American Stories THIRD EDITION By: Brands By: Brands Chapter 4 Experience of Empire:...

American StoriesTHIRD EDITION

By: Brands •By: Brands •

Chapter 4

Experience of Empire: Eighteenth-Century America

1680‒1763

Experience of Empire: Eighteenth-Century America, 1680‒1763

Tensions in the Backcountry

What difficulties did Native Americans face in maintaining their cultural independence on the frontiers of English and Spanish settlement?

The Impact of European Ideas on American Culture

How did European ideas affect eighteenth-century American life?

4.1

4.2


Religious Revivals in Provincial Societies

How did the Great Awakening transform the religious culture of colonial America?

Clash of Political Cultures

Why were eighteenth-century colonial assemblies not fully democratic?

4.3

4.4


Century of Imperial War

Why did colonial Americans support Great Britain's wars against France?

4.5

Video Series:Key Topics in U.S. History

1. Great Britain’s Empire in North America: 1713‒1763

2. Scots-Irish Migration3. The First Great Awakening4. Seven Years’ War

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Constructing an Anglo-American Identity: The Journal of William Byrd• Eighteenth-century backcountry

• Many cultures, independent families

• Older Atlantic settlements• Growing populations• Many immigrants and slaves arrived• Less isolated from one another• Eighteenth-century colonists powerfully

attracted to Great Britain

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• Scots-Irish Flee English Oppression• Germans Search for a Better Life• Native Americans Stake Out a Middle

Ground• Conquering New Spain’s Northern

Frontier• Peoples of the Spanish Borderlands

Home


• 1700–1750 - colonial population rose • From 250,000 to over 2 million

• Backcountry• Inland area• Complex society

• Spanish borderlands - multicultural• Southwest• California• Florida Tensions in the Backcountry

Scots-Irish Flee English Oppression

• Origins of Scots-Irish• Lowland Scottish Presbyterians transported

to northern Ireland • Emigrated to America

• Concentrated - Pennsylvania frontier • Welcomed by colony’s proprietors, at first

• Barrier between Indians and coastal communities

• Quick to challenge authorityTensions in the Backcountry

Germans Search for a Better Life

• Germans – approximately 100,000• Early migrants - small Protestant sects,

similar to Quakers• Later waves - Lutherans• A third of Pennsylvania population by 1766• Religious institutions important

• Germans and Scots-Irish push south• Backcountry of Virginia and the Carolinas


Native Americans Stake Out a Middle Ground

• Many eastern Indians moved • Middle Ground - trans-Appalachian region• Escaped confrontations with Europeans • Relied on white traders

• Traditions eroded by European contact• Earliest encounters controlled by Indian

leaders• Middle ground – individual Indians

bargained for themselves• French and British conflict


Conquering New Spain’sNorthern Frontier

• Spanish settle north of Rio Grande in late 1500s• Pueblo Indians resisted in New Mexico• St. Augustine, Florida - 1565• 1769 – missions in California


Peoples of the Spanish Borderlands

• Slow growth in Spanish borderlands• Mainly males: priests, soldiers, and

administrators• Few European women

• Influence on Native American culture• Spanish exploited native labor• Lowest social class• Natives resisted conversion to Catholicism• Retained Spanish culture


Discussion Questions

• What difficulties did Native Americans face in maintaining their cultural independence on the frontier?

• Why was the Spanish empire unable to control its northern frontier?



• American Enlightenment• Benjamin Franklin• Economic Transformation• Birth of a Consumer Society

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• Rapid change in eighteenth-century colonies• Growth of urban cosmopolitan culture• Aggressive participation in consumption


American Enlightenment

• Intellectual thought swept Europe • Basic assumptions of the Enlightenment

• American Enlightenment• Appeal was practical knowledge• Applied reason to social and political

problems


Benjamin Franklin

• Franklin regarded as Enlightenment thinker by Europeans• Started as printer, then satirist in Boston• Achieved wealth through printing business• Made important scientific discoveries and

inventions• Promoted reason


Economic Tranformation

• Early eighteenth-century growth• Population increased eightfold• Economic success

• Mercantilist restrictions expanded• Benefited mother country• Not enforced


Birth of a Consumer Society

• Consumer Revolution• English exports to colonies increased• Credit available

• Intercoastal trade• Movement of goods between regions• Great Wagon Road

• Change in American culture• Erosion of local and regional identities• Frequent contact The Impact of European Ideas

on American Culture

Discussion Question

• How did European ideas affect eighteenth-century American life?



