Slavery, religion & Education in the colonies

1. Slavery, religion & Education in the colonies Chapter 4

2. Life for african americans • By the early 1700s, enslaved Africans lived in all 13 English colonies. • Even Benjamin Franklin (one of the Founding Fathers of the U.S.) owned slaves for a time.

3. Slavery spreads south • Most people in the Northern colonies found that hiring workers when needed cost less than owning slaves. • However, in the Southern colonies, slavery expanded rapidly from Virginia to Georgia.

4. Atlantic slave trade • Most slaves came from West Africa. Year after year, slave ships filled with cloth, guns & rum headed there to trade those goods for Africans. • Slaves were then packed into slave ships to cross the Atlantic Ocean on the “Middle Passage”.

5. Religion in the colonies • In Puritan New England, the sound of a drum, or horn called people to worship on Sunday morning. • “Captains of the Watch” made sure everyone was a “Sabbath-keeper” by searching homes to make sure everyone was in church.

6. Puritan church services • Puritan church services could last as long as 5 hours. • At noon, the people would go to “noon-houses” near the church to eat & socialize. • Then, they returned to church for the long afternoon sermon.

7. First great awakening • In the 1730s, the First Great Awakening swept through the colonies to revive people’s religious faith & passion. • Preachers traveled from town to town holding outdoor “revival” meetings where they declared that all they need is an open heart to know God. • This movement spread the idea that all people are equal in the eyes of God.

8. Education in the colonies • Neither the Middle Colonies nor the Southern Colonies had public schools. • In New England, Puritans supported education so their children could be able to read the Bible.

9. Public schools • To encourage education, Massachusetts passed a law in 1647 that required every town with over 50 families to hire a teacher. • Towns with over 100 families were required to build a school.

10. Public schools • Schools were 1-room buildings with a chimney & fireplace in the center. • Paper & pencils were rare & students wrote math problems with ink on pieces of bark. • There was only 1 book, the New England Primer, that was used to teach the alphabet, syllables & prayers.