American History: A Survey 10/e   Alan Brinkley
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Summary

During the seventeenth century, colonies were established in British North America, and the colonists began to perceive themselves as a hybrid breed. Before 1660, most colonies began as private ventures (with charters from the king), but the motives that brought them into being were as varied as the sociopolitical systems they developed. After 1660, proprietary colonies became the norm, and charters indicated a closer tie between the "owners" of a colony and the king, who granted the charter. As a result of this colonization effort, by the 1680s England had an unbroken string of provinces stretching from Canada to the Savannah River. As the colonies matured, their inhabitants began to exhibit a concern for control of local affairs and an independence of interests that eventually came to trouble the British Empire. It was a time when colonists began to sense that they were both English and American, a dual personality that was to lead to trouble and confusion on both sides of the Atlantic. The problem was that at the very time that the American colonists were developing attitudes and institutions distinctly American, England, fully aware of the potential of its colonies, began to tighten its control of its possessions.

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