The American

PageantCHAPTER 5: COLONIAL SOCIETY ON THE EVE OF

REVOLUTION, 1700-1775

Conquest by Cradle

By 1775, 2.5 million people in the 13 Colonies

Less than 300,000 in 1700

Between 1700 and 1775, 400,000 white immigrants

and nearly 400,000 slaves

Average age of colonists is 16 in 1775

Ratio of English to colonists in 1700 is 20 to 1.

Down to 3 to 1 in 1775. Balance of power shifting

90% of people live in rural areas. Only

Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, and Charleston are

“cities”

The Colonial Melting Pot

By 1775…

6% of Colonists are German (mostly in PA,

Protestant, 1/3 of PA population

7% Scots-Irish (Scots who had moved to Ireland then

to the colonies, mostly to PA)

Spread out down to the Allegheny and Appalachian

Mountains into western MD, VA, and Carolinas

No love for the British or any other government for that

matter

5% other European groups (French, Welsh, Dutch,

Swedes, Irish, Swiss, Scottish)

The Colonial Melting Pot

South has 90% of colonial slaves

Least ethnic diversity in New England, most in the

middle colonies.

Outside of New England, half of the population is

non-English

Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur quote

“a strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no

other country”

“What then is the American, this new man?”

Map 5.1:

Immigrant

Groups in 1775

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A Mingling of the Races

Structure of Colonial

Society

Openness of the social ladder

No titled nobility (lords, earls, etc.)

No real underclass in white society

Beginning to change in the 18th Century

Wars during the 1690s and early 1700s made a

number of merchants in the middle colonies and

New England very rich

By 1750, the richest 10% in Boston and Philadelphia

have 2/3 of the wealth

Structure of Colonial

Society

The poor

Wars of the 1690s and early 1700s create widows

and orphans who become society’s dependents

Farm sizes are shrinking drastically in New England.

No new land is available, so the land already

claimed is divided among families. Forces people to

move west to seek land or become wage laborers

Society in the South

Large-scale planters have a huge amount of

power because they own so many slaves

Gap between wealthy planters and small

farmers/tenant farmers is growing

Lower class also growing because of indentured

servants continuing to come to America

Slavery Becoming an Issue

Slaves had no equality, and no chance to

improve their social or economic status

Some colonies attempt to restrict the importation

of slaves because of fears of slave rebellions if

their numbers grew too large

The British vetoed all of these efforts because of

their desire for cheap labor for their colonies,

especially in the West Indies

Professions in the Colonies

Clerics- most honored

Doctors- Not looked highly upon

Bleeding

Epidemics were an everyday fear. Death of

thousands of children in the 1730s due to diphtheria

reminded many of their mortality

Lawyers

Not looked favorably upon at first

Working in the Colonies

Agriculture

The leading industry

Tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies

Grain in the bread (middle) colonies

Diverse farming in New England

Fishing was a big industry in New England, but far

below farming in the colonies

Triangular Trade

Commercial trade was also big in the colonies

Triangle Trade

Leave New England with rum

Trade rum for slaves in Africa

Slaves for molasses in the West Indies

Molasses to New England to be distilled into rum

Also carried food and wooden products to the

Caribbean

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 14

Map 5.3: Colonial Trade Patterns, c. 1770

Manufacturing in the

Colonies

Smaller than most other industries, but some

manufacturing endeavors are taking off

Rum distillation in Rhode Island and Massachusetts

Ironworks , like Valley Forge, found more

Lumbering the most important manufacturing

Lots of wood needed for shipbuilders

400 ships per year built by 1770

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 16

Map 5.2: The Colonial Economy

Economic Problem

Growing population needs more British products

Population in Britain growing very slowly, so they

are importing less American goods than we

export to them

Have to seek out non-British markets to sell our

goods (French Islands in the West Indies a good

market)

Molasses Act passed to try to stop trade between

colonies and West Indies

Bribery and smuggling become a major problem

after this for the British

Connection in the

Colonies? Roads in the 1700s are terrible

Dust in the summer and mud in the winter

Waterways the travel method of choice.

