UNITED STATES HISTORY
UNIT I: COLONIZATION - 1763
Life in the Colonies
Education in the Colonies
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Greater emphasis on education
in New England. Puritans
founded Harvard College in
1736 and were the first to
require tax-supported public
education with the “Old Deluder
Satan” Act of 1647.
In the Middle Colonies families
and churches started private
schools for those who could
afford tuition.
In the Southern Colonies, wealthy
Southerners hired private tutors
to teach their children at home.
The poor rarely received any
formal education.
William & Mary College (1693)
Religion in the Colonies
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The “Bible Commonwealth?,” RI and NH?, Pennsylvania?, Maryland?
The vast majority of American colonists were deeply religious and
worked to maintain their churches. On the frontier, people would often
travel for miles to attend evangelical services.
The Great Awakening (1730-1740s) was one of the first national
events in colonial history!
Preachers George Whitefield (Philadelphia to Savanna) and Jonathan
Edwards’ sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God swept
audiences off their feat and won many souls over to Jesus Christ.
Effects of the 1st Great Awakening
It worked to promote religious toleration and acceptance; all were
welcome to attend these highly emotional revival services.
It made people responsible for their individual salvation.
It also worked to promote democratic ideals. Why?
Numerous colleges and universities founded (Dartmouth, Rutgers, etc.)
America's First Great Awakening
Jonathan Edwards
Women in the Colonies
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Unmarried women were recruited by the London Company
and husbands paid for voyage upon marriage.
They also came as indentured servants.
Marriage was more for practical reasons than romance.
American men treated women better and with more respect
than European men.
Married women were not permitted to own property, they
couldn’t vote, and divorce was next to impossible.
Women were the “Jills-of-all-trades!”
They often learned to use guns and run the family farm out
of necessity – this was virtually impossible for women in
Europe.
Martha Dandridge Custis was one of the wealthiest women in
the Colonies as she inherited much land while in her 20s when
her husband died. She would later become famous through
her second marriage. Who did she marry?
Life on the Frontier
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1750 – an est.1.2 million people lived in the
13 colonies
The frontier had reached the eastern slopes
and valleys of the Appalachian Mts.
Conflicts existed over land (Mason-Dixon
Line-1760s), Easterners vs. Western
Frontiersmen, representation in the
legislatures, and local politics.
Life on the frontier was hard and dangerous.
What famous frontiersmen blazed the trail
into KY?
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
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Virginia settlers killed 24 Susquehanna Indians in a
retaliatory attack. The Indians then killed 36
settlers.
Nathaniel Bacon, a tobacco farmer, raised a
volunteer militia and wiped out an Occaneechi
settlement that had no part in the rebellion.
Governor Wm. Berkley ordered him to put down
arms and he marched on Jamestown, burned the
town, and drove the governor out.
When Bacon died in Oct. 1676, the rebellion
collapsed.
Was Bacon a hero or villain?
There had not been an election for seats in the
House of Burgesses for 15 years and Governor
Berkley had an interest in the fur trade.
Scenes of Life in the Colonies
Exit Slip – Life in the Colonies
1. The first colonists to require tax-funded public schools for communities with at
least 100 people were the __________.
A. Quakers B. Puritans C. Dutch D. New Yorkers
2. The religious movement that helped promote democracy and religious
tolerance while encouraging the individual to be more responsible for his or
her salvation was called the
A. Great Awakening. B. Great Schism. C. Starving Time. D. Reformation.
3. Which of the following could married women usually Not do in the colonies?
A. get a divorce B. own property C. work on the farm D. vote
4. Who did Virginia colonist Nathanial Bacon rebel against in 1676?
A. tobacco farmers B. wealthy merchants C. slave owners
D. the governor and House of Burgesses
The Seventeenth-Century Colonial Family
Mark each statement as True or False.
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Most colonists lived in extended families, that is with husband, wife,
children, and close relatives living together.
Most colonists had very large families.
Childhood lasted until the “teen” years.
Teen years were times of rebellion, drama, stress, and uncertainty.
Most colonial men and women married young.
Life for most colonial men and women was short.
The leading cause of death among colonial women was complications
from childbearing.
Most colonial men remarried at least once.
Colonial families were patriarchal in that a man’s role was to be the
“head” of the family, and a woman’s basic duty was submission.
A strict, repressive Puritan-like ethic controlled the moral behavior of
colonists.