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NOTES: Life in the Colonies (ch #5, section #5)
During the 1700s, England’s 13 colonies became societies with their own ideas and
traditions.
Colonial Society:
Colonists enjoyed more rights and freedoms than people in England but social classes
still existed.
GENTRY
↓
MIDDLE CLASS
↓
HIRED HANDS, INDENTURED SERVANTS, SLAVES
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Gentry- wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, lawyers, and royal officials.
Middle Class- farmers who owned their own land, skilled crafts workers, some
tradespeople.
o *** ¾ of all white colonists were in the middle class***
Indentured Servants- people who signed contracts to work without wages for a
period of four to seven years in exchange for passage across the Atlantic Ocean.
o Servants could receive “freedom dues”- a set of clothes, tools, and 50
acres of land.
o Women could often shorten their terms by marrying colonists.
o Many indentured servants were able to move up into the middle class.
Women in the Colonies:
 The role of women included taking care of their household, their husbands, and
their families.
o Women cooked all the meals, raised the children, made all the family’s
clothing, and helped with the chores around the farm.
 Women in the country often worked next to their husbands during harvest time
doing the same tasks as men.
 City women, mostly single women, often worked outside the home (maids, cooks,
nurses, midwives, and seamstresses)
 Women often learned a trade from male family members and often took over for
the family business when their husbands died.
African American Influences:
 In the South, Africans were able to keep many parts of their cultures alive
o Languages (example-Gullah); music; names; art; ceremonies.
 Many Africans worked on the docks or on ships or as skilled craftsmen.
 Some Africans were able to purchase their freedom and have their own
businesses.
The Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)
A religious movement in the colonies that used emotion and drama to get people to be
more religious.
 Jonathon Edwards- “sinners in the hands of an angry God”
 George Whitefield- emotional preacher who held huge religious retreats
 Many new churches were formed in the colonies.
 Helped spread tolerance and the idea of independence and democracy against the
British
Education in the Colonies:
 New England- Massachusetts established the first PUBLIC SCHOOLS (allowed
children of the lower classes an opportunity to become educated)
 Middle Colonies- only wealthy families could afford to sent their students to
private schools.
 Southern Colonies- wealthy planters hired private tutors or sent their sons to
schools in England.
 Apprenticeships- a boy around the age of 12 or 13 would be hired to work for a
master in order to learn a trade.
 Dame Schools- private schools run by women in their homes.
o ***for the most part, Africans were denied any type of education***
Enlightenment and Change for the Colonies:
Members of the gentry often read about the ideas of the Enlightenment and many of those
ideas started to change colonial society.
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Benjamin Franklin- became a successful businessman in the printing industry,
inventor, community leader, and government official.
City life- entertainment and trade were important aspects of city life and many
cities published weekly newspapers.
Freedom of the Press- The libel trial of John Peter Zenger established the freedom
of the press in the United States.