Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution 1700- 1775 THEME: Compared with its 17 th Century counterpart, 18 th Century colonial society became more complex and hierarchical, more ethnically and religiously diverse, and more economically and politically developed. Colonial culture, while still limited, took on distinctive American qualities in such areas as evangelical religion, education, freedom of the press and self-government.
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Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution 1700-1775 THEME: Compared with its 17 th Century counterpart, 18 th Century colonial society became more complex.
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Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution 1700-1775
THEME:Compared with its 17th Century counterpart, 18th
Century colonial society became more complex and hierarchical, more ethnically and religiously diverse, and more economically and politically developed.
Colonial culture, while still limited, took on distinctive American qualities in such areas as evangelical religion, education, freedom of the press and self-government.
English : Colonials1700 - 20:1 1775 - 3:1
1775 • 2.5 million people in 13 colonies• 90% pop. is rural• VA, MA, PA, NC, MD are most populous• 6% are Germans• 7% Scots-Irish• 20% African• ???? Native American• Middle Colonies most multi-ethnic
What were the characteristics of New England society?
o Class?o Race?o Education?o Professions?o Patterns of Settlement?o Family Life?
Immigrant Families and New Social Order
• Puritans believed God ordained the family
• Reproduced patriarchal English family in New England
• Huge population growth caused by high life expectancy more than high fertility
• Greater longevity in New England resulted in “invention” of grandparents
• Multigenerational families strengthened social stability
Distribution of European
and African
Immigrants in the
Thirteen Colonies
Social Hierarchy in New England
• Absence of very rich necessitated creation of new social order
• Half-Way Covenant evolves in 2nd Generation
• New England social order:– Local gentry of prominent, pious families– Large population of independent yeomen landowners
loyal to local community– Small population of landless laborers, servants, poor
Women’s Lives in Puritan New England
• Women’s roles– Farm labor, although not necessarily same tasks as
men– Often outnumbered men 2:1 in church membership
• Women could not control property
• Divorce difficult for a woman to obtain
• Both genders accommodated themselves to roles they believed God ordained
Professions• 90% people are involved in farming
• Ministers
• Fisherman
• Sailors
• Merchants
• Manufacturing
• Few doctors
• Few lawyers
Chesap. Family Life at Risk
• Normal family life impossible in Virginia– Mostly young male indentured servants – Most immigrants soon died – In marriages, one spouse often died within seven
years
• Extended families common
• Mortality rates so high that without immigration, population would have declined
Women in Chesapeake Society
• Scarcity gave some women bargaining power in marriage market
• Female indentured servants vulnerable to sexual exploitation
• Childbearing extremely dangerous
• Chesapeake women died twenty years earlier than women in New England
The Structure of Planter Society: A Dispersed Population
• Large-scale tobacco cultivation required:– Great landholdings– Ready access to water-borne commerce
• Result: population dispersed along great tidal rivers
• Virginia a rural society devoid of towns
• Education system was seen as unnecessary and got little attention
America: Past and Present, Ninth EditionDivine • Breen • Frederickson • Williams • Gross • Brands
Roots of Slavery
• First Africans came to Virginia in 1619
• Status of Africans in Virginia unclear for 50 yrs.
• Rising black population after 1672 prompted stricter slave laws– Africans defined as slaves for life – Slave status passed on to children – White masters possessed total control of slave life
America: Past and Present, Ninth EditionDivine • Breen • Frederickson • Williams • Gross • Brands
Origins and Destinations of African Slaves, 1619–1760
Agricultural South
American Life in the Seventeenth Century1607-1692
THEME:In the Chesapeake region, 17th Century colonial society
was characterized by disease-shortened lives, weak family life and a social hierarchy that included hardworking planters at the top and restless poor whites and black slaves at the bottom.
By contrast, early New England life was characterized by healthy, extended life spans, strong family life, closely knit towns and churches, and a demanding economic and moral environment.
