Boston was second in rank, with somewhat more than 20,000 people.  New York, the “commercial capital of Connecticut and old East Jersey,” was slightly smaller than Boston, but growing at a steady rate.  The fourth town in size was Charleston, South Carolina, with about 10,000 inhabitants.  Newport in Rhode Island, a center of rum manufacture and shipping, stood fifth, with a population of about 7000.  Baltimore and Norfolk were counted as “considerable towns.”  In the interior, Hartford in Connecticut, Lancaster and York in Pennsylvania, and Albany in New York, with growing populations and increasing trade, gave prophecy of an urban America away from the seaboard.  The other towns were straggling villages.  Williamsburg, Virginia, for example, had about two hundred houses, in which dwelt a dozen families of the gentry and a few score of tradesmen.  Inland county seats often consisted of nothing more than a log courthouse, a prison, and one wretched inn to house judges, lawyers, and litigants during the sessions of the court.

The leading towns exercised an influence on colonial opinion all out of proportion to their population.  They were the centers of wealth, for one thing; of the press and political activity, for another.  Merchants and artisans could readily take concerted action on public questions arising from their commercial operations.  The towns were also centers for news, gossip, religious controversy, and political discussion.  In the market places the farmers from the countryside learned of British policies and laws, and so, mingling with the townsmen, were drawn into the main currents of opinion which set in toward colonial nationalism and independence.

=References=

J. Bishop, History of American Manufactures (2 vols.).

E.L.  Bogart, Economic History of the United States.

P.A.  Bruce, Economic History of Virginia (2 vols.).

E. Semple, American History and Its Geographical Conditions.

W. Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England. (2 vols.).

=Questions=

1.  Is land in your community parceled out into small farms?  Contrast the system in your community with the feudal system of land tenure.

2.  Are any things owned and used in common in your community?  Why did common tillage fail in colonial times?

3.  Describe the elements akin to feudalism which were introduced in the colonies.

4.  Explain the success of freehold tillage.

5.  Compare the life of the planter with that of the farmer.

6.  How far had the western frontier advanced by 1776?

7.  What colonial industry was mainly developed by women?  Why was it very important both to the Americans and to the English?

8.  What were the centers for iron working?  Ship building?

9.  Explain how the fisheries affected many branches of trade and industry.