A Comparison Of The Path Of Development In

        Another effort made by the French to encourage settlement was to introduce the seigniorial system of land holding. Large tract of land along the St. Lawrence River were granted to members of the social elite. These people, called seigniors were expected to bring settlers to New France in return for the land given to them. The habitants would then engage in agricultural activities, develop the farming sector and then pay rent for the privilege. This system eventually failed because it required too heavy an initial investment and then to long a wait for returns; it was too expensive to bring over settlers and subsidize them until they came self-sufficient. Many of the settlers would also run off in pursuit of fur instead of developing the land resulting in a loss for the seignior. Furthermore, many of the seigniors were simply not interested in undertaking the difficult task of developing a colony as it would not result in immediate large profits for them and also required quite a bit of work.

In 1663, the situation improved as Canada was made a crown colony and control over activities was given to government officials. The new administration brought in troops to provide protection against Indians and necessary tools such as grain seed, sufficient food and cleared land for new settlers. It was hoped that these efforts would increase population and encourage people towards farming and agricultural activities. In response, these efforts did result in approximately 15000 people in Quebec but unfortunately, the fur trade was still seen as a more desirable activity then agriculture. Agricultural activity was not pursed for profit, nor was it pursued to an extent that would result in surplus and consequent export; rather, it was undertaken for survival and in most cases, to support fur traders.

After the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, New France finally entered a period of rapid growth due to an end to wars and an increase in fur prices. Population also rose, mostly as a result of natural increase.

        The favorable outlook towards Mercantilism played a major role towards the exploration and settlement in the thirteen colonies. Mercantilism is a theory that roughly equates money to power. The popular theory claims that the richest state is the most powerful one. This view led to the accumulation of gold and silver, either through pillaging of new lands or through a favorable trade balance. Imports were thought to be ‘bad’ while exports were thought to be ‘good’. Colonies provide an alternative to importing goods from foreign sources. An ideal colony was though to be one which was different from the mother country in terms of resources. As a result it would provide a ready market for goods from the mother country and also erase the need of the mother country to import goods from foreigners. Thus, Britons went to the thirteen colonies in pursuit of profits derived from developing an ideal colony that would fit into the mercantile system.  The products that resulted out of the colonies were those that thrived in the unique prevalent climate, the nature of the land and proximity to water. They were those that could be produced efficiently and in sufficient quantities for export. The view was to pay for the necessary imports with specie obtained from the exports. Each region had different production possibilities. The colonies were divided into three major economic areas: the South, the Middle Colonies, and New England. The south eventually specialized in rice and indigo and tobacco while the Middle colonies specialized in grain, livestock; they also had collection centers for the goods from the interior. The third area, New England specialized in fishing, whaling, shipping and ship building.

The first company that tried to establish itself in the South was a crown chartered joint stock company called the ‘London Company’ n 1607. The majority of the first few settlers died from disease, misadventure and starvation as conditions were harsh. Eventually, it was discovered that tobacco thrived in such conditions and plans were drawn to grow this product. Tobacco was relatively easy to plant but depleted the soil of minerals fairly quickly; it required new land periodically for cultivation. Hence, although land was seemingly unlimited, it needed labour to get it cleared and plant the seeds. ‘Labor was the binding constraint on the speed and extent of colonial development.’ The Virginia Company responded to this deficiency at first by bringing over bound servants. These bound servants were treated harshly and worked to the ground by the company. Usually they would run off to start their own plantations and the ones that stayed did not have any incentive to perform to their best ability. Eventually the Virginia Company changed its policies and employed the use of indentured servants to fulfill the demand for labor. Indentured servants were those who wanted to travel to the new world but couldn’t afford the costs of transportation. Some of them were religious dissenters who wanted to get away from an intolerant government; some were criminals who were sent over to live out their term for crimes committed while others were just looking for a better life. The Virginia Company would pay for their passage and in return, the person would sign an indenture stating that he owed them labour for a predetermined period of time. Other forms of indentured servitude also arose where the shipper would pay for the passage and then sell the indenture to prospective employers. Eventually these indentured servants were displaced by black slave labour because it became more profitable to transport slaves rather than indentured servants. Consequently, as a result of the population increase, exports in major staples thrived. Virginia became a booming economy in the early 1620s when the price of tobacco temporarily skyrocketed and from around 1640 to the end of the century, tobacco production expanded steadily. The development of South Carolina depended on the production of rice and indigo because the inland swamplands and better-drained upland areas proved ideal for these two staples. Rice was extensively re-exported to northern Europe, while indigo was prized in the mother country as a dye in the textile industry. By the 1770s export of foodstuff became more important in these colonies than tobacco. In response to rising food prices, production and export of wheat and corn rose. In Virginia, grain exports per capita of the free population rose by over 300% after 1740, whereas tobacco exports per capita climber only 15%. 

The Middle colonies had comparative advantage in different products. Availability of fertile grain land and proximity to water attracted many immigrants. Water was seen to be the easiest and cheapest way to transport goods and farmers and merchants far away from the ports found land transport costs to be too high. The Middle colonies were in the deal situation to provide a solution for this dilemma and became collection centers for the products of other colonies. They would export the goods produced by the interior colonies and imported the goods that were in demand. Although, the Middle colonies did not fit perfectly into the mercantile model as their natural resources were similar to those of England. They were more valuable to England as markets for British goods. Consequently, these colonies imported more than they exported to England while their exports to the West Indies and Southern Europe were extensive. The major staples shipped were wheat, flour, bread and salted beef and pork. The mainland colonies also had seemingly unlimited timber resources in the vicinity of ore sites. Consequently habitants started producing iron and eventually became one of the major producers in the world. Flaxseed was also grown and shipped to England, where the seeds were crushed to produce various types of valuable oil.

