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Episode 14: American Growth

80 min • 7 februari 2025

This episode is a bit unorthodox, I will be jumping around a bit through time and space to explore the various facets of the changing American life in the later colonial period. This includes the creation of new social classes and the rise of a distinct culture in the British colonies. These changes are brought about via rapid population expansion, and rapid growth in the economy and trade.

This multifaceted growth coincided with a relative independence within the British colonies from meddling from the Crown, Parliament, or the Board of Trade. Thus, the isolated colonists were able to forge their own identity and remake the class structure. In the end, most found themselves much better off than their counterparts across the ocean.

I also discuss the similar, though much less rapid, growth in the French and Spanish colonies in order to set the stage for the rest of this era. The sparce nature of these colonies gives far less to discuss, so I go into less depth here, but they will return when the three empires in North America spar throughout the century.

With all of that said, I have some work to do to dive more into depth than the notes do, so let’s fill in those missing pages…

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Music

Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø

Outro: Crooked Dream - Jamison Dewlen

Sources

William Penn, Politics and Conscience - Mary Maples Dunn

Scotland and Its First American Colony - Ned C. Landsman

The French in North America - W. J. Eccles

Colonial Maryland, A History - Aubrey C. Land

Colonial South Carolina, A History - Robert M. Weir

Albion’s Seed - David Hackett Fischer