Introduction of Slavery
• 1st slaves arrive in VA in 1619
– Not numerous because of price
• Factors favoring slavery:
– Self-renewing labor force
– Price decreases/begins new industry
– Caucasian superiority
• By 1750, slavery legal in ALL colonies
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
• Landless farmers forced to settle
in Western VA
• Had trouble with Natives
• Governor Berkley sided with the
Natives
• Bacon & 1000 men attacked the
Natives & burned the capital
Labor in the South
• Problem with Indentured
Servants:
– not easy to identify
– would gain freedom
– became landless poor
• Colonies would turn to African
slaves – more so after the 17th
century
• Middle Passage – trans-Atlantic
trip from Africa
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Slave Codes
•
•
Laws put into place to
control the slaves
Stated:
1. Africans & all children were
property
2. Slaves could not be taught to
read
3. Christianity or conversion
were not grounds for
freedom
Slave Revolts
• 10 or more slaves trying to gain freedom
• Stono Rebellion (1739) – SC slaves trying to go to
FL
– 80 Slaves
– Killed or sold to
West Indies
Half-Way Covenant (1662)
• As population of New England grows, emphasis on
religion declines
• Church leaders designed a new formula for Church
membership trying to increase participation
– Would allow for “partial” membership
• Did not have to have the conversion experience
• Puritans trying to maintain control over New
England
The Great Awakening (1730’s –
1740’s)
• Enlightenment ideas decreased
church attendance in ALL
colonies
• Great Awakening was a
movement to bring religion
back to ALL of the colonists
• Jonathan Edwards preached
“Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God”
• Instead of predestination –
promised repentance would
equal salvation
Types of Colonies
• Royal Colonies
– NY, VA, GA, NH
• Proprietary
– MD, PA, DE,
NC, SC, NJ
• Charter
– MA, CT, RI
Colonial Governments
• Governors:
– Appointed by those who
controlled the colony
– Had most of the power
– Only weakness – legislature
controlled their salary
• Two House Assemblies:
– Had limited power
– Elected by property
holding men
• Local Government:
– New England Town Meetings
– Appointed Justices of the Peace
in South
– Elected County officials in
Middle Colonies
Evolving Home Rule
• Began in New England
• Dominion of New England
rejected and overthrown
• Navigation Acts ignored
• Bacon’s Rebellion’s shows the
potential of the lower classes
A Growing Population
•
•
•
•
1700 – 300,000 colonists
1775 – 2.5 million people
Increase due to natural reproduction & immigration
Growing Diversity
– German
– Scots-Irish
– Irish
Stratification of Society
• 17thc colonists were on
equal footing
• 18thc colonists were
divided into a rigid social
hierarchy
Upper Class:
Plantation Owners (South)
Wealthy Merchants,
Lawyers, Clergy (North)
Middle Class:
Yeoman Farmers
Lower Class:
Tradesmen & Manual
Laborers
Slaves
Gender Roles
• Men:
• Women
– Head of Family/Property
– Few Legal Rights
Owner
– Essential to well being of the
– In charge of “Outside
Family
Affairs”
– In charge of “Inside Affairs”
• Church
• Politics
• Law
•
•
•
•
•
Child rearing
Cultivation of the Garden
Food Production/Preparation
Maintaining Home
Production of Clothing
Means of Living
• 80% of the population involved in agriculture by 1775
• Humble lifestyles
– Up at dawn
– Bed at dusk
• More Clerics, Physicians, Merchants and Jurists
emerged in the 18th century
• Americans had a higher standard of living than England
Triangular Trade
• Trade with other areas of
the world made the
colonies a success
• Known as Triangular
Trade
Mercantilism
• The economy of colonies was to benefit the mother
country
• Colonies provided raw materials, mother country
provided finished products
• Compatible with the Middle and Southern
economies, not with New England
The Navigation Acts (1650-1696)
• Laws passed to enforce policy of Mercantilism
• All foreign goods imported had taxes placed on them
(tariffs)
• All goods exported to foreign nations had taxes
• Transportation had to be English
• Enumerated goods: tobacco, rice, indigo, fur, skins,
pine masts, tar, and resin could only be shipped to
England
Molasses Act (1733)
• Tax placed on Molasses from
foreign nations
• The British had difficulty
enforcing the tax
• Colonists were outraged
• Most colonial merchants
turned to smuggling
Limitation of Competition
• Britain also limited the industries that would compete
with British industries.
– Wool Act 1699
– Hat Act of 1732
– Iron Act of 1750
Salutary Neglect
• Policy of Robert Walpole
• Believed that without
interference, the economy of
the English empire would run
smoother
• Stopped enforcing mercantilist
laws
• Allowed for peace and
prosperity to last until 1763
Printing Presses
• Many printing presses
allowed for newspapers
• By 1775, there were 40
newspapers in the colonies
• Best way to disseminate
news (esp. in 1775)
John Peter Zenger Trial
• Trial from 1734-35
• Case was about Zenger’s
printing about the corrupt
governor of NY
• Accused of libel – even though
he printed the truth
• Victory! And gave us the idea
of the freedom of the press