Chapter 5

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

2. Conquest by the Cradle • Population Growth: • 1700 = 300k, 20k Africans • England had 20x the population • 1775 = 2.5 million, ½ = African • England had only 3x the population • Colonists were 2x population every 25 years • Average age • 1775 = 16 yrs • Where’d they live? • Majority near the Alleghanies • Most populous colonies? • VA, Mass, Penn, NC & MD • Only 4 major cities (in order of pop.) Philadelphia, NY, Boston, Charleston

3. A Mingling of the Races • Colonial America = Melting Pot • Germans (1775) • 6% of total population • Fled religious persecution, economic oppression, war • Settled mainly in PA (1/3 of the population) • Belonged to many Protestant sects (mainly Lutheran) • Lived in the backcountry • Not loyal to British crown • Clung to Ger customs and language

4. A Mingling of the Races • Scots-Irish (1775) • = 7% of population • Not Irish at all, nor English, did speak English • Many had moved into Ireland, before America • From the turbulent lowlands of Scotland • Mostly Presbyterian • Moved to Pennsylvania • Ran into best lands already taken by Germans & Quakers • Pushed into frontier • Many squatted (created clashes with Nat. Am. And white settlers. • Eventually settled all along “great wagon road” along Appalachian foothills from PA to GA

5. German Farm in Western Maryland (p. 111) Library of Congress. • Beginning in the 1730s, wheat became a major export crop in MD & VA.; This engraving probably depicts a German farm, because the harvesters are using oxen, not horses, and women are working in the field alongside men. Using new method of reaping” that is possibly of German origin, the harvester cuts only the grain-bearing tip & leaves the wheat stalks in the field, to be eaten by livestock

6. A Mingling of the Races • Scots-Irish continued: • Didn’t like British • Paxton Boys: • Led an armed march to Philadelphia (1764) against Quaker govt’s lenient Indian policy • Regulator Movement in North Carolina • An insurrection agst eastern domination of the colony’s affairs. • Hotheads, many became revolutionaries • Including Andrew Jackson

7. A Mingling of the Races • Other European groups • Approx 5% of the population • French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss and Scots Highlanders • All except Scots Highlanders were patriots • African • Approx 19% of the population • Heavily concentrated in the South • Less ethnic diversity in the Puritan New England • Praying Towns = places where Native Americans gathered to be Christianized (exception) • Middle Colonies had most diversity • ***18 of the 56 signers of the Dec of Ind were non-English

8. Map 4.2 Ethnic and Racial Diversity, 1775 (p. 110) • In 1700 most colonists in British North America were of English origin, but by 1775 settlers of English descent constituted a minority of the total nonaboriginal population. African-Americans now accounted for one-third of the residents of the South, while thousands of Germans and Scots-Irish migrants created ethnic and religious diversity in the Middle Atlantic colonies and southern backcountry.

9. Structure of Colonial Society • Contrast w/Europe • No titled nobility • No pauperized underclass • Most Am owned modest holdings and worked the soil • Cities had some skilled artisans • Open society (meaning opportunities to climb the ladder)

10. Structure of Colonial Society • Contrast w/ 17C America • Beginning to show stratification • Some thought America was becoming “Europeanized” • By midcentury richest 10% of Bostonians and Philadelphians owned nearly 2/3s of the taxable wealth. • New England: • Descendants of original settlers found limited prospects (land was full, families had grown) • Avg size farm shrank • Younger sons/daughters may have had to work as wage laborers

11. Structure of Colonial Society • Contrast w/ 17C America (cont) • South • Great Planters continued to do well • Bolstered by ownership of slaves • Wide gap b/w gentry and “poor whites” • Poor often were tenant farmers • Jayle birds (about 50K of them) • Convicts dumped on colonies by London authorities • Didn’t like King’s govt

12. Structure of Colonial Society • Contrast w/ 17C America (cont) • Slaves • No equality with whites • Some colonists attempted to stop importation • Very complex issue

13. Clerics, Physicians, Jurists • Clerics • = honorable profession, yet less influential than earlier colonial days • Physicians • Poorly trained, not highly esteemed • 1765 = first medical school • Some believed they were tampering with the Will of God • Lawyers • Not highly regarded • People typically represented themselves in court

14. Workday America • Agriculture • = leading industry (90% of population) • Tobacco still staple crop in MD/VA • Grain in Middle colonies • Fishing (including whaling) • All colonies • Major industry in NE (esp cod fishing) • Stimulated shipbuilding • Commerce • Included coastal and inland communities • Land speculation = big

15. Workday America • Commerce (continued) • Triangular trade (see map page 93) • NE foodstuffs and timber to sugar islands • NE tobacco, fish, lumber, flour to England • NE rum to Africa • Africa slaves to sugar islands & to Am. Colonies • Sugar islands molasses and sugar to make rum to NE

16. Workday America • Manufacturing • Also very important • Household manufacturing • Spinning • Weaving • Lumbering • Timber used by northern shipbuilders (NE) • By 1770 producing about 400 vessels a year • 1/3 of British merchant marine = manufactured in America • Also used tar, pitch, rosin and turpentine

17. Workday America • Trade Imbalance • ***even though England relied on our natural resources, we needed British manufacturing goods • Americans needed to seek more markets • Ie: France and other European nations • Molasses Act (1733) • taxed molasses imported into colonies not ruled by Britain. Their protest of this and other laws led to revolution. • Aim? To stop trade with French West Indies • Americans bribed customs officials and smuggled

