American Life & Colonial Society to the Eve of the Revolution AP Chapters 4 & 5.

American Life & Colonial Society to the Eve of the Revolution

AP Chapters 4 & 5

The Tobacco Economy

Indentured Servitude Working for “Freedom Dues”

A few barrels of corn New suit of clothes Small piece of land

Headright System Pay the passage of a

laborer & get 50 acres Wealthy amassed huge

landholdings Frustrated Freedmen

Land becomes scarcer Can’t find a wife

Bacon’s Rebellion - 1676 1,000 Freedmen… Put down an Indian

Revolt, torched Jamestown & chased Gov. William Berkeley out of town…

**Wealthy planters begin to fear large numbers of landless freedmen**

Colonial Slavery African coastal tribes

captured and sold slaves to merchants

More than 20% would die on the “Middle Passage”…

Harsh slave codes passed…

A few slaves eventually become slaveholders themselves…

Slave Culture Gullah

Goober Voodoo

Music & Dances Banjo Bongo Drums

The New England Family Life expectancy – 70 years… Women marry at 20 – have

babies about every 2 years…. Strong families, grandparents

take a role… Divorce extremely rare Education important

Towns with 50+… Old Deluder Satan Laws

Harvard, 1636

Half-Way Covenant Population grows but

church membership declines…

Half-Way Covenant admitted to baptism (but not communion) unconverted children of existing members

Weakens strict Puritan practices

“Praying Towns”

Salem Witch Trials 1692

New England Poor Soil, cold

climate …. Diversified agriculture

and industry… “Yankee Ingenuity”… “Puritan Work

Ethic”…

Colonial Growth 1700: 20 Englishmen

per colonist… 1775: 3 Englishmen

per colonist… Largest non-English

colonial group was African – 20% of the population in 1775

Germans (Deutsch) 6% of pop in 1775

Variety of Protestant sects (mostly Lutheran)…

Fled wars, religious oppression…

No loyalty to British

Scots-Irish: 7% of population in 1775

Predominantly Presbyterian…

“Pugnacious, lawless, and individualistic”…

Whiskey distilling frontiersmen…

Paxton Boys… Regulators in NC… No loyalty to British

12 future presidents..

Other Groups: 5% of population in 1775

French Huguenots Welsh Dutch Swedes Jews Irish Swiss No loyalty to British “Melting Pot”…

Religion in the Colonies Church of England (Anglican

Church) official in: GA, SC, NC, VA, parts of NY

Congregational Church (Puritanism) official in: All of New England except RI

Roman Catholics were discriminated against…

General feeling of Religious Toleration especially in Middle Colonies…

Great Awakening

Jonathan Edwards Preached that

salvation could not be achieved by good works, only through God’s grace…

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

George Whitefield Electrifying Orator Appealed to emotions Countless sinners

would “holler” and express conversion at many revival meetings…

“Old Lights” Orthodox clergymen who

were skeptical of the emotionalism of the Great Awakening

“New Lights” Defended the Awakening

and the revitalizing of religion

Congregationalists… Began a steady decline…

Colonial Literature & the Press

BenjaminFranklin Poor Richard’s

Almanack Many famous

sayings: “A penny saved is a

penny earned” “Honesty is the best

policy”

Also a first rate scientist/inventor Electricity Bifocals Franklin Stove Lightening Rod

Zenger Trial Peter Zenger, NY

newspaper editor Critical of the Royal

Governor Defended by Alexander

Hamilton Found Not Guilty ***Establishes the

precedent of a free press

Comparing theColonies Charter Colonies

CT & RI

Proprietary Colonies MD, PA, & DE

Royal Colonies The remaining 8