British North American Colonial Society & Culture
Regional Differences
New England
The family is the center of stability and well-being.
Little distinction between religious and secular authority.
Mixture of freedom and repression (by Puritan faith and General
Court).
Traditional roles for women (no land rights or vote).
Patriarchal society “Town Fathers.”
Southern Colonies
Plantation culture, the plantation dominates the economic,
social, and political world of the South.
Much of the South develops in the isolation of the plantation system.
Church of England is the predominate religion.
Due to high mortality rates among men women have land rights.
Middle Colonies
Our modern heritage, the most like who we are today.
Fertile, abundant land, navigable rivers, thriving industry.
Religious, economic, social, and ethnic diversity.
Demographics
Population boom (doubling every 25 yrs).
Young (average age 16).
Ethnic make-up of Americans:
English, African, Scots (Scots-Irish), and German.
Trends: Still more equality than the rest of the world but moving away from
Equality and increasing social stratification.
Politics
Growth and change of concept of democracy.
Growth of the powers of the colonial assemblies (controlled the purse
strings of royal governors through control of taxation).
The electorate of the British Colonies was proportionally the largest in the
World.
Overall Economy
Agriculture leading industry (90%).
Other pursuits (fishing, lumbering, shipbuilding, shipping).
Trade imbalance (imports, exports) leads to smuggling.
Triangular Trade - Rum, Slaves, Molasses (see below).
Religion
Movement from tax supported. Some colonies, particularly in NE resisted
this change until well into the 1800s.
America is overwhelming Protestant.
Congregationalists (old Puritan Church) in the North.
Anglicans (Church of England) in the South.
Presbyterian in the Middle and South.
Quakers in the Middle.
The Half-Way Covenant (1662)
The children of first-generation believers were admitted to limited
membership in the Congregational church, on the grounds that
as children of the elect, they would undoubtedly experience
conversion and become full members of the church. Not all
underwent a conversion experience.
Troubled ministers announced a new formula for church
membership, the Half-Way Covenant.
This new arrangement modified the covenant, or the agreement
between the church and its adherents, to admit to baptism but
not "full communion" the unconverted children of existing
members.
This boosted membership, participation, and more importantly funds
for money-stricken churches (see movement away from tax
support above).
Salem Witch Trials (1692)
Accusations based on growing class distinctions.
Directed at families involved in commerce.
Accused were primarily non-puritans and often were older,
husbandless women.
Religious Dissent
Little toleration for religious dissent.
Roger Williams banished for preaching a message of religious
toleration and separation of church and state.
Great Awakening
A period of revivalism that spread throughout the colonies in the
1730s and 1740s.
Arose at a time when man in Europe and the American Colonies
were questioning the role of the individual in religion and
society.
It deemphasized the importance of church doctrine and instead put a
greater importance on the individual and their spiritual
experience.
Individuals grew to rely more on a personal approach to
salvation than church dogma and doctrine.
Political conflict took expression in a battle for local, spiritual, and
secular leadership between the New Lights (the revivalist spirit
of GA) and the Old Lights (opposed to these changes).
Significance:
Nationalizing movement that that broke down sectional and
denominational boundaries.
Decreased the power of the clergy and the church.
Created new denominations.
Question: What effect did the GA have in respect to the
American Revolution?