Olududah Equiano The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably
loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined together it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck, and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs. Every circumstance I met with served only to render my state more painful, and heighten my apprehensions and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites.
One day they had taken a number of fishes, and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on the deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity when they thought no one saw them of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings. One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea: immediately another quite dejected fellow, who on account of his illness was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same if they had not been prevented by the ship's crew, who were instantly alarmed. Those of us that were the most active were in a moment put down under the deck, and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people of the ship as I never heard before, to stop her and get the boat out to go after the slaves. However two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other and afterwards flogged him unmercifully for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery. In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now relate, hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade.
Slave shipThis plan graphically depicts the crowded, unsanitary conditions under which enslaved Africans were packed like cargo and transported across the Atlantic. (Library of Congress)
The Settlements of the Lower SouthThis map shows the towns and fortifications of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, as well as the overlapping claims by the Spanish and the English to the territory south and west of Fort King George. The many Georgia forts reflect that colony's role as a buffer state between rice-rich South Carolina and the Spanish troops stationed in Florida.
Characteristics of the South
Cash Crops: Tobacco, Cotton, Indigo, Rice Rural society, along rivers Plantations largely self-sufficient Prosperous from cash crops Women are second-class citizens Scarcity of Women
Few Settlers & high mortality rates.S. attitudes toward women
Slavery entrenched in Southern economy New African-American culture Slaves out # whites Stono Rebellion, 1739, Charleston,
Carolina
Slavery in the Colonies
10 million slaves come to the colonies in 300 years Fatality rates 20% or higher during “Middle Passage” By mid 1680’s slaves outnumber indentured servants Slaves eventually outnumber whites in Carolinas and
deep South In South and in the Chesapeake region a new culture
emerges as slaves become Af.-Americans in music, religion and language
1739 Stono revolt in SC 1740’s slave imports slow
Northern Colonies
Southern ColoniesMiddle Colonies
COMPARE/CONTRAST
NORTHERN MIDDLE SOUTHERN
Puritan
Religious Freedom
Farm & Industry
Small Farms
Protestant Ethic
Slow, but Growing
Conflict w/Indians
Healthy Climate
Exceptions- RI
Quaker
Rel. Toleration
Farm & Industry
Farms
Democratic/Tolerant
Good Rel.w/Indian
Chesapeake Malarial
Exceptions - MD
Catholic/Misc.
Royal Colonies
Cash Crops
Plantations
Slavery
Buffer States/
Punitive Wars
Malarial Climate
Exceptions- NC
COMPARE/CONTRASTCOMPARE/CONTRAST
NORTHERNNORTHERN MIDDLEMIDDLE SOUTHERNSOUTHERN
PuritanPuritan
Religious Religious FreedomFreedom
Farm & Farm & IndustryIndustry
Small FarmsSmall Farms
Slow, but Slow, but Growing Growing Conflict Conflict w/Indiansw/Indians
Good ClimateGood Climate
QuakerQuaker
Rel. TolerationRel. Toleration
Farm & IndustryFarm & Industry
FarmsFarms
DemocraticDemocratic
TolerantTolerant
Good Good Rel.w/IndianRel.w/Indian
Malaria in Malaria in Chesap.Chesap.
Catholic/Misc.Catholic/Misc.
Economic Economic
Cash CropsCash Crops
PlantationsPlantations
SlaverySlavery
Buffer StateBuffer State
Punitive WarsPunitive Wars
MalarialMalarial
When, Why, and How did the When, Why, and How did the various English settlements various English settlements in the new world come to be in the new world come to be
controlled by England?controlled by England?
PROBLEM:Keeping the colonies under England’s
economic and political control
England’s Solutions:
1. 1650- Parliament passes Navigation Acts to regulate colonial trade
2. 1686- James II merged northern colonies and disbanded their local assemblies
3. After 1688 - Parliament strengthened the Navigation Acts by creating Board of Trade and moving trials to Admiralty Courts
MERCANTILISMMERCANTILISMWealth = Power Wealth = Power