SSUSH2
The student will trace the ways that
the economy and society of British
North America developed
2.a-Explain the development of mercantilism and the
trans-Atlantic trade
• Mercantilism describes the economic systems
emerging in Europe in conjunction with colonial
imperialism (1500s-1700s) that correlated a nation’s
power with monetary wealth- especially in specie (gold
and silver) and through export commodities.
• The trans-Atlantic trade that developed in this era
served mercantilism in some examples, but also had
potential to subvert and undermine it- as in New
England, where no one commodity dominated the
local economies. This later led to grumbling among
some American colonists when the British attempted
to enact laws to protect their mercantile interests
Mercantilism
• The economic theory of mercantilism correlated
a nation’s power with its wealth in specie (gold
and silver) and a favorable balance of trade with
other nations. In the broadest terms, the rise of
mercantilist economies corresponds to the rise of
imperialist strong nations in western Europe,
whose power depended on control of trade and
the establishment of colonies.
• Colonies, and the commodities they produced
were very important to mercantilism- for raw
materials and wealth in trade goods.
Trans-Atlantic Trade
• Trans-Atlantic trade describes the exchange of
goods between Europe, their colonies in the
Americas, and west Africa.
• Also known as “triangle” trade, because of the of
the three areas involved
• In simplified terms this “triangle” trade involved:
raw goods produced in American colonies, often
with enslaved labor from Africa, to be
refined/finished/manufactured, then sold, by and
for the benefit of the mother nation.
Triangle Trade
2.b- Describe the Middle Passage, growth of the African
population, and African-American culture
• Many of the agricultural plantations/colonies in the
Americas grew to depend on enslaved labor imported
from Africa.
• Following the Spanish colonial model, England turned
to slave labor to cultivate sugar in the Caribbean,
tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, and rice and indigo
in South Carolina and Georgia (after 1750).
• As agricultural production increased and required more
labor, slave populations in the Americas increased
• As African populations grew in the British North
American colonies, shared experience and assimilation
produced a uniquely African-American culture
The Middle Passage
• The middle passage refers to the forced
journey of enslaved Africans across the
Atlantic to the Americas.
• Chained and shackled slaves would be stuffed
onto ships at West African slave outposts,
enduring the months long trans-Atlantic
journey under unfathomable conditions
• Mortality rates could be 30-50% and higher
Middle Passage
Growth of African Populations in British North
America
• Historians estimate that between 1450 and 1870, approximately 10-12
million Africans were forcibly taken to the Americas.
• Of these, around 500,000 landed in British North America (and later, the
United States, until 1808)
• The first shipment of Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, from a Dutch
slaver.
• Populations grew slowly at first, but after Bacon’s Rebellion, and after the
English crown chartered the Royal African Company in 1672- the number
of imported Africans grew dramatically.
• As the slave populations grew, stricter controls were put in place- e.g. the
“slave codes” enacted in Virginia in 1705.
• South Carolina, (1670) was founded on the plantation system from the
very beginning- and so depended almost entirely on un-free labor for its
agricultural production. In some areas of South Carolina, the slave
population constituted as much as 90% of the population, allowing for a
more distinctly African culture to emerge.
Early African-American Culture
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The two primary areas of plantation slavery in the colonial era were in the tobacco
regions of Virginia and Maryland, (upper South) and along the coast of South
Carolina and Georgia (after 1750), where rice and indigo were the main cash crops.
Plantation owners were careful to import Africans of different ethnicities to avoid
the potential for collusion- although within a few generations a syncretic culture
began to emerge, blending African, European, and American traditions into a
distinctly African-American culture- even more apparent in areas of high
population, like South Carolina- for example, Gullah/Geechee culture.
There were also significant numbers of slaves in urban areas like New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore, typically in the service of shippers and merchants.
Before slave codes and manumission laws were firmly in place, some free- African
American communities developed- almost exclusively in the upper South and in
urban areas
Fear of slave rebellions led to ever stricter controls on the slave populations- In
South Carolina, the Stono Rebellion, in 1739, was a key turning point.
