Social Class and Colonial Life

1. Social Class and Colonial Life • A New Kind of Society- British Culture was the basis for colonial society. They adapted old ways for a new world and the American Identity was born • Abundant farmland and resources gave colonists a chance to prosper. Land ownership gave people political/voting rights as well • This also created a different type of class system. People were able to advance themselves through hard work. There was no titled aristocracy (royals), there was a huge middle class filled with educated or skilled workers and land owners. There was also a huge underclass of slaves.

2. Day to day life- Women had many responsibilities but were given few rights in the colonies. In order to own property they had to have permission from their husbands and they could not vote. Men most often worked outdoors. • American families were large. This gave more help around the farm. Around 13 boys often left the family to become apprentices and learn a trade from a craftsman. Girls were taught skills for taking care of the home. • Literacy was greater in the colonies than in England (85% in some colonies –men/ half that for women) • Most colonists thought that it was more important to educate males. Children learned to read in order to learn about the Bible. • Reading brought the colonies together. There were many newspapers and colonists began to publish their own books like Benjamin Franklin and his “Poor Richard’s Almanac”

3. The Great Awakening • Religious Revival- The Great Awakening appealed to colonists faith and emotion. Beginning in the 1730’s a religious movement called the Great Awakening swept through the colonies. • Traveling ministers preached that inner religious emotion was more important than outward behavior. • Huge crowds came to revivals to hear preachers like Jonathan Edwards who promised that all could be “saved.” • The main belief was that a sudden rebirth would create a spiritual relationship with God. This is the foundation for Evangelicalism. • Many people created new denominations of Christianity and this increased debate among religious scholars encouraging diversity and religious tolerance

4. The Enlightenment The Age of Reason- The “Enlightenment” emphasized the idea that human reason and science were the paths to knowledge • Ben Franklin was a well know Enlightenment figure- Conducting famous experiments with electricity and inventing things like the Franklin Stove (not for money but to better people’s lives) • Leaders of the Enlightenment challenged authority, condemned tyranny, and encouraged science education to understand nature. • John Locke was an English Philosopher that challenged the idea of rule by divine right (God Given power). He believed that government was “by consent of the governed” and that all people had natural rights – Life, Liberty and Property” • They also believed in progress or bettering themselves and society. The ideas of Progress, Natural rights and Govt by agreement encouraged colonists to distance themselves from the British govt.