American Demographic Development and the American Revolution

1. American Demographic Development and the American Revolution

2. American Demographic Development • To 1700: Vorzeit, Unstable settlement • 1700-1870: Frontier/Rural Settlement • rapid population growth, large families, rural society (30-35% per decade) • 1870-1920: Great Conjuncture: Urbanization takes hold but rural areas still growing

3. American Demographic Development • 1920 - present: Metropolitan Settlement • slower population growth, urban society, smaller families

4. Growth of the U.S. Population

6. 1890 Population Density: Closing of the Frontier

8. American Demographic Change

9. Thinking About Population Growth

10. Massachusetts Family based communities Settled by towns Religious communities of interest (Puritans) Virginia Adventurers hoping to ‘get rich quick’ Plantation based societies Searching for an efficient and pliable workforce 17th Century American Colonial Development

11. The American Revolution and Family and Sex Roles • The United States was founded during a revolution in the late 18th century: 1763-87 • The colonists asserted: • The right to ‘liberty’ and to rebel against tyranny • The ‘truth’ of human equality • The right to political self determination

12. Meanwhile…. • The economy of Virginia and other southern colonies was supported by slave labor • Northern colonists maintained hierarchies based upon property and social standing • Women were governed by the rules of coverture

13. The Paradox • A moderate revolution • A legacy for further claims…. • Slavery ended in most northern states • Slavery curtailed by 1808 in Constitution • The first claims for ‘democracy’ for adult white males • A challenge to deference

14. Continuing forms of inequality and subjection • Coverture (governing the relationships of wives and husbands) • Slavery (governing masters and slaves) • Indentured Servitude (governing masters and servants) • Wage Labor…..

15. Elements of Coverture • Husband is the Lord or Baron with authority over his wife. She is a ‘femme couvert.’ The are “one person in law.” All her property, including any income or wages she earns, is under the control of her husband and he can manage it as he pleases. • He is responsible for her debts, her crimes in some situations, and her ‘chastisement.’ He is obligated to support her. • She is obligated to obey her ‘lord,’ to provide him with domestic and sexual services. • 4. Neither can testify against the other because they are one person in law. • A single woman is a “feme sole” and can manage her own affairs and property.

16. Elements of Slavery • Slaves are ‘alienated from claims of birth,’ that is, lineage, property, naming, and serve their masters for life. • Masters control the labor and the personhood of the slave, including sexual access and offspring. Masters provide support for the slaves. • Slaves do not have freedom of movement, speech, the right to education, training, political expression.

17. Elements of Slavery, Continued…. • EXCEPTION: Freedom of religion?? • Slaves thus have no rights to marry, bear legitimate children, and pass on claims of lineage across generations.