Colonial Society
Chapter 4 Section 2
The Family in Colonial Time
The family played an important role in
colonial America.
Many people lived with their extended
family.
An extended family is a family that
includes, in addition to parents and their
children, other members such as
grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
On The Farm
Most colonists lived on a farm, where a
large family was considered an advantage.
Many hands were needed to operate a farm.
Usually, farms were widely separated by
dense forests.
This made it necessary for families to be
close and self-sufficient.
Responsibilities
Each family member had many
responsibilities.
Family members helped plant, cultivate, and
harvest crops.
There was always fences to mend, animals
to tend, and wood to chop.
Comfort
By today’s standards, farmhouses were not very
comfortable.
Most were made of wood and had few rooms.
People sat on stools and benches and slept on
planks.
Some houses had mattresses of corncobs, there
were few utensils, and they were crudely made.
New England and Middle Colonies winters were
cold, and the only source of heat was a fireplace in
the kitchen room.
On cold winter nights, the family might huddle
around the fire telling stories and shelling nuts.
Men, Women and Children
The lives of men and women differed.
A husband and father controlled a families
income and property.
Other family members were expected to
accept his authority.
In addition to fulfilling their home duties,
men represented their families in public life
as voters and, sometimes, as officeholders.
Marriage
In colonial America, most women were expected to
marry men chosen by their parents.
In choosing, parents considered a man’s property,
his religion, and their own family interests.
Romantic love was not considered the most
important reason to marry.
When a woman married, her property and any
money she might earn became her husband’s.
A woman bore her husband many children and was
expected to be his faithful helper in every way.
Role of Women
Besides, childcare, a woman had many domestic responsibilities.
She cooked, did the laundry, spun yarn into cloth that she made into
the family’s clothes.
She tended the chickens, churned butter, and preserved food.
On the western front, a woman might help plow or pitch hay.
If she lived in a town, she might keep a shop or an inn, or work as a
baker, a printer or even an undertaker.
Women had little or no public life. They could not vote or hold
office.
Turn to page 109 to see what a woman’s role was.
Young Children
If you survived infancy children had about 7 years
before they were required to work.
Children played many games: marbles,
hopscotch, leapfrog, and jump rope.
Their toys were usually homemade.
Girls played with dolls made of cornhusks and
scraps of cloth and boys built houses of corncobs.
Sometimes children played with a spinning top.
Rich children enjoyed fine dolls and toy soldiers
made in Europe.
Children’s Responsibilities
On farms, children were expected to fetch
water and wood and to help in the kitchen
and in the fields.
Boys were expected to work in the fields
with their fathers, while girls labored beside
their mothers learning how to run a house.
Boys and Trades
Boys who learned trades, such as making shoes or
building furniture, began as apprentices.
An apprentice is someone who learns a trade by
working for someone in that trade for a certain
period of time.
The apprentice would live in the home of the
artisan.
At the end of his apprenticeship, the young man
was prepared to work independently.
America’s Appeal
Many European colonists came to America hoping
to build a better life than they had in Europe.
In England and other European countries, land
was the main measure of wealth.
Land in Europe was in the hands of very few.
America appeared to have land in abundance,
offering immigrants the chance to own land.
Prospects
In Europe, a person’s prospect (expectation)
was determined by birth.
In America, there was more social equality
among settlers – white settlers.
Still, there were many class distinctions.
Social Classes
The Gentry – the upper class of colonial society.
Included: wealthy planters, merchants, ministers,
royal officials, and successful lawyers.
Prosperous artisans, such as goldsmiths, were also
considered gentry.
Gentry were few in number, but they were the
most powerful people.
The Middle Class
The great majority of colonists from Europe were
what colonist called “the middling sort.”
Neither rich nor extremely poor, the middle class
was made up of small planters, independent
farmers and artisans.
Middle class men could vote, and few held office.
The middle class was mostly white, but some of
its members were of African descent (about 1%)
Indentured Servants
Lower on colonial America’s social scale, and just
above enslaved Africans, were farmhands and
indentured servants.
An indentured servant signed a contract to work
for 4 to 10 years in the colonies for anyone who
would pay for his or her ocean passage to the
Americas.
In the 1600’s most indentured servants came from
England.
In the 1700’s, a growing number came from
Ireland and Germany.
Indentured Servants cont.
During their time of service, indentured servants
had little rights if any.
They were bound to obey their masters, who could
work them to almost death.
Those who disobeyed or tried to run away risked
being whipped or having time added to the service.
At the end of their time, indentured servants
received 50 acres of land, a set of clothes and tools.
About 1 indentured servant in 10 became a
prosperous land owner.
Free African Americans
Free people of African ancestry were not a large
portion of the colonial population.
In 1790, there were nearly 60,000 free African
Americans compared to more than 757,000
enslaved Africans.
Free Africans were allowed to own property, even
in the south.
This permitted them to become slave owners.
Some free blacks, purchased relatives and freed
them.
Most African American land owners could not
vote or sit on juries.