Slow and dependent on the weather, but cheap

Taverns (Another cradle of democracy)

Social classes would mingle together in what was a center of

information in many colonial towns

Postal system

Service slow and mail didn’t run often, no secrecy

Denominations in the

Colonies Two established churches in 1775: Anglican and

Congregational

Anglican Church

Prop of the crown’s authority in America

Bad reputation of Anglican clergy. William and Mary founded in 1693 to train better ones.

Congregational Church

Grows out of the Puritan Church.

In all New England colonies except Rhode Island

Ministers become political activists as revolution gets closer.- Presbyterian, Congregational, and rebellion (The Rebellion Trinity)

Decline in Religious Devotion…

1. Half-way covenant (1662)

a. Addresses decreasing membership

b. Mostly in New England

2. Arminianism

a. God all-loving; good deeds and faith = salvation

b. Supported Enlightenment

c. Countered spiritual conversion needed for church membership

…leads to The Great

Awakening1. The 1730s

a. Emotionally charged

b. Religious power in the hand of the individual

c. George Whitfield

2. Revivals

a. Jonathan Edwards

b. In the South, revivals introduced Christianity to slaves.

The Great Awakening

3. Allowed for questioning religious, as well as, political leadership.

4. Supported by young and poor.

5. First spontaneous mass movement of the American people! United irrespective of denomination.

6. Education valued: Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, Dartmouth

Effects of the Great

Awakening Emphasis on direct, emotional spirituality changed the church

Number of churches increased by the divides in

denominations

New missionary work among Native Americans and slaves

“New light” centers created like Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth,

and Rutgers

First spontaneous mass movement of Americans

Education

New England most interested in education

Needed to be able to read the Bible

Education emphasis on good Christians rather

than on good citizens

Established primary and secondary schools early

as well

Elementary schools also existed in the middle

colonies and South

Emphasis is on religion and classical languages, not

reason and experiment

Nine colleges established in the colonies- still

focused on theology and languages until the 1750s

Schools and Colleges

English perspective

For the aristocratic

For leaders, not citizens

For males

Puritans

Read the bible =

Good Christians

Mostly boys

New England

Primary and secondary

schools early on

School time varies

Middle & South

More reluctant

Tax supported

Wealthy = private tutors

Focus

Doctrine & dogma

Not reason/logic

Physical punishment!

College

Most to churn out

ministers

Wealthy = study abroad

The Arts and Culture in the

Colonies

Artists had to go to London for training. Still not a

“American” art style

Charles Wilson Peale- portraits of George

Washington

People in the U.S. do not have the money or

leisure time to sit for portraits

Architecture from Europe as well

Literature

Phillis Wheatley

Slave girl brought to Boston at age 8

No formal education

Taken to England at 20, and writes a book of verse.

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773)

Benjamin Franklin

“First civilized American”

Poor Richard’s Almanack- Witty sayings that emphasized morality, thrift, and common sense

More widely read in America than anything except the Bible

Best scientist produced in the early colonial times

Lightning Rod, Bifocals, Franklin stove

Pioneer Presses

40 Colonial newspapers by 1775

Ran weekly

News typically lagged many weeks behind the event

Good tool for airing colonial grievances and rallying British opposition

John Peter Zenger case

New York case- Zenger’s newspaper criticized the royal governor

Charged with seditious libel

Jury finds Zenger not guilty

Huge moment for freedom of the press and democracy

Open public discussion required in a diverse democratic society

Precedent that true statements about public officials cannot be prosecuted as libel

Colonial Politics

8 Colonies with royal governors, 3 with proprietors

who chose the governors, and 2 who were self-

governing

Two-house legislative body was typical

Upper house appointed usually

Lower house elected by the people with enough

property to qualify as voters

Self-taxation through representation was a huge

deal to Americans.

Colonial Politics

Colonial assemblies would withhold a governor’s salary unless

he yielded to the legislature’s wishes. Usually worked

Town-meeting gov’t in New England, county gov’t in the

South, a mix in the Middle

Because of property and religious requirements to vote in

different areas, nearly half of adult white males could not vote

Not a true democracy by 1775, but more so than anywhere in

Europe