American and West Indian colonies before 1782

1. Introduction

The British colonies on the western shores of the Atlantic were founded and developed during the 17th and 18th centuries. Control by the authorities in London was seldom close and sometimes almost non-existent. Local government was generally conducted by officials of the colonies themselves, and the records of local government were and are kept locally.

2. The authorities in London

The responsible authorities in London were the Secretaries of State and the Board of Trade: their records are in The National Archives. The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was charged with the oversight of colonial administrations, except for the 15 years, 1768-1782, when the Colonial or American Secretary was appointed. The Secretaries deputed much to the Board of Trade (called the Lords of Trade and Plantations), at Plantations House. The Board was founded in 1696 to succeed a variety of bodies with similar titles which had operated since 1660. At first, it gave advice, but in time it took on much of the London administration of the colonies.

3. Printed sources and guides to the records at The National Archives

The texts or abstracts of many documents from 1574 to 1738 can be found in the Calendar of State Papers Colonial (1859 onwards). From 1738 there is no simple way to find information, as the Calendar currently stops then: the various guides to and catalogues and brief lists of the various series of records must be used as the point of entry to the originals. For documents from 1770 onwards, see KG Davies ed., The Documents of the American Revolution (1972 onwards).

4. Arrangement of the records in The National Archives

Unfortunately the arrangement of the earlier records does not reflect the roles of the Secretary of State and the Board of Trade, as the editors of the Calendar of State Papers Colonial rearranged them. Instead, there are collections of records by colony, some grouped together into two enormous composite series (CO 1 and CO 5), others in individual series by colony and type of document.

For each colony there are five main types of record, which are discussed in more detail later

• Original Correspondence with the Secretary of State
• Original Correspondence with the Board of Trade
• Entry Books of the Secretary of State
• Entry Books of the Board of Trade
• Collections of Acts and Sessional Papers of the colonial legislature

For some colonies only there are

• naval officers' returns of shipping
• military and naval despatches
• collections of land grants and other materials

Documents concerned with Indian affairs and other, more general matters, are arranged in separate series, also discussed in more detail later.

5. America and West Indies, up to 1688: CO 1

The first editor of the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial brought together all the papers from different sources (dated not later than 1688) that he wanted to print in the Calendar, which was intended to end in 1688. They were placed in date order, and now form the series CO 1, Colonial Papers: General Series.

6. America 1688-1807 and the Bahamas: CO 5

The same procedure was followed for later volumes, so that from 1688 until 1807 (with a few earlier documents), the records relating to the American colonies are combined in CO 5 , America and West Indies: Original Correspondence etc. In spite of its title, CO 5 does not include records of the colonies of Canada and the West Indies (see below for their records) and includes only one, the Bahamas, which did not come to form part of the United States. The records are arranged by colony, as follows:

* Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania
** includes the Bahamas, Carolina, Connecticut, Maryland, East and West New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island

7. West Indies, Canada, 1688-1807: various CO series

The records concerned with the various colonies now forming the West Indies and Canada are arranged in the same way as those now in CO 5, but each series forms a separate series. The series numbers are listed by Pugh, Thurston and Andrews and can be easily identified in the National Archives Guide.

* including Antigua, St Kitts, Montserrat, Nevis and the Virgin Islands

8. What is the Original Correspondence?

• Original Correspondence with the Secretary of State
• Original Correspondence with the Board of Trade

These are collections of reports and papers from, and orders and instructions to, the responsible officials in each colony, especially the governors. They contain not only correspondence with the colonies, but also with other officials and private individuals in the United Kingdom, and between the Secretary of State and the Board of Trade.

For 1703-1759, manuscript calendars of the correspondence of the Board with each colony were compiled: these are CO 326/1-51. For 1759-1782, a single calendar was prepared each year for all colonies: this series is CO 326/52-74.

9. What are the Entry Books?

• Entry Books of the Secretary of State
• Entry Books of the Board of Trade

These are letter books containing copies of despatches, letters, reports, petitions, commissions and instructions, either in full or in abstract. Before 1700, papers received as well as papers despatched are noted. The Entry Books were the primary record of outgoing correspondence, in particular royal commissions, instructions and warrants. They were not intended to refer to the whole correspondence.