2.c- Identify Benjamin Franklin as a symbol of social mobility
and individualism
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Benjamin Franklin is often seen as exemplary of the socio-economic advancement opportunities in
the colonial era.
Born in Boston in 1706, the fourteenth of seventeen children, Franklin moved to Philadelphia at age
16 to apprentice as a printer.
By 1733 he had opened his own printing operation to publish Poor Richard’s Almanack, a collection
of news, stories, advice, etc. , that became widely read in the American colonies.
Franklin soon became quite famous and wealthy as his publishing business expanded.
Franklin’s story of achievement through perseverance, hard work, and thrift has inspired Americans
ever since.
Franklin was also well known for his interest in science and technology- numerous inventions are
credited to him- including: bi-focal glasses, a type of wood-burning stove, a musical instrument
called the armonica, among many others.
Franklin’s story continues to embody the American spirit in many ways- hardworking, inventive,
individualistic, commerce-minded, and without barrier to economic and social advancement
Franklin “retired” from the day-to-day oversight of his company at age 42 (1748) to concentrate on
his many other pursuits. He later became a chief advocate of colonial cooperation (Albany
Conference, 1754) led the resistance to the British leading up to the American revolution, was chief
diplomat during the fighting, and among the chief statesmen at the Constitutional Convention in
1787.
Benjamin Franklin- symbol of American individualism and ingenuity
2.d- Explain the significance of the Great Awakening
• In the most basic terms, The Great Awakening refers to
the religious revival experienced in the American
colonies in the 1730s-1750s.
• Many historians consider it one of the most important
events in American cultural history because it was
among the first colonies-wide mass social movements.
• The Great Awakening can also be seen as a response to
the challenges posed by the Enlightenment
philosophies that were gaining currency in Europe
during the same era.
The Great Awakening
• The roots of the revival are in an English religious
movement called pietism- which stressed an individual
relationship with God, attained by pious living. Just as
in early Puritanism, the conversion experience was all
important, equated to a spiritual rebirth. Converts
were said to be “born again.”
• The idea of a strongly individualistic (and highly
emotional) religious expression meshed well with the
ideology of many American colonists in the era, who,
because of the freedom from “old-world” classism, had
begun to assert a uniquely American brand of
individualistic thought.
The Great Awakening: Major Figures
• Among the most well known revivalists in the British North
American colonies were Jonathan Edwards and George
Whitefield
• Edwards was a New England minister who stirred the
congregations with sermons such as “Sinners in the Hands
of an Angry God.” Edwards sought to rekindle the religious
fervor of New England.
• Whitefield was an English minister who toured the colonies
widely in the 1740s. He was influenced by John Wesley,
founder of Methodism, and is often credited with kicking
off the Great Awakening in America. His speaking tour drew
large audiences and changed the character of American
Protestantism. By way of local interest, he founded the
Bethesda School in Savannah.
Jonathan Edwards- stern –looking New England revivalist
George Whitefield- cross-eyed, but powerful orator
who inspired a colonies-wide revival movement during
his preaching tours in the early 1740s
Great Awakening: Significance
• The Great Awakening was a colonies-wide religious
movement.
• The movement had an especially powerful effect in the
South, among backcountry and tenant farmers, as well
as among some slave populations.
• The conversion of slaves presented a problem to the
planter elite, who feared that religious equality could
translate into ideas of social and political equality for
slaves. Some planters prevented slaves from attending
religious meetings. Nonetheless- the 1740s saw a mass
conversion of African-Americans to Christianity.
SSUSH2- Summary
• During the colonial era, a vigorous trans-Atlantic trade
connected Europe and Africa with the Americas
• Mercantilist economic ideologies stifled trade in some
areas, sowing the seeds of discontent in the colonies.
• Benjamin Franklin emerged as a symbol of American
social mobility and individualism in the colonial era.
• The Great Awakening, a religious revival of the 1730s40s, helped to establish an American identity rooted in
emotionalism and individualism.