Lack of cultivable land in New England led the habitants to specialize largely in

furs, fish and ship masts in the seventeenth century. The beaver was hunted nearly to extinction in New England by the end of the seventeenth century. Tall, straight white pines, sometimes reaching a height of 120 feet, were prized as ship masts. New England exported these quite profitably and they eventually became enumerated products. It also sent dried to southern Europe and fish, horses, pine boards, cattle, spermaceti candles etc. to the Caribbean. Another sector that thrived in the colonial era was ship-building. Abundant timber resources and protection from Britain led New Englanders to become leaders in this sector. Productivity in this sector also increased as a result of learning by doing, specializing in specific cargoes & routes and a high volume of trade which reduced the unit cost of port services. Flyboats were also adopted after the end of the Indian and French war as the threat from adversaries and pirates was removed. This led to more efficient vessels, a reduction in costs and an increase in trade. Shipping services such as insurance were also provided by New Englanders. Another sector which started thriving in the early eighteenth century was whaling; whale oil was valued for illumination and lubrication, it was also used to finish leather and make soap. The head matter of sperm whales also produced fine quality candles which were shipped to the West Indies. Potash was also exported from this area. It was derived from burning acres of timber and was used in the manufacture of soap and gunpowder.    

As can be seen from the information above, the thirteen colonies were thriving. With some help from the mother country, they had developed a highly diversified economy and were self sufficient in some sectors, including food. Some restrictions on growth were presented by the mother country as a result of mercantilist thinking. This was because the ideal colony according to Britain was one that provided goods unique from the goods produced in Great Britain. Steps were taken by Great Britain in order to ensure that colonial goods did not compete with British goods in foreign markets and also to ensure that the colonial goods in demand in England could only be exported to England. The ability of the colonies to diversify and produce numerous goods gave rise to the Navigation acts which stunted this growth and eventually led to the revolution. As a result of these Navigation acts colonials were restricted from undertaking manufacturing activities in New England, colonies were prevented from producing finished iron products, and intercontinental trade in domestically produced textiles was prohibited. The navigation acts also stated that all goods exported to foreign markets had to pass through Britain. This resulted in an increase in duties and lower prices received as the cost of the longer voyage had to be borne by the colonials. In addition, some of the goods were termed as ‘enumerated goods’ by the British crown which meant that they could only be exported to Britain. This resulted in lower incomes for the colonials as prices for the same goods were higher in foreign markets compared to what the colonials received from Britain. In addition another clause in the Navigation acts stated that imports to the thirteen colonies had to pass through Britain. This forced the colonials to pay higher prices for them instead of the lower prices they would have paid if they had bought them directly from the foreign markets. The higher prices paid for imports and the low prices received from exports led to lower incomes, a depletion of specie and restricted the growth of many sectors.

As can be seen from the information given above, there are various reasons why the growth rates of New France and the thirteen colonies differed to such a great extent. In essence, the divergence can be attributed to the unique prevalent climate which existed in the different areas and the type of staples which could be produced or obtained as a result. The staples which thrived in the climate of the thirteen colonies, such as tobacco, wheat, rice, indigo, etc., required a lot of people to grow and cultivate them. Hence, colonialization went hand in hand with the development of trade. Consequently, the companies in the thirteen colonies aggressively pursue colonialization and the establishment of settlements as it was in their best interests to do so. They did not pursue colonialization or settlement out of a sense of responsibility nor from an urge to develop the colony to benefit Great Britain; rather, they embarked on colonialization because it increased their profits. In contrast, colonialization represented a drain on financial resources in New France. Companies were not keen on pursuing colonialization aggressively because it did not add to any profits or benefits for them, rather it led to distinct disadvantages in the form of reduced profits. In order to pursue colonialization, companies were forced to use profits derived from the fur trade to bring settlers over and subsidize them until they became self-sufficient. Trade and colonialization were two opposing objectives for the colonies because of the intrinsic features of fur which dominated the trade. The fur trade did not require many Europeans as Native Indians were used to trap the fur-coated animals. Europeans were largely just needed to negotiate terms on which French goods were traded for the fur pelts.  

Another hypothesis about the reason behind the divergence in growth rates between New France and the thirteen colonies is also related to the climate. The climate and nature of the land in the thirteen colonies made the growth of many of the staples easily possible: all that was required for growth was in fact, colonialization. In contrast, the nature of the land and climate in New France made the existence and growth of a diversified staples trade extremely difficult for the settlers. The only staple that could be obtained easily from this colony was fur, agricultural activities were quite difficult to pursue because of soil quality and harsh winters. In addition, the high returns that were possible as a result of fur trading deterred people from working hard to diversify into trade of another staple.  

In addition there were a lot of factors which deterred the population from actually arriving and settling in New France. Some of these are that the Europeans found the climate uncomfortable, there was an existing threat from Indians and there was barely any support from the companies or the French government. Most of these factors did not exist in the thirteen colonies.

        In conclusion, the geographical structure of New France and the thirteen colonies was responsible for the divergence in growth rates. It is unfair to compare the rates as the regions dissimilar and could not produce the same growth rates due to this reason.

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Easterbrook, W.t., and M.h. Watkins. Approaches to Canadian Economic History. Ottawa: Carleton UP, 1991.  

Norrie, K, J.c.h Emery,  and D Owram. A History f the Canadian Economy. 3rd ed. Thomson Nelson, 2002. 31-49.  

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