Description
Book Synopsis From the earliest days of the British colonies in America, land was freely given to those willing to come and settle. Oftentimes, it was the only inducement that brought colonists to the New World. At first, colonists considered free land a privilege, but it soon came to be seen as a right. When that right was later withheld by Great Britain, the colonists rebelled.
Exploring how economic hierarchies led to vast inequality in England, this book details the realization that America would provide opportunities for economic mobility. As colonists learned how to manage the land in the New World, they also learned how to govern themselves. This book emphasizes how the control of free land in America laid the groundwork for revolution. Although covered broadly in other histories, this is the first work dedicated to exploring land ownership as a unique and direct cause of the American Revolution.
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments vi
- Preface 1
- Introduction 3
- Prologue: From the Conquest to the Colonies 13
- Chapter
- Discovery and Claims 23
- Chapter
- Land in English Colonial America: The Settlement 55
- Chapter Three
- Populating the Land I: Colonial Expansion 86
- Chapter Four
- Populating the Land II: Immigration and Expansion 121
- Chapter Five
- War for Empire: Still More Land 155
- Chapter
- End of Expansion: Rebellion and Break 185
- Epilogue: Free Land in the Move West 229
- Chapter Notes 243
- Bibliography 265
- Index 279
