A Motley Crew
Colonies Seeking Some Order
Regional Diversity
• Seaports:
– Booming commercial economy
• Trading network expansive
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Building construction reminiscent of European design
Class hierarchy develops quickly
Women experience very different lifestyle
Struggles
• Close proximity allowed disease to spread quickly
• Fire disasters continual concern
• At the mercy of safe sea activity
Cont….
• Backcountry
– Folks being pushed out of urban center
– Immigrants, landless Englishmen
• German, Scots-Irish
– Isolation brings about a new culture
– Conflict soon arises
• Representation unsatisfactory
• Justice system nil
Backcountry Response
• Paxton Boys
– Pennsylvania 1763
– Frustration over support against Native Americans
– Took aim against Indians, marched to Philadelphia to
demonstrate
– Benjamin Franklin enters in as mediator
• The Regulators
– The Carolina’s vigilante group
– Justice system not making its way to the S. Carolina
backcountry
– Law into their own hands
– Brutal and aggressive
Cont….
− N. Carolina frustrated with corruption and
taxes
− Took on militia, lost, but had an effect
− Social and cultural division becoming more
clear
Boundary Conflicts
• Green Mountain Boys 1760’s
– New York vs. Vermont Farmers
– Crown gave land to New York, already owned by
Ethan Allen and friends
– Guerrilla style tactics implemented
Friction on the Farm
• Plantation owners struggle with slave
resistance increased
• Slave communities establishing
• Resistance in all forms
• Violent revolts: 1739 Stono Rebellion, put
down, but fear set in
The Great Awakening
• Religious fervor takes a new look
• Many younger generations chaffing under
Puritan authoritarianism
• 1733 Jonathan Edwards
– Power of God and depravity of man
– Beginning of the fire and brimstone era
– Generation gap highly recognizable
– Transformation takes hold
Cont…
• 1739 George Whitefield
– Young, charismatic Englishman
– Took tour of the colonies, preaching throughout
– Releases religious emotionalism
– Great success in the south and frontier regions
Revolution on the Horizon?
• How to manage the colonies?
• Being English in America had its perks
– Despite frustrations of governing hiccups
• Parliament indifferent to America, except
when it came to money
• Being English in America was about to change