18. Horsepower and Sailpower • Roads • Not until 1700s did roads connect major cities • Treacherous and difficult travel • (news about Declaration of Ind took 29 days to reach Charleston) • Dusty/muddy • Waterways • Population clusters along navigable rivers. • Cheap and more pleasant than roads • Taverns • Along main routes & in cities • Cradle of democracy (opinions were formed/broken) • Clearinghouse for information • Postal system • Established by mid-1700s • Slow/infrequent • Secrecy problematic

19. Dominant Dominations • Anglican and Congregational Churches • Only 2 “established” (meaning tax-supported) churches • Only minority belonged • Many people didn’t go to church • Anglican Church (Church of England) • Members = Anglicans • Official faith of GA/NC/SC/VA/MD and part of NY • College of William and Mary (1693) founded to train ministers • Congregational Church • Grew out of Puritan Church • Established in NE colonies (except RI) • Presbyterianism • Never made official in colonies, but significant numbers

20. Map 4.3 Religious Diversity in 1750 (p. 112) • By 1750 religious diversity among European Colonists was on the rise and not only in the ethnically disparate Middle Atlantic colonies. Baptists had increased their numbers in New England, long the stronghold of Congregationalism, and would soon be important in Virginia. Already there were good-sized pockets of Presbyterians, Lutherans, and German Reformed in the South, where the Church of England (Anglicanism) was the established religion.

21. Dominant Dominations • Trinity of rebellion • Sedition sometimes came from the pulpit • Presbyterianism • Congregationalism • Rebellion • Lack of Anglican Bishop • Hampered growth of Anglican Church • Ministers had to go to England to be ordained • Religious Toleration? • Better than in England • Roman Catholics still discriminated against • Less anti-papist laws than in Europe • Couldn’t hold office • Fewer of them than in Europe

22. The Great Awakening • Background: • Colonial worship was on the decline • Esp. Puritan churches • Churchgoers were tired of the long drawn out sermons • Ministers were concerned that souls were not pious anymore • Some people even stopped believing in predestination • A revitalization was on horizon • When? 1730s-1740s • Where? Began in Massachusetts

23. The Great Awakening • Who? Started by Jonathan Edwards • What did he do? His sermons had common themes: • Said it was wrong to give up predestination • Needed to depend on God’s grace • Described hells and torments of damned • Famous sermon? • “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” • Who else? George Whitefield • Toured colonies with similar message to Edwards • Held revival meetings

24. The Great Awakening • Old Lights • Orthodox clergyman who were skeptical of the revivalists • New Lights • Ministers who defended the Awakening as revitalizing America • Why is the G.A. important? • Undermined authority of older clergy • Later transferred to political authority • Encouraged missionary work among Nat. Am. • Led to founding of universities for new light ministers • First movement by American people, unifying the colonies

25. Schools and Colleges • Puritan NE leads the colonies in education • Congregational Church stresses need for Bible reading by individuals • Goal = making good Christians • Boys went to schools early on in NE history • middle colonies • Also educated young boys • South • Harder to establish schools as population was so spread out. Wealthy used tutors

26. Schools and Colleges • Curriculum • Religion and classics • Discipline • Severe (spare the rod) • College Education • Focused on training of ministers • In the South boys were sent abroad for a “real” education • Student enrollment small • Ben Franklin founded first college free of denominational control—University of PA

27. A Provincial Culture • Benjamin Franklin • Best known for Poor Richard’s Almanack • Edited from 1732-1758 • Collection of sayings, advice, ideas and virtues • Ex: • “Fish and visitors stink in three days” • Read second only to the Bible in America • Also a scientist… • Kite flying • Biofocals • Franklin Stove • Lightening rod

28. Pioneer Presses • About 50 public libraries by the Revolution • Hand-cranked presses • Printed journal, pamphlets and leaflets • About 40 colonial newspapers by Revolution • Used to swing opinions • Peter Zenger • Newspaper printer in NY • Spoke out agst corrupt governor • Defended by former indentured servant • He said he told truth • Jury instructed to consider only whether he should have printed • Jurors sided with Zenger • First freedom of the press case in America • Newspapers now allowed to print responsible criticisms of public officials

29. The Great Game of Politics • Colonial Governments (1775): • 8 had royal governors (appointed by king) • 3 had proprietors (chose governors) • MD/PA/Delaware • 2 had elected governors • RI/Connecticut • Almost all had 2 house legislature • Upper house (typically appointed by the crown/proprietor) • Lower house elected by people (usually property owners) • many colonies ignored needs of backcountry and they were underrepresented • Taxes typically went through legislatures • Meant they self-taxed

30. The Great Game of Politics • Colonial governments (cont) • Most governors were honest, some were corrupt • Still they had trouble with colonial legislatures • The legislatures would manipulate governors into doing what they wanted • Local governments • South-mainly county govt where planters ruled • NE-mostly town-meetings, open voting and direct democracy • Middle colonies-some combination of the both

31. The Great Game of Politics • Voting Rights: • Religious or property qualifications = norm • Office holding had stricter qualifications • ½ of adult white males were disfranchised • Often those who could vote, didn’t • They deferred to their “betters” • BY 1775 AMERICA NOT A TRUE DEMOCRACY, SOCIALLY, ECONOMICALLY OR POLITICALLY--- FAR MORE DEMOCRATIC THAN ENGLAND AND OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

32. Colonial Folkways • Food was plentiful • Homes were drafty and cold • No running h20 • Candles lit homes • Entertainment often mixed with work • Southerners- dancing, horse racing, cockfighting card playing • Lotteries were everywhere • Stage plays popular in South, but not North • Holidays were celebrated (except Xmas)

33. Colonial Folkways • Similarities b/w colonies: • Basically English • Basically Protestant • Opportunities for social mobility • Shared history, culture and geography set the stage for colonists’ struggle to unite as an independent people.