EXPERIENCE OF EMPIRE:
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
AMERICA
America: Past and Present
Chapter 4
Growth and Diversity
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1700-1750--colonial population rises from
250,000 to over two million
Much growth through natural increase
Large influx of non-English Europeans
Distribution of European and
African Immigrants
Ethnic Cultures of the
Backcountry
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800 miles along Appalachian Range from
western Pennsylvania to western
Georgia
Already populated by Native Americans
and African Americans
Large influx of European immigrants in
the eighteenth century
Scotch-Irish Flee English
Oppression
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Many from Northern Ireland
Concentrate on the Pennsylvania frontier
and Shenandoah Valley
Often regarded as a disruptive element
Germans Search for a Better
Life
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Fled from warfare in Germany
Admired as peaceful, hard-working
farmers
Tried to preserve German language,
customs
Aroused the prejudice of English
neighbors
Convict Settlers
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Transportation Act of 1718 allows judges
to send convicted felons to American
colonies
50,000 convicts to America 1718-1775
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some felons were dangerous criminals
most committed minor crimes against
property
life difficult for transported convicts
British praise system, colonists deplore it
Native Americans Stake Out a
Middle Ground
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Many eastern Indians moved into transAppalachian region
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a "middle ground" where no colonial power
was yet established
Remnants of different Indian peoples
regrouped, formed new nations
European trade eventually weakened
collective resistance to European
aggression
Spanish Borderlands of the
Eighteenth Century
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Spain occupied a large part of America
north of Mexico since sixteenth century
Range from Florida Peninsula to
California
Indian resistance, lack of interest limited
Spanish presence
Never a secure political or military hold
on borderlands
Conquering the Northern
Frontier
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1692—final establishment of Spanish
rule in New Mexico after Popé’s revolt
(1680)
18th-century St. Augustine a Spanish
military outpost unattractive to settlers
1769—belated Spanish mission
settlements in California to prevent
Russian claims
Peoples of the Spanish
Borderlands
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Slow growth of Spanish population in
borderlands
Spanish influence architecture, language
Spanish influence over Native Americans
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Spanish exploit native labor
Indians live in proximity to Spanish as
despised lower class
Indians resist conversion to Catholicism
The Spanish Borderlands,
ca. 1770
The Impact of European Ideas
on American Culture
 Change in eighteenth-century colonies
 Growth of urban cosmopolitan culture
 Aggressive participation in consumption
Provincial Cities
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Urban areas included Boston, Newport,
New York, Philadelphia, and Charles
Town
Economies were geared to commerce
Inhabitants took lead in adopting new
fashions, the latest luxuries
Emulated British architecture
Cities attract colonists seeking
opportunity
American Enlightenment
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An intellectual movement stressing
reasoned investigation of beliefs and
institutions
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optimistic view of human nature
view cosmos as orderly result of natural laws
belief in perfectibility of the world
search for practical ways of improving life
Mixed reception in America
Benjamin Franklin
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Franklin (1706-1790) epitomized
provincial, urban culture
Became a writer by emulating British
literature
Achieved wealth through printing
business
Dedicated to practical uses of reason,
science
Economic Transformation
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Rising demand for English, West Indian
goods
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Colonists paid for imports by
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exporting tobacco, wheat, and rice
purchasing on credit
Dependence on commerce led to colonial
resentment of English regulations
England restricted colonial manufacture or
trade of timber, sugar, hats, and iron.
Birth of a Consumer Society
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English mass-production of consumer
goods stimulated rise in colonial imports
Wealthy Americans began to build up
large debts to English merchants
Intercolonial, West Indian trade earn
colonists the surplus needed for imports
Inter-colonial commerce gave Americans a
chance to learn about one another
The Great Wagon Road
Religious Revivals in
Provincial Societies
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The Great Awakening was a series of
revivals
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revival: a phenomenon among Protestant
Christians characterized by large meetings
where large numbers experience religious
conversion in response to gifted preaching
People began to rethink basic
assumptions about church and state,
institutions and society
The Great Awakening
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Awakening occurred among many
denominations in different places at
different times
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New England in the 1730s, Virginia in the
1750s and 1760s
Jonathan Edwards was a prominent
minister during this time
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His sermons encouraged people to examine
their eternal destiny
The Voice of Popular Religion
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George Whitefield symbolized the revivals
Whitefield preached outdoor sermons to
thousands of people in nearly every colony
Itinerants disrupted established churches
Laypeople, including women and blacks, gain
chance to shape their own religious institutions
The Awakening promoted a democratic,
evangelical union of national extent
The Voice of Popular
Religion (2)
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Most revivalists well-trained ministers
Revivalists found Princeton, Dartmouth,
Brown, and Rutgers
Revivalists held optimistic attitudes
toward America's religious role in world
history
Fostered American patriotism
Clash of Political Cultures
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Colonists attempted to emulate British
political institutions
Effort led to discovery of how different
they were from the English people
The English Constitution
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The British Constitution universally
admired
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not a written document, but a system of
government based on statute and common
law
Believed to balance monarchy,
aristocracy and democracy
Balance believed to guarantee liberties
The Reality of British Politics
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Less than 20% of English males could
vote
Members of Parliament notorious for
corruption and bribery
“Commonwealthmen” criticized
corruption, urged return to truly balanced
constitution
Governing the Colonies:
The American Experience
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Colonists attempt to model England’s
balanced constitution
Royal governors
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most incompetent
most bound by instructions from England
possessed little patronage for buying votes
little power to force their will
Governors’ councils steadily lose
influence
Colonial Assemblies
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Elected officials depended on popular
sentiment
Assemblies more interested in pleasing
constituents than in obeying the governor
Assemblies controlled all means of raising
revenue
Assemblies jealously guarded their rights
Assemblies held more popular support than
governor
Colonial Assemblies (2)
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Commerce, communication, religion
broaden colonists’ horizons by 1754
Colonial law courts increasingly adopt
English usage
Growing awareness of ideas, institutions,
problems shared with England, each
other
Century of Imperial War
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British Americans increasingly drawn into
European conflict during eighteenth
century
Main opponents: France and Spain
British colonies militarily superior to New
France but ineffective
North America, 1750
King William's
and Queen Anne's Wars
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King William’s War (1689-1697): French
frontier raids on New York, New England
Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713): French
frontier raids on North, Spanish South
Wars settled nothing
France subsequently extended its American
empire from Canada into Louisiana
King George's War and Its
Aftermath
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Fought 1743-1748
Embroiled colonists more extensively
than earlier wars
1745--New England troops captured Fort
Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island
1748--Louisbourg returned to France by
Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle
1750s--fresh conflict over Ohio Valley
Albany Congress and
Braddock's Defeat
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Albany Congress, 1754--Benjamin
Franklin propose plan for a central
government
Albany Plan disliked by English and
Americans, fails
1755--General Edward Braddock leads
force to drive French from Ohio Valley
Braddock’s army ambushed, destroyed
Seven Years' War
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1756--England declares war on France
Prime Minister William Pitt leads English
to concentrate on North America
1759--Quebec captured
1763--Peace of Paris cedes to Great
Britain all North America east of
Mississippi
The Seven Years War,
1756-1763
Perceptions of War
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Colonists realize how strong they could
be when they worked together
English learn that Americans took forever
to organize, easier to command
obedience
North America after 1763
7th ed. revisions by Don Whatley, Blinn College
Rule Britannia?
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Most Americans bound to England in
1763
Ties included
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British culture
British consumer goods
British evangelists
British military victories
Empire seemed bound by affectionate
ties