GENESIS OF AGRARIANISM IN THE U. S. 93 



portant improvements were made in methods of 

 credit, which stimulated foreign trade. Had it not 

 been for these important changes, English colonial 

 development would have been retarded greatly. 



The method adopted to establish colonies was 

 usually that of securing a charter by men who were 

 willing to risk their fortunes in the hazardous enter- 

 prise of foreign development. These charters con- 

 veyed title to certain territory and bestowed author- 

 ity over future settlers. English colonies, with a 

 few accidental exceptions, were at first proprietary. 

 The proprietor was sometimes an individual and 

 sometimes an English corporation or a joint stock 

 company. In either case the proprietor acquired 

 ownership of the land and certain rights of control 

 over the settler. 



The proprietorship system proved to be the most 

 satisfactory method of land settlement. One of the 

 most successful examples of this system was that of 

 Pennsylvania, which was granted to William Penn 

 in 1680. Other examples were New Jersey, which 

 was granted to Berkeley and Carteret in 1664, and 

 Maryland, granted to the first Lord Baltimore in 

 1632. Exactly one hundred years later the pro- 

 prietors of Georgia received their grant from the 

 King. Before 1763 settlements were well estab- 

 lished along the Atlantic seaboard. Gradually these 

 settlers began to move inland, following the river 

 courses as far as the Allegheny range. Before 1789 

 English colonists had begun conquests west of the 



