Chapter 4: Colonial Society in the Mid 1700’s
American colonies becoming more crowded and dissatisfied as well as
gradually more democratic and united by 1763
New England Freeholder Society
Women's Roles & the Changing Economy
Marriage Customs & Inheritance Practices,
Family Size & Household Production
Middle Colonies in the Mid 1700’s
Economic & Social Developments
New York & Pennsylvania become prosporuse “Breadbasket” colonies but equality of
landownership decreasing
Middle Colonies most culturally diverse, but not a “mixed“ society
Causes and Impacts of the 1st Great Awakening
Enlightenment & Deism
Old Lights vs. New Lights
Pietism & Revivalism
Colonial Colleges
George Whitefield & Jonathan Edwards
Established vs. Revival Churches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vKGU3aEGss&index=5&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s
The Seven Years War and the Great Awakening: Crash Course US History #5
The French & Indian War (1754 – 1763)
aka “Seven Years War” or “Great War for Empire”
Ends Salutary Neglect & Sparks Quest for American Independence
French & Indian War Documents HW - Due end of class Tuesday 9/1
Dissatisfaction & Unity Grow…
1754 Albany Congress, Proclamation Line of 1763, Paxton Boys & Carolina Regulators
Chapter 5: Towards Independence
1763
-
to
1776
Pre 1763 “Baby Steps” Towards
Desire for American
Independence & Unity
• Colonists who leave Europe for America tend to have more “alternative” mindset
for the beginning (Ex: Indentured Servants, Puritans, Quakers)
• Traditions of independent colonial assemblies & courts (Ex: House of Burgesses)
• Frequent disregard of mercantilist policy (ex: smuggling under Navigation Acts)
• Failed British “crackdowns” (Ex: Dominion of New England & Molasses Act)
• Development of a unique American society & culture (Ex: Great Awakening,
Non English Immigrants)
• Idea of desirability of American colonial cooperation is being discussed
(Ex: Albany Congress proposal for “Plan of Union”)
Main Idea: Salutary Neglect fosters independence
Main Results of French & Indian War
• England dominates territorial holdings while France &
Spain are a weaker presence in North America
• Americans see British “Redcoats” up close & in action –
military experience gained and respect declines
• England amasses great financial debts from war
• King George III & PM Lord Grenville now lead UK
bringing with them a new attitude about the colonies &
their place in the Empire
• Heated debate on nature of the “Rights of Englishmen” &
“Taxation Without Representation” vs. “Virtual
Representation” erupts in Parliament and in the colonies
Colonial Unrest & British
Reaction Intensify
1763 – 1776
(see chart on p. 162 in text)
1st Major Example of
New British
Policies in 13 Colonies:
Proclamation Line of 1763
Angers Colonial
Traders,
Settlers &
Land Speculators
Chapter 5 HW – Group 1: Why did the colonists object to the new
taxes in 1764 and again in 1765? What arguments did they use? How
did these conflicts turn into a constitutional crisis? (Page 147)
Mention: Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Vice Admiralty Courts, George Grenville
Chapter 5 HW – Group 2: Weigh the relative importance of economic
and ideological motives in promoting the colonial resistance movement.
Which was more important? Why? (Page 155)
Mention: Stamp Act Congress, Sons of Liberty,
Enlightenment, Townshend Acts, Non-Importation,
Boston Massacre
Boston Tea Party leads to
Coercive (aka
“Intolerable”) Acts
Colonist Respond both calmly
Ex: Committees of Correspondence & First Continental Congress
AND…
…with Force
Ex: Lexington & Concord & Bunker Hill (1775)
Patriots (Whigs) & Loyalists
(Tories) begin undeclared war as
Minutemen fire “Shot Heard
Round the World”
& Massachusetts militia told,
“Don’t fire till you see the
whites of their eyes.”
Chapter 5 HW – Group 3: Why did colonial and British leaders fail to
reach a political compromise to save the empire? (Page 167)
Mention: Continental Congress,
Lexington & Concord, Tories &
Whigs, Common Sense, Declaration of
Independence
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from
every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from
the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the
first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.
Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping
voice of nature cries, 'tis time to part.
The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and America. Men of all
ranks have embarked in the controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all
have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the
contest; the appeal was the choice of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. . . .
The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province,
or a kingdom, but of a continent—of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the
concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more
or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental
union, faith and honor. . . .
Why did it take the Continental Congress more than a year after
Lexington & Concord for an official “Declaration of
Independence”?
• Sentimental attachment to England & King was strong
• Colonial elite fear anarchy
• Hope that the British would change policies
• Reluctance of colonial merchants to lose trade w/ UK
• Failed invasion of Canada & defeat at Bunker Hill illustrates American military shortcomings
• Lack of consensus at Continental Congress
• But, after “Olive Branch Petition” rejected in November, 1775, Many
colonial legislatures meet as well as the 2nd Continental Congress meet in
Philadelphia in Summer of 1776 and…
From the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, July 1776
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands
which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure
these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. ….
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having
in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted
to a candid world…
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good…
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the
rights of the people…
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature. ..
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged
by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation…
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us…
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world…
For imposing taxes on us without our consent…
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury…
Taxes & Smuggling - Prelude to Revolution:
Crash Course US History #6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eytc9ZaNWyc&list=PL8dPuu
aLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=6