{"title":"Settlement growth and military conflict in early colonial New England 1620–1700","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s10657-024-09792-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>Property rights are secure, and violence over land can be attenuated when the treatment and delineation of the property are consistent, stable, and interpreted similarly by each party. In the absence of a mutual understanding of property rights, land-use stability becomes strained as the area of contested land between two rival parties expands—when one party (or group) is perceived as asymmetrically and rapidly accumulating land at another’s expense. While relations between Algonquian tribes and English settlers were generally peaceful in the first half of the 17th century, subsequent colonial growth accelerated and lead to violent conflict. The latter half of the 17th century experienced some of the most devastating conflicts during early colonial American development—beginning with Pequot’s War, peaking during King Philip’s War, and ending with a European proxy war in North America during King William’s War. Using probate data for 72 settlements in New England to measure the growth of farmers as a proxy for colonial territorial growth, I find a general pattern that English settlements with higher rates of population and territorial growth experienced more violent conflict during King Philip’s War. The same relationship between territorial growth and violent conflict was not as strong for wars that preceded and succeeded King Philip’s War.</p>","PeriodicalId":51664,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Law and Economics","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Law and Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-024-09792-1","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Property rights are secure, and violence over land can be attenuated when the treatment and delineation of the property are consistent, stable, and interpreted similarly by each party. In the absence of a mutual understanding of property rights, land-use stability becomes strained as the area of contested land between two rival parties expands—when one party (or group) is perceived as asymmetrically and rapidly accumulating land at another’s expense. While relations between Algonquian tribes and English settlers were generally peaceful in the first half of the 17th century, subsequent colonial growth accelerated and lead to violent conflict. The latter half of the 17th century experienced some of the most devastating conflicts during early colonial American development—beginning with Pequot’s War, peaking during King Philip’s War, and ending with a European proxy war in North America during King William’s War. Using probate data for 72 settlements in New England to measure the growth of farmers as a proxy for colonial territorial growth, I find a general pattern that English settlements with higher rates of population and territorial growth experienced more violent conflict during King Philip’s War. The same relationship between territorial growth and violent conflict was not as strong for wars that preceded and succeeded King Philip’s War.
期刊介绍:
The European Journal of Law and Economics provides readers with high-quality theoretical and empirical research in which both the legal and economic dimensions merge and combine. The journal welcomes articles that promote a better understanding of legal phenomena, legal decisions made by judges, courts or regulatory agencies, and involving economic tools. Theoretical papers are welcome, provided they have a strong basis in law and economics. We also welcome case studies, as well as empirical analyses – including empirical legal studies – and experimental investigations. The European Journal of Law and Economics does not favor any particular topic, but does have a focus on new and emerging problems. European themes are particularly welcome, because we feel it is important to exploit Europe’s considerable institutional diversity in order to build a more robust body of theory and empirical evidence. However, the purpose of the journal is also to showcase the diversity of law and economics approaches, as supplied by an international mix of authors. Drawing on the support of respected scholars from around the world, who serve as consulting editors and editorial board members, the Editors wish to give contributing authors the opportunity to improve their papers, while also offering them a quick and efficient review process.
Officially cited as: Eur J Law Econ