Colonial Society
(Up at 1750)
Themes
• Family and community life in New England
and Chesapeake Bay
• Colonial economy and politics
• History of ideas:
- Enlightenment and Great Awakening
New England Colonies
• Northern Colonies
• States included: Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire,
and Maine
New England
• Thomas Smith
• Captain who mixed his
work ethic with his
pious Puritan beliefs
• New England society
New England Society
(Education)
• Heavy emphasis on education
• Towns were required to appoint teachers
• Harvard College was founded in 1636 to train
ministers
New England Society
(Education and Literacy)
• About 90% of adult white men and 40% of
adult white women could sign their names
• Other colonies: It was no more than 50%
• In England: Up to 33% could read and write
New England Society: Community Life
• The Meeting House was the center
• Homes were close to one another in town; plots
allotted for farming were not necessarily next to
homes
• High population density:
-Many families within one mile of each other
- Created atmosphere of “watchfulness;” fit goal
became a “city upon a hill” with dissent
This could be linked to Salem Witch Trails of the 1690s
- Easy to help each other and work together
Convicted Criminal Exposed to Public
Ridicule
Land Divisions in Sudbury, Massachusetts
(1639 – 1656)
New England Society: Family Life
• Family – Backbone of community
• Family Organization:
- Father: Head of family
- Mother: Often became “deputy husbands”
- Children: Provided labor force
• Stability
- 80% of children reach adulthood; worked at
servants
- Long life expectancy; generally healthy. Men age
of 65
Chesapeake Bay
• Consisted of states: Virginia and Maryland
Chesapeake Society
• Tobacco cultivation
dominated the region
• Large profits could be
made, but prices
fluctuated
• Indentured servants
and slaves were
common on plantations
Chesapeake Society: Community Life
• Homes were spread-out and far from one
another; usually placed along rivers and streams
• Communities were placed next to the James River
or connecting rivers as to transport tobacco
• Low population density
- 6 people per sq. mile
• Large plantation homes were the “center” of
social life
• High risk of death; living near swamps and lakes
meant diseases and infections
Pattern of Settlement in Surry County,
Virginia (1620 – 1660)
Chesapeake Society: Family Life
• Chaotic!
• High infant mortality rates
• Life expectancy in 1600s
- Men: 48
- Women: 44
• Complex households
developed with numerous
stepchildren and
stepparents
• Labor Force: Servants and
slaves; children did not live
very long to be used as
laborers
Indentured Servants
• Headright System:
- 50 acres was granted, by the Virginia Company, to those who paid
a servant’s travel costs
- Many servants traveled for economic opportunity; not religious
freedom
• Between 1630 – 1700 110,000 migrated from England to the
Chesapeake Bay
• Up to 90% were indentured servants
- Most servants were male and starting families proved difficult
• Up to 40% died within six years and up to 70% died by the time
they reached the age of 49
** Why take the risk**
Decline in Real Wages in England
(1500 – 1700)
• More free opportunity
($$$) in Chesapeake Bay
Life for Indentured Servants
• Owners paid passage across the Atlantic
• In return servants worked 4 -7 years to pay off
debt
• They often faced VERY poor treatment
• At end of service they received supplies and land;
ex. Some owners gave servants food, clothing,
and seeds for one full year of harvest
• The servants who made it past the 7 years faced
hard times due to settling on undesirable land
Bacon’s Rebellion
(Background)
• Tension developed between large landowners
and former indentured servants
• Growing gap between elite rich plantation
owners and poor
• The price of tobacco plummeted
• Increased concern with conflict over Native
Americans
Tobacco Prices (1618 – 1710)
Conflict with Native Americans
(1670s)
• Settlers (often former servants) in outlying
areas encroached on land reserved for Indians
• Indians retaliated
• William Berkeley, Virginia’s Governor, did not
respond with force; settlers acted on their
own
• Led by recent arrival Nathanial Bacon
Bacon’s Rebellion
(1676)
• Nathaniel Bacon led a
militia of about 300
• Fought to exterminate
Indians on Virginia’s
frontier
• Clashed with Governor
Berkeley and burned
Jamestown
• Bacon later died suddenly
of dysentery
• Rebellion came to a halt
Bacon’s Rebellion
(Aftermath)
• Many elites in the Chesapeake were shocked
by the events
• Before the Rebellion, but particularly
afterward, planters increased importation of
African slaves and relied less on the labor of
indentured servants.
