Diversity in the Colonies

1. Diversity in the Colonies • at the start of the century, people in England outnumbered the American colonists 20-1; by 1775 it was 3-1; 2.5 million people, of which 500,000 were slaves • the most populous were VA, MA, PA, NC, and MD, in that order; four major cities—Philly (at 34,000), NY, Boston, and Charleston; by 1775 still 90 percent of the population lived in rural areas

2. Germans • fled religious persecution and settled primarily in tolerant PA • generally were Lutherans, and ppl there erroneously referred to them as Pennsylvania Dutch (a mistake of the German word, Deutsch • they totaled almost one-third of the entire population in PA, and tended to hang on to some of their traditions and customs

3. Scots-Irish • by 1775 made up 7 percent of the entire colonial population • Scottish in decent, but they get their name b/c they had immigrated to No. Ireland before coming to the colonies • persecuted by the Irish Catholics, these Scottish Presbyterians (Protestant sect) left for PA • most of the good lands were taken, so they moved westward against the Alleghenies, than southward into western MD, VA, and the western Carolinas; the Scots-Irish had no love of England, and since they were so far removed from more settled areas, they tended to do what they wanted and did not like formal laws out in the country

4. The Great Awakening • Jonathan Edwards • George Whitfield • “Old Lights” and “New Lights”

5. The Great Awakening • Followers trained at Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth

6. Harvard and UPenn • Harvard—1636 • UPenn—did not focus completely on religious education

7. Colonial Culture