Ch. 4
Sec. 1: Colonial Government
Magna Carta
• 1215: “Great Charter” signed by Eng King John
• Placed restrictions on pwr of ruler– Needed nobles’ permission to levy taxes– Protected right to own private property– Right to trial by jury
Parliament
• Br legislature (law-making body)
• 2 houses (bicameral): House of Lords (by title) & House of Commons (elected)
• Right to approve taxes – “pwr of the purse”
• Other 2-house legislatures:– Congress: Senate, House of Reps– NY State Leg: State Senate, Assembly
English Bill of Rights• Glorious Revolution (1688): King James
was removed from power & replaced by William & Mary
• Bill of rights: written list of freedoms gov’t promises to protect– trial by jury– Habeas corpus: to be held in prison, must
be charged w/ crime– Free elections– Freedom of speech & debate in Parliament
Colonial Legislatures
• 1619: House of Burgesses est in VA
• Made laws for Jamestown (& eventually all of VA)
• 1629: General Court (MA legislature)
• 1701: General Assembly (PA legislature)
Right to Vote in Colonies
• 50-75 % white males could vote
• In some col had to own property &/or belong to specific church
• Women, Nat Am, Afr Am couldn’t vote
Freedom of the Press
• 1735: Zenger Trial• John Peter Zenger—
newspaper publisher in NY
• Printed articles criticizing gov
• Charged w/ libel (publishing of statements that damage a person’s reputation)
• Slander—spoken false statements
• Zenger’s lawyer—Andrew Hamilton—argued that Zenger didn’t commit libel if the statements were true
• Jury agreed
• Showed col valued freedom of the press (right of journalists to publish the truth w/o restriction or penalty)
Regulating Trade
• Mercantilism: colonies exist to serve the econ needs of their parent country
• 1651: Navigation Acts– Shipments from Eur to col had to go through
Eng 1st
– Had to use Br ships– Col could sell key products only to Eng
• Created jobs for Eng workers
Benefits of Navigation Acts
• Col had a guaranteed market for their goods
• Helped develop ship-building industry in New England
Disadvantages• Felt laws favored Br.
merchants• Col couldn’t sell
directly to foreign markets
• Led to smuggling (illegal trading)
Sec 2: Colonial Society
Colonial Farm
• Where most col lived• Having a large family was an advantage—
needed many hands to do work• Self-sufficient• Raise crops, tend animals, maintenance• Farmhouses made of wood, had few rms• Fireplace—only source of heat• In towns, single ppl expected to live w/ a
family as a servant or boarder
Men
• Carpenters, wheelwrights, coopers, butchers, tanners, shoemakers, chandlers
• Ctrled income & property
• Held authority in families
• Voters, officeholders
• Represented family in public
Women
• Couldn’t choose husband—families arranged marriages
• Cooked, did laundry, made cloth, tended garden & animals, churned butter, preserved food, cared for children, etc
• Little or no role in public life
• Couldn’t own property
• Could teach in dame schools
Children
• Beg work @ 7 yrs• Did household or farm chores• Fetched water & wood• Helped in kitchen• Boys worked in fields• Girls helped mothers• Apprentice: someone who learns a trade
by working for someone in that trade for a period of X
Social Classes• Eur—land was measure of wealth
• America offered immigrants chance to own land
• Eur—prospects determined by birth
• Amer-more social equality
• Gentry– Upper class– Wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, royal
officials– Most powerful– Public office (only ones who could afford to)
• Middle Class– Majority of col– Sm planters, artisans, independent farmers– Could vote but few held office– Mostly white, 1 % Afr Am– Opportunity to move up social scale
• Indentured Servants– Signed contract to work 4 – 10 yrs in
exchange for passage to America– Had few rights– @ end of service, received clothes, tools, land
• Free Afr Amer– Allowed to own property– Some actually purchased slaves who were
relatives & set them free– Couldn’t vote or sit on juries
Sec 3: Slavery in Colonies
Atlantic Slave Trade
• Posts set up along coast of Africa
• Africans sold other Africans to Eur
• 10 million+ transported to America
Middle Passage• Captives traded for guns & goods• Loaded on slave ships & transported
across Atlantic on brutal voyage known as Middle Passage
• Cramped onto boats, no light or air• Olaudah Equiano-slave who desc
conditions• 15-20% died or committed suicide along
way• Auctioned upon arrival in America• Families separated
Triangular Trade
• 3-way trade between colonies, Caribbean (West Indies), & Africa
• New Eng sent fish, lumber, & goods to Caribbean for sugar & molasses (for rum)
• New Eng sent goods to Afr in exchange for slaves (which were sent to W. Indies)
• Africa sent slaves to W Indies for $ & molasses
Slavery in Colonies
• Dev b/c of plantation system• Needed workers • Preferable to servants (slavery permanent)• S. econ depended on it• Children of slaves were also slaves• Linked to racism b/c only Afr were slaves
in America• Racism: belief that 1 race is superior to
others
Resistance
• Wrote slave codes to prevent rebellions
• Slave codes – laws that restricted rights & activities of slaves– Slaves can’t meet in large #s– Illegal to tch slave to rd or write– Masters who killed slaves couldn’t be tried for
murder
African Cultural Influences
• Spoke Gullah (combined lang of W Afr w/ S dialect)
• crafts—ie woven baskets
• Music—ie banjo
• Folk tales
Sec 4: Spread of New Ideas
Puritans
• Laws said children & servants had to be taught to rd
• Towns w/ 50 families had to have an elem school
• 100 families had to have grammar school (like H.S.)
• Public school: school supported by taxes
Colonial Schools
• Taught rel, rd, writing, math
• S had private tutors
• Plantations too far apart
• Dame schools: young women taught very young children to rd & write
• Most schools not open to Afr Am
• Some ppl taught slaves in secret
Upper Levels
• Grammar schools taught Greek, Latin, geography, math, composition
• Like prep schools
• Universities incl Harvard, William & Mary
American Colonial Poetry
• Anne Bradstreet—wrote about joys & hardships of Puritan life
• Phillis Wheatley—slave in Boston
Ben Franklin• Own newspaper• Poor Richard’s
Almanack• Businessman, leader,
scientist, inventor, diplomat
• Founded library & fire dept
• Disc about electricity• Bifocals, stove• Founding Father
Great Awakening
• 1730s & 1740s—religious revival in col
• Emotion-packed Christian movement
• Reaction to decline of rel zeal in col
• Led by preachers like Jonathan Edwards who called on ppl to examine lives & commit selves to God
• Also warned sinners to change ways
Impact of Great Awakening
• Rise of new churches (Methodists, Baptists)
• Split in other churches (Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Congregationalist)
• More religious toleration
• Reinforced democratic ideas
Enlightenment
• Change in way ppl thought—many no longer relied on faith to find answers to difficult questions
• Believed all problems could be solved by human reason
• “natural laws” governed society, religion, & politics
John Locke
• Natural rights: rts that belong to every human from birth– Life, liberty, property– Rights inalienable (can’t be taken away)
• Challenged idea of divine right (belief that monarchs get their authority to rule directly from God)
• Natural rights come from God
Social Contract• Ppl set up gov’t to
protect rights• Give up some
individual freedoms to safeguard rights of community
• Leader can only rule as long as ppl approve
• If monarch violates rule, ppl can overthrow him
Montesquieu
• Pwrs of gov’t should be clearly defined• Separation of powers: div of pwr of gov’t
into separate branches• Keeps any one person from getting too
much power• 3 branches
– Legislative: law-making body– Executive: carries out laws– Judicial: interprets laws