10. What are Acts and Sessional Papers?

• Collections of Acts and Sessional Papers of the colonial legislature

Copies, either printed or in manuscript, of the Acts and Proceedings of colonial councils and legislatures were sent to the Privy Council for approval or rejection. They were then forwarded to the Board of Trade. Other copies were retained in the colony itself where, as a rule, they are still to be found.

11. What are naval officers' returns of shipping?

The Naval Officers were officials of the Board, in practice usually Customs Officers acting in a second capacity. They discharged certain statutory duties under the Navigation Acts, and compiled lists of the merchantmen entering and clearing their ports. These returns, at their fullest, give dates, the names of master and vessel, tonnage, when and where built, whence and whither bound, and the nature, consignor and consignee of the cargo. Only a proportion of the lists survive in the CO records: comparable records can also be found in Treasury Board Papers (T 1) and Miscellanea (BT 6).

12. What are military and naval despatches?

The despatches collected in CO 5 relate mainly to fighting against the French and various Indian tribes, which could not conveniently be divided by colony. Original Correspondence: West Indies (CO 318) also contains some military despatches. The majority of records concerning naval operations will be found among the ADM series in The National Archives. Many concerning military operations, including a proportion removed from the papers of the Secretary of State and the Board of Trade, are in the WO series. A detailed index to these papers is given in: the Alphabetical Guide to the War Office and other Series (PRO List and Index Series vol LIII, 1931; reprinted 1963).

13. What are the records on land grants?

Although grants were nominally made in the name of the Crown, most were made and recorded locally rather than in London. Some were reported to the Secretary of State or the Board of Trade, but no index exists. However, many are noted in the Calendar of State Papers Colonial and in Andrews.

In early colonial America the ownership of the land was considered to be vested in the Crown by right of discovery and settlement by its subjects. The Crown granted land to companies and to proprietors to organise settlements and also to some individual subjects as a reward for services. For more details see OT Barck and HT Lefler, in Colonial America (1968). The system whereby recipients of royal land grants in turn gave or sold land to others varied.

In some colonies, notably in New England, the colonists established legislatures, which assumed jurisdiction over the allocation of company lands. They made some direct grants to individuals for 'adventuring' money in the companies, but the greater part went to groups or communities to establish townships and to apportion the surrounding land.

In the southern colonies, the 'headright' system of land distribution was the most common method followed during the seventeenth century. Anyone who provided transport to the colony for any emigrant was thereby entitled to at least fifty acres of land. During the same period, however, larger tracts were given by the Crown, the proprietor or the company to favourites, to those who performed outstanding service to the company or, as in Maryland, to those who transported five or more people to the colony. The 'headright' system led to many frauds and abuses, and by the early years of the eighteenth century most of the land was distributed by purchase or by taking out a patent signed by the governor of the colony for new, unpatented land.

No comprehensive index exists of the many varied land grants made in colonial America. Andrews in his Guide gives references to the subject generally and to many individual grants. References to some other grants are in the Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, the Calendar of State Papers Colonial: America and West Indies, and the Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series. Details of the grants referred to in the Journals can be found in CO 5. However, the records of a great many of the land grants made remained in the colonies and may be available in State archives.

14. What are the records on Indian affairs?

There are separate collections of papers concerning Indian affairs in general, and relating to large tribes and confederacies not dwelling in any one colony, in CO 5. The series includes some treaties, but there is no index to them and no easy means of locating those not mentioned by Andrews or in the Calenda of State Papers, Colonial.

15. Colonies in general

In addition to the colony-specific records, there are of course general papers of the Secretaries of State and the Board of Trade, which can contain much information.

The series CO 391, Board of Trade: Minutes, includes the Journal of the Board of Trade. Entries before April 1704 have been published in the Calendar of State Papers Colonial. Entries for April 1704-May 1782 are published in the Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations (1920-1928).

16. Treasury and Customs records

The extensive and varied records of the Treasury (T) contain much material relating to the colonies: all have been mentioned in Volume II of Andrews. Those records of the Board of Customs (CUST) which survived a fire in 1814, chiefly statistics of trade, are likewise described by Andrews in the same volume.