Private Profits and British Colonial Policy: The Speculations of Henry McCulloh

Abstract

W T THY did the once loyal inhabitants of British America become the rebels of I776? This question-which no simple reply satisfies-remains and will remain the first question asked about the origins of the United States, and any answer which throws light on any aspect of the problem is of value. This paper addresses itself to one feature of the story in one colony-North Carolina-in the hope that the story of Henry McCulloh will help to explain in part why certain North Carolinians were willing to set their feet on the road that led to revolution in I776. British officials in their dealings with the American colonies subscribed heartily to orthodox mercantilist axioms. But there proved to be many a slip between principle and practice. Efforts to explain the inconsistencies of England's colonial policy have emphasized British politics and the problem of administrative organization. Too little attention has been paid to the less obvious influence of the acquisitive Englishman with friends in high places, whose interests were permitted to override the demands of sound colonial administration. Through the four decades preceding the Revolution, the ambitious land speculations of one Henry McCulloh helped keep the politics of the province of North Carolina in turmoil. All the while, in London, McCulloh was giving royal officials advice on colonial problems, advice which was by no means uninfluenced by his personal concerns. Scottish by descent, McCulloh displayed in his pursuit of profit a full measure of the shrewdness and tirelessness for which his countrymen were becoming unpopular. By the 1730's he was netting an average of ? 6oo a year from his mercantile business and by the end of the decade had accumulated a modest fortune of ?5400.1 Since i726 he had been