The Colonial Era: Economic, Political, Social
#1 Enslavement in the Colonies
#2 Characteristics of the Colonists
#3 The Enlightenment/The Religious Impulse
#4 Imperial Rivalries: Spanish and French
Growth of Colonial America
1700-1770
• Provincial capitals
• High-birth rate
• Immigration
Diversity of Population & Religion
Poverty in the Colonies
Consumer Revolution & Cities
Decline of Indigenous Populations
#1 The Creation of the Slave Institution in the
Colonies
First Arrivals
•1560s- Spanish
•1619 Virginia
Shift in Landscape
•English and Africans: Anti-Black stereotypes
•1640s Virginia: slavery
•Slave Laws: 1662, 1691 Virginia
•Chattel Slavery
• “From Cradle to Grave”
•Slave Culture
•Religious roles of Black women
#2 Characteristics of the “Colonists”
• Most colonies were business enterprises.
• Isolation from indigenous populations- Waged war for land.
• Belief Systems:
• Racially, Culturally, Spiritually superior to indigenous and
enslaved.
• Gender assumptions and distinctions supported by English law
• Economic distinctions
• Characteristics of the first colonists
#2: To Be Enlightened
The American Enlightenment
• Influence of Europe: French, British
• Scientific method of investigation- research and experimentation
Reasons For Enlightenment
• Religious wars of 17th century
• Criticism of social and political institutions
• John Locke
• Arminianism
• Deism
To Be Awakened
Religion in the 18th Century
•Sermons, treatises and copies of Christian Bible
•Religious Revivals: Causes For…
• Westward expansion, commercial development, rationalism
• Lack of individual engagement
•Worldwide Revival of religious fundamentalism
• Rationalism and religious purity
• Wahabbism- Middle East, Central Asia
• Modern-day terrorism/state sponsored terrorism
• Hasidic Jews
•“Hell, Fire, and Brimstone…”
• 1720s- style of preaching
•George Whitefield
•Critics of the Great Awakening
#3: Imperial Rivalries: Spanish and French Empires Meet the
Frontier
Culture Clashes
•War against the indigenous
Spanish North America
•Geography
•Religious missions
•Presidios
•California: The Church and the Mission system- 1769 San Diego
French Empire
•Geography
•Sugar plantations
•Free Blacks in New Orleans
War in The Upper Midwest- “the Middle Ground”
•Ohio Valley: French, British, Indigenous Communities
•Impact on Indigenous communities
7
The Seven Years’ War- 1754-1763
(French and “Indian” War)
Warfare for Imperial Domination
•Europe, West Africa, Asia- colonial conflicts
•Main conflict- 1756-63
•Colonial Conflicts: British, French, trade, Ohio River Valley
•War against the indigenous populations
• Land and Spirituality
A World Transformed: British Victory
•Reshaped landscape and balance of power
•Treaty of Paris 1763 (Peace of Paris, 1763)
Pontiac’s Rebellion
•3 Indigenous communities
•General Amherst’s policies
Historical Snapshot: Mississippi in the 1700s
Historical Importance
Treaty of Paris: Clause 1764- British expansion
Indigenous Populations
River- Trade/ War/Enslavement
Exploration of Mississippi River
Cabeza de Vaca
Hernando de Soto
Rene de La Salle
European Influence
• Spanish- cotton shipments to Liverpool, England
• French
• American
• African slaves 1719