• The Great Awakening• Evangelical Religion

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• Great Awakening • Spontaneous, evangelical revivals• People began to rethink basic assumptions

about church and state, institutions, and society


The Great Awakening

• Widespread movement• Americans looked backward with nostalgia• Varied times in different regions

• Leaders• Sparked by Jonathan Edwards • George Whitefield

• Audience• All walks of life


Evangelical Religion

• Itinerant Preachers• Followed Whitefield’s example• Split established churches• Established ministers were suspicious • Gilbert Tennent

• “New Lights” formed colleges• Cultural change

• Active, questioning role• African Americans Religious Revivals in Provincial

Societies

Discussion Question

• How did the Great Awakening transform the religious culture of colonial America?



• Governing the Colonies: The American Experience

• Colonial Assemblies

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• Colonists attempted to emulate British political institutions • Parliament – model for American

assemblies• Unwritten constitution; English system of

checks and balances• Study of British political theory and

practice led to discovery of how different Americans were from English people


Governing the Colonies:The American Experience

• Erroneous belief that American governments modeled on England• Royal governors• Council• Colonial assemblies

• Participation varied• When big issues at stake• Assemblies mostly gentry


Colonial Assemblies

• Aggressive colonial assemblies• Felt obligation to preserve colonial liberties• Assemblies controlled colony’s finances

• Conflict with governors• No incentive for cooperation • Governors wanted patronage system

• Shaped American culture• Weekly journal• Law Clash of Political Cultures

Discussion Question

• Why were the eighteenth-century colonial assemblies not fully democratic?



• The French Threat• King George’s War and Its Aftermath• Seven Years’ War• Perceptions of War

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• Britain’s conflicts with continental rivals like France spilled over to colonies• Security threats from these conflicts forced

colonists into more military and political cooperation

• British colonies overwhelmingly militarily superior to New France but ineffective


The French Threat

• France - limited New World military• French army of 100,000, but not sent

abroad• Defense left to companies in fur trade

• English colonists’ theoretical advantage• Larger population, but divided

• English and French suspicious • English being encircled by French• English seizing French land Century of Imperial War

Table 4.1 A Century of Conflict:Major Wars, 1689‒1763


King George’s War and Its Aftermath

• King George’s War - 1743–1748• In Europe - War of Austrian Succession• Victory over the French

• French built Fort Duquesne • English population growing• Virginia advised to expel French• British army also unsuccessful

• Albany Plan• Colonial unity Century of Imperial War

What Did the Global Seven Years’ War Mean for North America?

• How did other colonial claims in North America create instability for the thirteen British mainland colonies?

• What made this eighteenth-century war a “world war”?

• In what ways did the territorial results of the war impact British mainland colonies?


Seven Years’ War

• 1756 – Seven Years’ War began• England declared war on France • European warfare – France’s advantage• Shifted strategy to focus on North America

• Peace of Paris 1763 - France lost• British got large piece of North America • Spanish added Louisiana to their empire• French kept Caribbean sugar islands


Perceptions of War

• Deep impression on American society• Colonists had to cooperate• Closer contact with Britain

• British and Colonial views of each other• Created trained officer corps • British felt colonists ungrateful • Colonists saw themselves as “junior

partners” to British


Discussion Question

• Why did colonial Americans support Great Britain’s wars against France?


Conclusion: Rule Britannia?

• 1763 - most Americans bound to Great Britain• Culture and religion• Lifestyle • Politics and war• Identity

• British had different perception

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