American Frontier - Colonial Frontier

Colonial Frontier

In the colonial era, before 1776, the west was of high priority for settlers and politicians. In the earliest days of European settlement of the Atlantic coast, from about 1600 to 1680, the frontier was essentially any part of the forested interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing settlements along the coast. English, French, Spanish and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement were quite different. Only a few thousand French migrated to Canada; these habitants settled in villages along the St. Lawrence river, building communities that remained stable for long stretches; they did not simply jump west the way the British did. Although French fur traders ranged widely through the Great Lakes region they seldom settled down. Likewise, the Dutch set up fur trading posts in the Hudson River valley, followed by large grants of land to rich landowning patroons who brought in tenant farmers who created compact, permanent villages. They did not push westward. By contrast the British settlements gave priority to land ownership to individual farmers.

In contrast, the English colonies generally pursued a more systematic policy of widespread settlement of the New World for cultivation of the land. Unlike Britain, where a small number of landlords owned most of the good land, ownership in America was cheap, easy and widespread. Land ownership brought a degree of independence as well as a vote for local and provincial offices. The typical New England settlements were quite compact and small—under a square mile. Conflict with the Native Americans arose out of political issues, viz. who would rule. Early frontier areas east of the Appalachian Mountains included the Connecticut River valley, and northern New England (which was a move to the north, not the west).

The French and Indian Wars of the 1760s turned out a complete victory for the British, who took over the western lands to the Mississippi River. By the early 1770s Americans were moving across the Appalachians into western Pennsylvania, and areas of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Their most famous leader was Daniel Boone.