Colonial
Society
Southern Society
•
Planter Elite: Wealthy landowners controlling large
plantations raising cash crops in the coastal regions
Backcountry Farmers: Small farmers that lived to the
west and away from the coast and lived by
subsistence farming, growing crops and raising
animals to feed themselves
•
–
•
Often formal indentured servants
Indentured Servants: prevalent in the 1600s, but
dramatically decrease by 1700
African slaves: become increasingly prevalent by 1700
•
–
Few if any legal rights, especially after the Stono Rebellion
Slavery in the Colonies
•
•
•
•
•
Royal African Company is created in 1672 to allow
English individuals to join the slave trade
Most slaves were taken from West Africa and brought
across the Atlantic Ocean along the Middle Passage
From 1450 and 1870, somewhere between 10 & 12
million Africans were forcibly brought to the New
World, with about 2 million dying at sea
Of the 8-10 million Africans that survived the journey to
the Americas, approximately 500,000 are brought to
North America
States begin gradually reducing the rights of Africans
and begin writing slave codes that formally regulate
and define the conditions of slavery
•
New England Economy
•
•
New England is largely unsuitable for cash crops,
instead being dominated by subsistence farmers
Geographic influences though make New
England productive for fishing, whaling,
lumbering, and therefore shipbuilding
• Triangular Trade: Simplified three-way
exchange of goods
– Africa – Slaves and Gold
– Caribbean – Sugar
– New England – Rum
– Northern and Southern Colonies exchanged
raw goods for manufactured goods made in
England
New England Society
•
•
Dominated by Puritans and their religious
lifestyle
Puritans took care to watch over their
neighbors, with religious and economic
distinctions helping lead to the Salem
Witch Trials
Middle Colonies Economy
• Not suited to
Southern cash
crops, but some of
the most fertile
land in the
colonies
• Farmers were
able to grow
surpluses of
wheat and other
food crops
• Large navigable rivers allow inland
farmers to ship to the coasts
• Area at the end of these rivers became
largest cities in the colonies, Philadelphia
and New York City
• Initially, free/low cost land is available in
Pennsylvania and attracts a growing
population, but as in other areas, class
distinctions emerge
• Describe how the three colonial regions
(Southern Colonies, New England, and
Middle Colonies) developed distinct, but
interrelated economies:
• Describe the role of slavery in this
interrelated economy:
The Great
Awakening
•
Origins
–
Religious Revivalism
•
Clergy react to perceived
decline in piety
1720-50 (elements last until
American
•
–
Began in Europe and
England
•
John Wesley and
Methodism
Anglican minister George
Whitefield
•
–
Speaking from Georgia to
New Hampshire in 1739—
»
First National Event in
America
American Experience
•
General Characteristics
–
–
–
–
–
–
Cuts across all class, race/ethnic, geographic lines
Focused on pietism, stressing individual piety and
union with God
Faith spread at revivals, large meetings for
preaching and prayer
Leads to denominationalism
Fosters religious tolerance
Brings Africans and Native Americans to
Protestantism
•
Jonathan Edwards
– Concern for
corruption of human
nature and divine
wrath
– Need for immediate
repentance
– “Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry
God”—1735
Long Range Effects
–
–
–
–
–
Authority and status of established clergy were
permanently weakened
Destroyed identification of churches with territorial
boundaries—preachers moved around and
preached anywhere
Destroyed institutional religion as the organizing
framework of small group society (esp. Puritans).
Lead to schisms—Old Lights vs. New Lights
Foundation of new denominations
Fostered separation of church and state
• Describe the Great Awakening
and its impact on the
development of the colonies:
Enlightenment
• Origins: Philosophy/ideology inspired by 17th
and 18th century European scientific revolution
– Heliocentric (sun-centered) belief espoused by
Copernicus replaces old Ptolemaic view of earthcentered universe
– Sir Isaac Newton—mechanistic universe according to
Natural law. Implied that natural law governed all
things, i.e., human relations, politics, economics, and
society.
• Authors: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Baron
de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau,
Adam Smith, David Hume
Applications:
• Economics—reason could make people aware
of the natural law of supply and demand
• Politics—limits and functions of government
determined by natural rights to life, liberty, and
property
• Theology—favors reason over faith or
denominational belief
– Deism—God as clockmaker, rational creator
– Evil results from imperfect understanding of natural
law, not original sin, innate depravity
• Society—belief in human’s innate goodness
and perfectability
Influences on the Colonies and
United States
• John Locke
– Stressed that humans were born as blank slates
instead of having a sinful nature
– Humans are born with “natural rights” of life, liberty,
and property
– People then have the right to rebel against the
government if it does not protect their natural rights
– Political ideas on human rights will shape the
Declaration of Independence
• Baron Montesquieu
– Suggests the separation of powers in
government to protect the liberties of the
people
– This idea will shape the United States
Constitution
American Elements:
• Education—18th century America was the
most literate society of the times
– New England—Massachusetts public schools
1647
• 90% of adult white males/40% adult white females
could read and write
• Other colonies—literacy rate varied 35%50%
• England—literacy rate 30%
• Location—Coastal areas, cities, some plantations
• Characteristics—educated, intellectually curious elite,
established members of society
• Advocated an educated, informed, politically active
population that is eternally vigilante in monitoring the
balance of forces working within the government
• Individuals
–
–
–
–
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Paine
• Describe the
Enlightenment and its
impact on the
development of the
colonies: