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06. 18 th Century Colonial America

06. 18 th Century Colonial America. Purpose: To gain an understanding of how politics, society, and culture evolved in 18 th century colonial America, specifically: Spanish and French expansion and imperial warfare Economic development The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening

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06. 18 th Century Colonial America

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  1. 06. 18th Century Colonial America • Purpose: To gain an understanding of how politics, society, and culture evolved in 18th century colonial America, specifically: • Spanish and French expansion and imperial warfare • Economic development • The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening • The causes, impact, and results of the French and Indian or Seven Years War. • Timeframe: ca. 1680s-1763 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  2. 1.1 Spanish and French Holdings in North America • Despite a loss in power since the 17th century, Spain held on the northern periphery of her empire. Strategically important was Florida. • Spanish settlers established outposts in New Mexico, and Christianized the Pueblo Indians. • Since the 17th century, France rapidly expanded its holdings in Canada. • France also sought a hold over the interior: Louisiana. There it established primarily forts and trading posts. After war with the Iroquois over control of the fur trade, the French negotiated a neutrality with them in 1701. • In 1718, France established New Orleans, the capital and main port of Louisiana. • Around 1750 French colonies had only about 70,000 inhabitants at that time. Spanish and French holdings in North America, to 1750 06. 18th Century Colonial America

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  4. 2.1 Demography and Immigration in the 18th Century • From 1700 to 1775, the population of English North America increased from ca. 250,000 to 2,5 million. A surplus of births over deaths accounted for most of the increase. • Economic opportunity, and religious toleration in America, and political pressures at home motivated large numbers of immigrants. • English and Welsh immigrants, and also other European groups came in large numbers: Ca. 115,000 scots-Irish and Catholics from Ireland, ca. 85,000 Germans: the so called Pennsylvania Dutch (=Deutsche). • Many immigrants settled in the Appalachian foothills. 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  5. 2.2 Ethnic Diversity • Immigration meant that colonial North America became even more diverse in the 18th century. • Some groups, like the French Huguenots, quickly assimilated into Anglo-American society. • Others, like the Pennsylvania “Dutch” retained a strong ethnic identity, in some cases including language. • While naturalization laws were typically liberal, entrenched Anglo-American political leaders often did their best to keep the immigrants out of power. 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  6. 2.3 The Navigation System • English mercantilism held that nations should build self-sufficient economic systems. Colonies should provide raw materials and import finished goods. • Between 1651 and 1673, Parliament passed the Navigation Acts: Only English and colonial ships could trade with the colonies, their manufacture of finished goods was limited.Foreign imports to the colonies had to go through England. • Enforcement proved difficult and smuggling rampant. 18th century merchant ship 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  7. 2.4 Colonial Elites and Colonial Politics • The American Colonies developed a leadership group in some ways different from Europe. Money was more important than nobility. A sense of hierarchy was not so strong as in Europe. • Elites were native-born, most often merchants, planters and often lawyers. A large number of elite families had both wealth and influence. • Throughout the 18th century, most colonies had an appointed governor, a council and an elected assembly. • The assemblies controlled the governor’s salary, and saw themselves as the representatives of the people and guardians of civic rights. • While the right to vote was relatively widespread, only the wealthy could afford to be elected into office. 18th century children of a wealthy family 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  8. 2.5 The Enlightenment in America • In the 18th century, many upper-class Americans were involved with the Enlightenment. European thinkers like Isaac Newton in science, and John Locke in politics were widely read. • Their impact was strengthened by a high literacy rate and new universities such as Yale (1701) and Princeton (1747). • Several American intellectuals such as Benjamin Franklin became members of the English Royal Society. • The Bostonian Benjamin Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society in 1743, he published a collection of general and agricultural advice (“Poor Richard’s Almanac”) and wrote “Experiments and Observations on Electricity” in 1751. • Franklin simplified the European Enlightenment and adapted it to American needs. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). American printer, scientist, politician, diplomat, and thinker. 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  9. 2.6 The American Press • In the 18th century, the American colonies developed a printing industry. • By 1770, every major American city had at least one newspaper. These were widely circulated. • Weekly, 4 pages, shipping news, “advertisements”, reprints, and increasingly essays, letters, and opinions. • 1733 Peter Zenger case in New York gave publishers a measure of protection against the government – the early origins of the freedom of the press. 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  10. 2.7 The Great Awakening • In the 1730s-60s a great religious revival spread from New England to the South, which stood in opposition of Enlightenment rationalism: • Itinerant preachers such as George Whitefield addressed large crowds in emotional, often open-air revival meetings, preaching the possibility of salvation for all through the recognition of one’s own sinfulness. • Conservative clergy and many upper-class Americans objected to a religion that emphasized emotion and dismissed formal theology. • Consequently, denominations split into Old Lights and New Lights, who fought bitter theological and political battles. • New denominations like Methodists and Baptists forever changed the face of organized religion in America. Religious diversity grew. George Whitefield (1714-1770) 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  11. 2.7 The Great Awakening: Illustrations 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  12. 3.1 Origins of the French and Indian War • In the 18th century, the English colonies lived in a precarious balance of French and Spanish enmity, French Indian allies, English Indian allies, and Iroquois neutrality. • In 1752, conflict arose over control of the Ohio region, which was important for the fur trade as well as strategic control over the interior. • English colonials needed more land. • France began a build-up of forts south of Lake Erie, and most Indians in the region supported them. 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  13. 3.2 The Albany Plan of Union • In 1754, leaders from seven northern and middle colonies convened in Albany, NY to discuss the French and Indian threat to their borders. • One goal was to secure an alliance with the Iroquois, who preferred their political neutrality. • The Congress endorsed a confederation between the colonies, which would have had the power to tax and conduct a common defense. • However, no colonial government wanted to give up its autonomy, and the English government frowned on the Albany Plan of Union, which failed. A drawing in favor of the Albany Plan of Union, a plan of intercolonial government by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Hutchinson 06. 18th Century Colonial America

  14. In 1754 Virginia militia failed to dislodge French forces at Fort Duquesne and young George Washington surrendered. In 1756 England declared war on France. The war went badly for the English for several years, due to a lack of support by the colonies. After 1758 the Iroquois increasingly supported Britain. In 1760, British forces captured Montreal. In the 1763 Peace of Paris the French concealed Canada, and all of their claims east of the Mississippi. Britain’s major rival surrendered its holdings in North America to England and Spain. In order to minimize tensions with the Indians, the British Crown proclaimed a western limit to colonial settlement. The colonials often ignored this limitation. 3.3 The French and Indian War Territorial claims before 1754 and after 1763 06. 18th Century Colonial America

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  16. Navigation System Term for England’s mercantilist economic policy towards her colonies in America and elsewhere. Instituted by parliamentary act after 1651 in order to create a self-sufficient economic sphere, the system limited trade with the colonies to English or colonial ships and mandated that all valuable colonial exports and imports had to go via England. However, even though England created the Board of Trade and Plantations in 1696, enforcement of the Navigation system remained problematic. Sample Keyword 06. 18th Century Colonial America

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