LISTENING SCRIPT

Listen to a lecture in an American history class.

Good evening, class. Well, tonight we'll begin our discussion of the Colonial period of American history. During this period, people in North America lived in colonies under the authority of the King of England. By definition, a colony is…um…a group of people living in a distant land but remaining under the jurisdiction of their native land. So, tonight, we'll look at the three kinds of American colonies before the American revolution: royal colonies, proprietary colonies, and corporate colonies.

The first type of American colony was a royal colony. A royal colony was directly under the control of the King of England. Although none of the 13 colonies began as a royal colony, by the time of the Revolutionary War in 1775, eight of the colonies had become royal colonies. Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia were all royal colonies, directly subject to the King of England.

The second type of American colony was a proprietary colony. A proprietary colony was under the control of an individual, the proprietor. The proprietor was given a grant to govern a colony by the King of England. By 1775, only three of the colonies remained proprietary colonies: Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

And the last type of American colony was a corporate colony. These colonies were governed under a charter received from the King of England by a company's stockholders. Only two colonies, Connecticut and Rhode Island, could be considered corporate colonies. These colonies were founded by groups of colonists in America, not by English stockholders. The two colonies did, however, receive a charter from the King of England and were therefore considered corporate colonies.

So, these were the three types of colonies: royal, proprietary, and corporate. As we discuss the colonies in detail, you'll see how the type of colony affected the governing of the colony. We'll study the 13 colonies in three groups, the Northern colonies, also known as the New England colonies, the Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies. Next week, we'll begin discussing the Northern and Middle colonies. Please read Chapter 7, no, sorry, Chapters 7 and 8 in your text about the colonies in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.