, county or town were he was running for office--GEOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION.

The English believed in VIRTUAL REPRESENTATION-­ representation of classes and interests rather than of localities. The concept held that, since all of the interests of the empire's citizens were considered in Parliament, all were therefore "virtually" represented in that forum.

It made little difference that large numbers of Englishmen did not actually elect representatives to Parliament this was irrelevant because the members of that body represented not the concerns of individuals or locales but rather the interests of the nation and the empire as a whole.

Hence, American institutions began to diverge from English institutions at an early age. The divergence occurred during the formative stage in colonial development thereby allowing the colonist to develop their own way of doing things . This had a major impact in the decade after 1763 when the period of "salutary neglect" ended and England tried to enforce her institutions, values and ways of doing things on the colonists.

A statement from John Adams made to Thomas Jefferson in 1818, reflecting back on the developmental growth of the colonies best describes this process .

"But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people .... this radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution ."

Another significant point about New Plymouth was that no group of settlers in America were so ill-fitted by experience and equipment to cope with the wilderness_ as this little band of peasants, town laborers, and shipkeepers; yet none came through their trials so magnificently .

The Pilgrims' first winter of 1620-1621 saw only 44 out of the 102 survive. At one time only seven were well enough to lay the dead in their frosty graves. Yet when the Mayflower sailed back to England in the spring, not a single one of the courageous band of Pilgrims left. These Pilgrims have set forth in acts, as in words, the stout-hearted individualistic idealism in action that Americans admire; that is why Plymouth Rock has become a symbol in our society .

Learning Objective Three

Discuss the early settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and demonstrate your understanding of how this colony was a prime example of salutary neglect

While the Colony of New Plymouth was struggling along in the 1620s, a dozen fishing and trading posts were founded along the New England coast from southern Maine to Massachusetts Bay, and in some cases without permission. One of these trading posts established in 1626 was developed at present day Salem and was taken over by a group of leading Congregationalists in 1628.

After obtaining a charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company from King Charles I in 1629, when Anglo-Catholic pressure began to be severely felt, the Congregationalists voted to transfer charter, government, and members to New England. The colony got off to a fast start with a well-equipped expedition in 1630, with 11 ships carrying 900 to 1,000 men and women who founded Boston and seven other towns nearby.

The transfer of the Massachusetts Bay charter and the results of the transfer represent an important element in the development of American institutions. With both the charter and company in America, the colony became practically independent of England. The "freemen," as stockholders were then called, became voters and elected the governor, deputy-governor and assistants who made up the upper branch of the legislative assembly. Thus, neither the King nor Parliament had any say in the Massachusetts government. The franchise or right to vote was restricted to church members, which prevented non-Congregationalists from participating in the government.

In 1635, the English government tried to revoke the Massachusetts Bay Company charter, but the colony refused to return it. After numerous delays and pleas from Massachusetts, plus internal political and religious problems within England, England finally was in a position to revoke the charter in June of 1684 after allowing almost 50 years of self-government to develop. "Salutary neglect" again became the unofficial policy of the English government which allowed for truly American institutions, such as "geographical representation" versus "virtual representation ," to be developed within the American environment out of the European model.

Between 1686-1689 England attempted to end "salutary neglect" with the creation of the Dominion of New England . The Dominion was a vast new colony which included all of New England plus New York and New Jersey .

Meanwhile in Europe, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 disposed of James and created an opportunity for the colonists to rid themselves of the Dominion. When word reached Massachusetts that William and Mary had been offered the crown in England, the Congregationalists wasted little time in jailing Andros and his council in what resulted in a bloodless revolution by over 1,000 armed colonists.

The justification for the overthrow was that the Dominion was part of James' tyrannical policies and was no longer a legal or valid institution. Massachusetts, though rid of Andros, did not gain as much from the upheaval as she had hoped. In 1691 the colony was ·made a royal colony, with a new charter and a new royal governor. Worst of all, the privilege of voting, once a monopoly of church members, was to be enjoyed by all qualified male property owners.

The rise and fall of the Dominion marks a turning point in American history. Success would have led to the unification of the colonies under two separate governors; if successful, the rest of the colonies would have been combined into a Southern Dominion and the reduction of colonial self-government would have taken place. Also, if successful, there would have been no colonies to become states after the American Revolutionary War and, possibly, no American Revolution .

Learning Objective Four

Discuss the Treaty of Paris of 1763 and show HOW and WHY the

Treaty had such a profound impact on "salutary neglect" and hence the relationship between England and its colonies

Until 1763, a sense of unity among the colonists was missing; however, by 1 775 the fumbling policies of Parliament had provided this sense of unity.

By 1776 the American Revolution had been completed in every way but the war itself.

"But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American War? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people .... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution ."

The war was fought by the American colonists to keep the rights they had in practice. The only thing the colonists wanted was the right to manage their own affairs within the British Empire. (The colonists wanted to maintain the status quo; the English wanted to change it).

But the Americans insisted that they were already carrying their full share, and contributing, directly and indirectly, to the maintenance of the imperial government up to the limit of their capacities. The colonies had incurred a debt of over£2.5 million in supporting the war and the estimated colonial commerce brought in an annual profit of more than£2 million to English merchants. This did not count the port duties collected by the English government on American trade.