Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution: Diversity, Inequality, and Growth

1. Chapter 5 Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution, 1700–1775

3. I. Conquest by the Cradle • Fast population growth via proceration • 1700 =300,000 souls, 1775 2.5 million • The most populous colonies in 1775 were • Virginia • Massachusetts • Pennsylvania • About 90% of the people lived in rural areas.

4. II. A Mingling of the Races • Colonial America was a melting pot • 50% English • 20% African • 90% = Southern slaves • 7% German • 7% Scots-Irish • ~1-3% each = French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Jews, Swiss, Scots Highlanders.

5. Map 5-1 p79

6. II. A Mingling of the Races • Declaration of Independence • 56 signers • 38 English • 18 were non-English • 8 were not born in the colonies

8. Figure 5-1 p80

9. III. The Structure of Colonial Society • America the land of equality and opportunity • Lower class swelled b/c of indentured servants • Least fortunate of all were the black slaves • No equality with whites • Were oppressed and downtrodden • Had no rights as a person

10. p81

11. IV. Clerics, Physicians, and Jurists • Colonial professions • Ministry, physicians, lawyers. • Agriculture, leading industry, 90% of the people • Fishing was a bustling commerce • Commercial ventures an avenue to wealth • Triangular trade was infamously profitable • Laborers / craftspeople = scarce/highly prized. • The Molasses Act limited trade (1733) V. Workaday America

12. p83

13. Map 5-2 p83

14. Map 5-3 p84

17. VI. Horsepower and Sailpower • The oppressive problems of transportation • Roads did not connect to major cities until 1700s • Cities grew along the banks of navigable rivers • Mid-1700s intercolonial postal system started

18. Sign of the Pine Tree Inn, 1768 Inns like Joseph Read III’s in Lisbon, Connecticut, not only provided food, drink, shelter, and entertainment for colonial Americans but also were raucous arenas for debating political issues. This sign, with its circular yellow orb (sun) over a pine tree, may have been intended as a veiled reference to the Sons of Liberty, an extralegal resistance organization that had adopted as its symbol the Liberty Tree. The date of 1768 coincided with the British enactment of the Townshend Acts, which ignited a new wave of colonial resistance to British rule. p85

19. VII. Dominant Denominations • Most people did not worship in any church • Two “established” or tax-supported churches • The Church of England (Anglicans) • College of William and Mary (1633) • Congregational Church

20. Table 5-1 p86

21. Table 5-2 p86

22. VIII. The Great Awakening • Arminianism— against Calvinist doctrine • Heaven for all humans, not just the “elect” • If they freely accepted God’s grace • Great Awakening exploded in 1730s – 1740s. • Religious revival • The Awakening left many lasting effects • It led to the founding of colleges • It was the first spontaneous mass movement.

24. Jonathan Edwards

26. George Whitefield

27. p88

29. IX. Schools and Colleges • Education reserved for the aristocratic few • Education for leadership, mostly men • Primary goal-good Christians, not good citizens • Colonial schools/colleges was grim and gloomy • Religion, Latin and Greek • Discipline was severe

30. Harvard 1726

31. The Original Yale College

32. start here

33. The College of New Jersey at Princeton, 1764 p89

34. Table 5-3 p90

35. X. A Provincial Culture • Based European tastes, especially British • Few Colonial contributions • Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack • Science was slowly making progress • B. Franklin, America’s only first-rank scientist

36. Colonial Craftsmanship In the “Pennsylvania Dutch” country, parents gave daughters painted wooden chests p90

37. “The Magnetic Dispensary,” ca. 1790 This British painting made sport of the era’s faddish preoccupations with electricity. Following Franklin’s experiments, static electricity, generated here by the machine on the right, was employed for “medicinal” purposes as well as for tingling entertainments. p91

38. XI. Pioneer Presses • Americans - too poor, too busy to read • Benjamin Franklin first privately supported library • Printing press • Newspapers were a powerful agency of airing colonial grievances and rallying opposition • The Peter Zenger trial (1734-5) • Established Freedom of the Press • True statements can’t be prosecuted as libel

39. XII. The Great Game of Politics • Government in American colonies • 8 Royal, 3 proprietary 2 charter • Governors were generally appointed by king • Town-meetings common in New England • Open discussion, open voting, direct democracy • The ballot was by no means a birthright • Religious and property qualifications (1775) • Many elegible didn’t vote

41. The Hunting Party, New Jersey Fox hunting began as a necessity in the colonies, where farmers on foot tried to keep foxes from overrunning the countryside. By the eighteenth century it had become an organized sport among the well-to-do, mounted on horseback. George Washington was famed as an ardent fox hunter, breeding his own hounds and importing a fine hunting wardrobe from England. Huntsmen wore scarlet coats to be easily visible, even in the depths of the forest, and cork-lined black hats for protection from low hanging branches or a fall. p93

42. XIII. Colonial Folkways • Everyday colonial life was drab and tedious • Food was plentiful, coarse and monotonous • British North America a patchwork quilt • Each colony slightly different • Stitched together by common origins, lifestyles • Separated from the imperial seat of authority.

43. p94

44. 11/7/2019 CH 23 - AN ERA OF SOCIAL CHANGE 44

45. “POP”ESSAY Explain the extent of settlement and the influence of two of these non-English groups; Africa, Dutch, French, German, Scots-Irish. 50 WORDS IN 5 MINUTES

46. p96