• Indentured servants required owners to free
them after their debt was paid and could rebel
if treated unfairly
Toward Slavery in Chesapeake
• In 1619: First documented slaves arrived in
Jamestown
• In 1660: Fewer than 1,000 slaves in Virginia
and Maryland. No more than 5% of
population
• In 1700: At least 20,000 slaves in Virginia and
Maryland (22% of population)
Slavery Outside the Chesapeake
• By early 1700s slave labor was used
extensively in South Carolina
• Slavery existed in ALL of England’s North
American colonies
- Slaves made up 20% of New York City’s
population in mid-1770s
Economics
• Trade tied the colonies and England to one
another
• England purchased more Americans goods
and provided more imports than any other
nations
• This was partly due to mercantilism
Mercantilism
• Very popular among European nations
• A nation’s power was determined by its
wealth (in gold and silver)
• Key: Nations must export more goods than are
imported. Nations must produce everything
they needed so as to not depend on others
• Development of colonies was influenced by
this system overall
Mercantilism
(England and its colonies)
• Colonies provided raw materials: tobacco,
rice, sugar, lumber, furs, etc
• Colonists purchased finished products
manufactured in England
• Triangular Trade
Atlantic Trade Routes
(Triangular Trade)
Navigation Acts
(1651 – 1673)
• All trade goods sent to the colonists had to be
transported on English ships
• Enumerated goods, such as wool, sugar,
tobacco, and indigo, had to be shipped to
England
• All foreign goods had to travel through
England before reaching the colonies
*Benefited the economy of England and port
cities in colonies*
Populations of Boston, New York, and
Philadelphia, 1690 – 1776
• New York
- 1700: 5k, 1720: 7k, 1740: 9k, 1760: 15k, 1776: 24k
• Boston
- 1700: 6k, 1720: 11k, 1740: 16k, 1760: 15k, 1776:
16k
• Philadelphia
- 1700: 2k, 1720: 5k, 1740: 8k, 1760: 16k, 1776: 21k
Economic and Politics
• The Crown and Parliament established
regulations for the colonies; each colony,
however, did have its own local government
Colonial Governments
• Governor: Appointed by the King or Proprietor
in most cases
• Council: Chosen by Governor and served as
advisors
• Assembly: Elected by voters; had the power to
pass laws, levy taxes and control budgets
Colonial Governments
(Voting and Holding Office)
• Women and non-whites were not eligible
voters
• However, most adult white males over 40 had
the right to vote
- In England, only about 33% of men could
vote
• Wealthy elites tended to dominate Assemblies
Influential European Movements
• Renaissance
• The Enlightenment
Renaissance
(1300s – 1600s)
• Rebirth of classical learning
- Aristotle, Socrates
• Humanists – the first to look outside the bible
for knowledge
- ask questions; always asking why??
- why does the Pope have so much power?
The Enlightenment
• An intellectual movement associated with
Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries
• Individuals applied rational/scientific though
to the world in which they lived
• What is the scientific method?
The Enlightenment
(Science)
•
•
•
•
Isaac Newton
A mathematician and physicist
“Discovered” the law of gravity
Explained how the universe was organized by
a series of rational laws
Enlightenment
(Role of Government)
• John Locke’s Compact Theory
• All have natural rights of life, liberty, and
property
• To protect rights, people establish a
government with limited powers
• The people have the right to revolt if the
government oversteps its powers
*Government is naturally evil; people are
needed to control government*
Enlightenment
(Role of Government)
• Impact of Locke’s writings:
- Provided a philosophical justification for
colonists during the American Revolution
Enlightenment
(Role of Government)
•
•
•
•
•
Thomas Hobbs (Puritan)
Humans fell from grace in the Book of Genesis
They sinned against God’s natural law
Man is evil
Government is needed to control human
nature
Enlightenment
(Role of Government)
• Impact of Hobbe’s writings:
- Influenced Alexander Hamilton who will later
have much influence in the making of the U.S.
Constitution
Enlightenment
(Role of Government)
• Montesquieu (French philosopher)
• Spirit of the laws
• Government must be based on the system of
checks & balances
Enlightenment
(Role of Government)
• Impact of Montesquieu writings:
• Directly influenced James Madison who is the
Father of the U.S. Constitution and creates our
3 branch system of government
Enlightenment
(In the Colonies)
• Ben Franklin – influenced by Enlightenment
• Born in Boston; moved to Philadelphia
• Founding American Philosophical Society in
1743
Enlightenment
(In the Colonies)
• Thomas Jefferson – Enlightened by thinker
• He and others were influenced by deism
• Believed in a Supreme Being who created the
universe
• Universe then operated without divine
interference
• Supported religious freedom
Religious Debate
• Aren’t are founding fathers Christian?
• Christian: Be born again by receiving the Holy
Spirit and being baptized
• In order for a nation to become a Christian
nation, it must be run by God and his prophets
• His word would be law
• The founding fathers do not fit the criteria
Famous Masons
• John Adams, Samuel Adams, Ethan Allen,
Edmund Burke, John Claypoole, William Daws,
Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas
Jefferson, John Paul Jones, Robert Livingston,
James Madison, Paul Revere, George
Washington, Daniel Webster
Great Awakening
• A religious fervor spread across British North
America in 1730s
• Puritanism was failing
• Jonathan Edwards, a New England minister,
was an example
- “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Great Awakening
• George Whitefield
• Arrived in 1739
• Impact = increased church membership
- Connecticut: from 630 church members to
3,200 following his visit
Great Awakening
(Legacy)
• Presbyterian and Baptist churches gained
members at the expense of Anglicans and
Congregationalists
• Slave owners were encouraged to convert
their slaves to Christianity and improve their
treatment
Review
• Life in the Chesapeake colonies compared to
New England
• Indentured servants and growth of slavery
• Mercantilism and politics
• Enlightenment and Great Awakening