Colonial Culture
Types of Colonies
• Royal Colony –
controlled by the king
• Proprietary Colony –
land granted to a
group of private
owners for
development
Types of Colonies
• Joint-Stock
Company: Pooled
money of many
investors
• Merchants could
trade with and
colonize other parts
of the world
Relationships with Native Americans
New England
• At first –
peaceful
relations
• Taught Puritans
how to grow
corn and survive
the harsh
winters
King Philip’s War
• 1675 – MA arrested
and executed three
Wampanoag for
murder
• Metacomet –
Wampanoag chief
also known as King
Philip who led the
fighting
King Philip’s War
• Ends in 1678 turning point for
settlements
• RESULT: colonists’
victory ends Indian
uprisings in New
England
Virginia
• Tribal confederation
led by Chief
Powhatan
• Traded with the
colonists
Opechancanough
• Powhatan’s brother
• Attacked Jamestown
in March 1622 and
killed 300 colonists
Southern Social Structure
1: Planter Elite
1
2
3
2: Back country
farmers
3: Landless tenant
farmers and
indentured servants
4. Slaves
4
Headright System
• 50 acres of land
promised to anyone
who would settle in
the colony
Indentured Servants
• Agreed to work for a
landowner in the
colonies for 4-7 years
• Received passage to
America and land
Bacon’s Rebellion
• Small farmers in
Virginia rebelled
against the rich who
controlled the colony
• Led by Nathaniel
Bacon
Tax exemptions end
Unequal taxation
Unrest among Native
Americans
Bacon’s
Rebellion
All men vote
Not all have right to
vote
Southern Slavery:
• Plantation System
• Huge farms raised
cash crops –
needed large
numbers of
laborers
Triangular
Trade
Middle Passage
• The route taken by
ships carrying slaves
from Africa to North
America
Middle Passage
Africans
• Isolated in the South
• Kept African culture,
languages, music
alive
Gullah
• Rice plantation slaves
in South Carolina
created their own
language: Gullah
• Mix of African and
English
New England Society
• Small
farms
• Cities for
Atlantic
trade
(Boston)
Puritan Society
Middle Colonies
• Subsistence Farmers: grew food to feed
families, not for sale
• Many immigrants moved to the Middle
Colonies
German Immigrants
• Settled in
Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania Dutch
• Many moved into the
Shenandoah Valley
(VA)
Scots Irish
• Settled in PA
• Moved west to the
backcountry or the
southern colonies
Jewish Community
• Fled persecution in
Europe
• First arrived in New
Amsterdam (NYC)
• Also lived in Charles
Town and Savannah
Great Britain and the Colonies
• Salutary Neglect
• English government let
the American colonists
govern themselves
• Created representative
governments
House of Burgesses
• Virginia (VA)
• First elected
legislative body
in the colonies
• White males as
voters
Mayflower Compact
• New England
colonists first
form of
government
• Government
derived its power
from the people
of the colony
New England Government
• Town meeting – local
citizens met and
voted on issues
• Direct democracy
Massachusetts
Assembly
Fundamental
Order of
Connecticut
The Great Awakening
• Religious revival
movement
• Stressed an
individual’s devotion
and emotional
connection to God
Revivals
• Large public
meetings for
preaching and
prayer
• Revival of
religious feeling
Jonathan Edwards
• Preacher in
Massachusetts who
hoped to restore New
England’s spirituality
• Focused on repentance
and being “born again”
George Whitfield
• Arrived in
Philadelphia in 1739
• Powerful, emotional
speaker
• Preached throughout
the colonies to large
crowds
Social Mobility
• Ability to move from
one social status to
another
• Individualism – each
person can achieve
success with hard
work
Benjamin Franklin
Oct. 6, 1723 – he arrived in Philadelphia:
“I was in my working dress . . . I was dirty from
my journey, and I knew no soul nor where to
look for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling,
rowing, and want of rest; I was very hungry;
and my whole stock of cash consisted of a
Dutch dollar and a shilling in copper.”
Mercantilism
• Country tries to
accumulate gold and
silver
• Sell more goods than
buy from other
countries
• Exports greater than
imports
Mercantilism
• Buy raw materials
from colonies
• Sell finished
products to the
colonies
Difficulties for the Colonies
• Cannot sell products
to another nation
• Cannot accumulate
gold and silver
• Cannot manufacture
own goods
Navigation Acts
• England
attempted to
enforce their
mercantilist
policies on
the colonies
Quote, Boston Gazette
“A colonist cannot make a button, a horseshoe,
nor a hobnail, but some sooty ironmonger or
respectable buttonmaker of Britain shall bawl
and squall that his Honor’s worship is . . .
maltreated, injured, cheated, and robbed by
the rascally American republicans.”