Unit 1 Part 2 Notes Ch. 4: American Life in the 17 th Century (1607 – 1692) Ch. 5: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution (1700 – 1775)

Unit 1 Part 2 Notes

Ch. 4: American Life in the 17th Century (1607 – 1692)

Ch. 5: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution (1700 – 1775)

Chesapeake Bay Region

Chesapeake Bay Region

1. Life in this region was unhealthy (due to diseases), with the lifespans of settlers actually decreasing from what it would have been in Europe.

2. Economically they mainly relied on tobacco – as the soil wore out they moved further inland, causing more conflict with the Native Americans.

3. In the early years, labor was difficult to come by.

The Head-Right System

1. Under the head-right system, wealthy men would pay the way for indentured servants to come to the colonies – they would work for a number of years to pay off their passage – and the man who paid the passage received the right to 50 acres of land.

2. When the indentured servant’s time was up, they were free to purchase their own land.

3. As the best land was taken, the freed indentured servants were stuck having to move further inland, getting less fertile land and having to deal with the Native Americans.

4. This led to tensions between the two groups.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1. William Berkley was the governor of Virginia.2. He was viewed as the frontiersmen of Virginia as being

too lenient on the Native Americans – who he did a lucrative fur trade with.

3. Eventually, Nathanial Bacon led a rebellion in which they attacked the Native Americans and then attacked Jamestown, driving the governor out and then burning the settlement.

4. The rebellion was eventually crushed (brutally) but it was important because it began to show competing causes within the individual colonies.

The Growth of Slavery

1. Another impact of Bacon’s Rebellion was the growth of slavery.

2. Wealthy landowners began looking for a more reliable (easily controlled) labor force.

3. New England slave trades began bringing large numbers of African slaves to the southern colonies – this trade was part of the triangular trade and the middle passage of the slaves was particularly brutal.

4. Once the slave populations began growing, the southern colonies enacted slave codes to keep them under control.

Southern Society

1. A social hierarchy developed in the southern colonies.

1. The landed, slave-owning plantations owners controlled the economy and the government.

2. Small farmers who mostly didn’t own slaves.3. Freed indentured servants who didn’t own any

land4. Indentured servants.5. African slaves.

Life in the South

1. There were very few cities – the ones that did exist were ports along the coast.

2. People were so spread out that there wasn’t much contact so people were isolated.

3. Most people received little to no education – the planters hired private tutors and sent their children off to college because they were no schools.

The New England Colonies

1. Life expectancies in the N.E. colonies actually increased from what it was in Europe, thanks to the climate and less disease.

2. Life was more family oriented – colonies came over as families instead of individually like they did in the south.

3. Women played a larger role in society.

Life in the New England Colonies

1. Because of the landscape and larger population, people lived closer together so towns and villages developed.

2. Churches played an integral role within society but the control over of the church over society was weakening.

3. Education was much better because children were in walking distance to schools.

4. The first colleges developed in the N.E. Colonies.

Life in the New England Colonies

1. Because of the rocky landscape and climate, farming was hard, but the majority of the colonies were farmers.

2. They had to be hardworking and frugal in order to survive and prosper.

3. The difficulty of farming also led to other industries, such as producing naval stores, trading furs and fishing.

Salem Witch Trials

1. A group of teenage girls in Salem, MA, claimed to have been “bewitched” by an older woman.

2. The ensuing witch hunt led to 20 people being killed.

3. Most of the accused came from families associated with Salem’s growing market economy while the accusers came from the subsistence farmers from the interior – the trials showed a growing social turmoil developing in the New England colonies.

Society on the Eve of Revolution

1. By the mid 1700’s, the population of the colonies was growing rapidly, both by immigration and by an improved birth rate – and slavery.

2. Cities in the northeast were growing and settlers were moving further into the interior.

3. Water was the main source of transportation – there were few roads and they weren’t very good.

4. The social structure was far different from that in Great Britain – most colonists were small farmers, there was no titled nobility dominating society and the government, although dispute were growing between the frontiersmen and those living in the more settled coastal areas.

The Colonial Economy

1. About 90% of the colonial population farmed.

2. Your average colonist probably had a higher standard of living than the people of Europe.

3. Manufacturing was growing, but the colonies still relied on Great Britain for most of their manufactured goods.

The Triangular Trade1. The triangular trade was very

profitable.2. Northern merchants would

travel to Africa and trade rum for Slaves.

3. They would then go to the Caribbean Islands and trade slaves for sugar, which they took back to the colonies to make more rum.

4. It also involved leaving out the African leg and going to Europe for manufactured goods.

The Navigation Acts

1. The Navigation Acts required the colonies to trade their goods with Great Britain only.

2. As British markets shrunk, though, the colonies had to look for other markets so they turned to other countries, especially France.

3. Great Britain tried to put a stop to trade with France, but smuggling became quite common.

The Great Awakening

1. Over time, the religious fervor of the early colonists began to fade – commercialism became a much more pressing concern.

2. Others chaffed under the strict structure of the Puritans while some Puritans believed their church was getting “watered down”.

3. During the 1730’s and 40’s, a renewed interest in religion swept through the colonies.

The Great Awakening

1. Jonathan Edwards began preaching that people needed to be completely dependent on God and his grace for their salvation.

2. George Whitfield preached about human helplessness and divine omnipotence – and the dangers of hell – to win souls.

3. The Great Awakening led to established churches splitting up and new denominations growing – it also led to more missionary work with the Native Americans.

4. What’s really important about the Great Awakening though is that it is considered to be our first “national” event – it wasn’t relegated to just one area, it swept through all of the colonies.

Colonial Newspapers

1. On the eve of the Revolution, there were about 40 colonial newspapers.

2. The newspapers reported news along with the political views of various people.

3. In 1734, John Zenger was arrested in New York for writing about the corrupt royal governor of New York.

4. In court, the governor said it didn’t matter if what he printed was true, he couldn’t print things like that about the governor.

5. The court decided for Zenger, setting up our belief in the “freedom of the press”.

Colonial Governments

1. By 1775, eight colonies were royal colonies with governors appointed by the king, three colonies were governed by proprietors and two (Conn. and R.I. elected their own governor).

2. Most colonies has a bicameral legislature to pass local laws – the interior regions were underrepresented in these legislature.

3. During the time of “salutary neglect”, these local legislatures gained a lot of independence in handling colonial matters.

4. In the south, local government was handled on the county level while in the New England colonies, decisions were made at town hall meetings.

Voting Rights

1. All of the colonies had religious and property qualifications for voting.

2. Around half of all adult males were disfranchised.

3. But because land was so easy to get, most men believed that they would one day be capable of voting.

4. Often times, though, many didn’t vote, allowing their “betters” to handle the government.