Chapter 4: The Mosaic of Eighteenth-Century America

1. Chapter 4: The Mosaic of Eighteenth-Century America Preview:“British colonials were such a diverse, contentious lot that any hope of political union seemed utterly impractical….Yet despite such disagreements, a majority of white colonials took pride in their English traditions and in membership in a powerful empire.” The Highlights: Forces of Division Slave Societies in the Eighteenth-Century South Enlightenment and Awakening in America Anglo-American Worlds of the Eighteenth Century Toward the Seven Years’ War

2. 4-2 Forces of Division • Immigration and Natural Increase • Enormous ethnic diversity • 250,000 enslaved African immigrants • 250,000 Scots-Irish • 135,000 Germans • Some Swiss, Swedes, Highland Scots, and Spanish Jews • Tremendous birthrate: three times higher than today McGraw-Hill

3. 4-3 McGraw-Hill

4. 4-4 • The Settlement of the Backcountry • Settlers from older communities streamed into rural western sections of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas • Backcountry society was very isolated • Few legal and religious institutions • Importance of frontier women • Social Conflict on the Frontier • 1763: Paxton boys protest inadequate protection from Indians • In the absence of courts, “regulators,” or vigilantes meted out justice in backcountry • Ethnic differences sparked tensions McGraw-Hill

5. 4-5 “The settlement of the frontier also triggered disputes between colonies over their boundaries. At the root of the confusion were the old colonial charters and their vague definitions of western borders that allowed groups of settlers and speculators from different colonies to claim the same tract of land”(117). • Boundary Disputes and Tenant Wars • Settlement of frontier prompted bitter disputes between colonies over boundaries • 1760s: Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys resist New York governance of Vermont • Tenant insurrection throughout the Northeast McGraw-Hill

6. 4-6 McGraw-Hill

7. 4-7 • Eighteenth-Century Seaports • All major colonial cities were seaports • Dominated by merchants and artisans • Blacks, both free and slave, numerous—held “Negro election days” which honored black leaders • Different experiences for women in urban settings • Social Conflict in Seaports • Ethnic and religious diversity created tensions • Class resentment also palpable McGraw-Hill

8. 4-8 Slave Societies in the Eighteenth-Century South • The Slave Family and Community • 1700-1740: peak years for importation of African slaves into the colonies • By mid-century, natural reproduction created American-born slave majority • Elaborate kinship networks evolved, but relationships always vulnerable to sale • African influences perpetuated in religion, music, skills, and folktales McGraw-Hill

9. 4-9 • Slavery and Colonial Society in French Louisiana • Experience of Africans in Louisiana was different than that of Africans in rest of North America • 1729: Africans joined forces with Indians in the Natchez Revolt • Greater freedom for blacks in Louisiana McGraw-Hill

10. 4-10 “Throughout the eighteenth century, slave rebellions occurred far less frequently on the mainland of North America than in the Caribbean or Brazil” (126). • Slave Resistance in Eighteenth-Century British North America • Slaves used both overt and subtle methods to resist enslavement • 1739: Stono Rebellion in South Carolina was the largest of the colonial period • Yet slave rebellions in America far less frequent than in the Caribbean McGraw-Hill

11. 4-11 Enlightenment and Awakening in America • The Enlightenment in America • Ben Franklin and many colonial leaders were devotees of the Enlightenment ideal of human reason • Movement of “rational Christianity” – Christian beliefs must be reasonable • Many ministers grew concerned over the growth of rationalism McGraw-Hill

12. 4-12 • The First Great Awakening • evangelical reaction to rationalism • 1739-41: George Whitfield toured the colonies, attracting many to his form of enlivened worship • Message appealed to all classes and ethnicities • The Aftermath of the Great Awakening • Movement deepened divide between religious factions • Growth of Baptist and Presbyterian churches • Colonial diversity accentuated by the Great Awakening McGraw-Hill

13. 4-13 Anglo-American Worlds of the Eighteenth Century • English Economic and Social Development • Large financial institutions and textile factories dominated England’s economy; colonies were predominantly rural • London’s population in 1750: 675,000 • 90 percent of all colonists lived in towns of fewer than 2,000 McGraw-Hill

14. 4-14 • The Consumer Revolution • English producers sold appealing array of consumer goods to colonists • Consumption of imported manufactures rose 120 percent, 1750-1773 • Inequality in England and America • Clear class distinctions in England • Colonists ambivalent toward English grandeur • Concerned over the idle classes in England, both rich and poor McGraw-Hill

15. 4-15 McGraw-Hill

16. 4-16 • Toward the Seven Years’ War • William Pitt’s designs on making England the most powerful imperial nation in Europe • Event altered Americans’ conception of themselves as English “The Albany Congress had demonstrated that a few Americans like Franklin had seen beyond the diversity of a divided colonial world to the possibility of union….But it would take another war, one that restructured an empire, before some Americans saw in themselves a likeness that was not English” (136). McGraw-Hill

17. 4-17 • Politics in England and America • England’s balanced constitution caused some alarm among colonials • Colonial governments modeled after English government • The Imperial System before 1760 • English government’s policy of benign neglect: indifference toward American colonies McGraw-Hill