The
th
18
Century Colonies
Topography
Climate
Northern
- New England
- Middle
Southern
- Chesapeake
- Southern
Economy
Society
Topography
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Appalachian Mts
“Piedmont”
Chesapeake Bay
Outer Banks
Sea Islands
Hudson River
Cape Cod
Colonial
Regions
New England
Conn, Mass, RI,
NH
Middle
Del, Pa, NY, NJ
Chesapeake
Va, Md
Southern
Ga, SC, NC
MasonDixon
Line
divides N
&S
Typical Plantations
Mount Vernon, Virginia
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Map of Westover Plantation, Virginia (18th c.)
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Map of Shirley Plantation, Virginia (18th c.)
Plan of the slaveship Brookes
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English Tobacco Label (18th c.)
New England Towns
New England Towns
• Towns were the basis of society & community
• The “common”
– Meeting House
– Schools
• 1647 – “Old Deluder Law”
• 1636 – Harvard College
• Encourages roads, taverns (at crossroads), small
industries, etc.
Deerfield, Massachusetts – 1671 plot map
Deerfield, Massachusetts – 1728 drawing
Deerfield Meeting House – 1729 drawing
Typical interior of a meeting house.
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A typical New England “Salt Box” house
Colonial Cities
• Commercial centers
– Philadelphia, PA
• 34,000
• 2nd largest port in Empire
• Most modern city in the colonies.
– New York, NY
– Boston, MA
– Charles Town, S.C.
• Only major port in south
• Challenges:
– Fire, disease, waste disposal, poverty
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Philadelphia, 1750s
Philadelphia Row Houses
Boston - 1800
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Fire fighting in New York (1762)
Intellectual / Cultural
Developments
• Enlightenment
–
–
–
–
18th century intellectual movement
Challenges traditional beliefs / superstitions
Emphasizes learning, discovery
Benjamin Franklin
• Starts as an apprentice printer, becomes one the most famous
Americans in the colonies.
• Inventor, scientist, writer, politician
• Inventions: lightning rod, Franklin stove, bifocals, odometer
• Pennsylvania Gazette – purchased in 1730…free speech
• Poor Richard’s Alamanack (1732-58) – weather predictions,
information, wit and wisdom.\
• Autobiography
Intellectual / Cultural
Developments
• Great Awakening
– Religious Revival
– Response to growing wealth & population…
colonies getting away from their religious origins.
– Emphasizes a personal, emotional response to religion
• “Camp meetings” – fiery sermons, emotional displays of faith
• Circuit riders – preachers travel from town to town…
– Leaders:
• George Whitefield
• Jonathon Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
– Splits churches between the “Old Lights” and “New Lights”
• New churches form: Baptist, Methodist
• New schools to educate ministers: Brown, Princeton, Rutgers,
Dartmouth