Chapter Five
Colonial Society on The Eve of
Revolution
1700-1775
Great Britain
 Ruled 32 colonies in North America by 1775
 Canada
 Florida
 Caribbean
An American Way of Life
 A distinct American way of life begins to
emerge
 Population in colonies begins to grow
 1700 – 300,000 (20,000 slaves)
 1750 – 2.5 million (1.25 million slaves)
 The colonies were doubling their population
every 25 years
Population
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Highest Pop Colonies
1-Virginia
2-Massachusetts
3-Pennsylvania
4-North Carolina
5-Maryland
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Highest Pop Cities
1-Philadelphia
2-New York
3-Boston
4-Charleston
Foreign Populations
 Numerous foreign groups moved to the
colonies
 Germans – 6% of pop settled in PA
 Scots-Irish – 7% of pop
 12 future Presidents were Scots-Irish
Other Foreign Pops
French Huguenots
Welsh
Dutch
Swedes
Jews
Irish
Swiss
Scot-Highlanders
*African slaves made up 20% of colonial pop.
Structure of Colonial America
 18th century – America was a land of equality and
opportunity (except slaves)
 No titled nobility
 No pauper underclass
 RAGS TO RICHES POSSIBLE & COMMON
 Almshouses – built in Phila and Boston for poor
and orphaned
Structure cont…
 South – wealth was
concentrated by those
who owned large
numbers of African
slaves.
 HUGE gap between the
very rich and the very
poor
The Working Class
 Indentured servant – one whose passage to
the New World was paid for by someone to
whom the servant would owe years of his life
to pay back the cost of passage
 “Jayle Bird” - 50,000 English prisoners were
dumped on the American Colonies, including
rapists, murderers and thieves.
Slavery
 No equity with whites
whatsoever
 No dream of
ascension in society
 Oppressed
 Downtrodden
Professions
 Most honored position was within the church
or Christian ministry – high prestige
 Physicians – looked down upon, poorly
trained. 1765 – first medical school in
colonies (bleeding common treatment)
 Lawyers – not held in high regard, “noisy,
windbags, or trouble makers”
Disease
 Medicine was not very advanced in the 18th
century
 Smallpox – affected 1/5 of colonists (George
Washington was heavily pox marked)
 Diphtheria – affected younger people and
children
American Living
 Americans enjoyed a relatively high standard
of living because of the fertility of the soil
 90% of population involved in agriculture
 NY – exported 80,000 barrels of flour/yr.
Triangular Trade
New England
(rum)
$ Profits on every leg of trip $
West Indies
(molasses)
Africa
(slaves)
Manufacturing
 Not many people were involved in
manufacturing because it was easier to get
ahead through agriculture
 Rum was distilled in RI and MA
 Beaver hats were produced, despite British
regulations against it.
Household Manufacturing
 Each household was the primary
manufacturer.
 Spinning and Weaving had impressive output
for each family
 Carpenters would be released from prison for
murder because their skills were so badly
needed in the colonies
Lumber
 Most impressive
manufacturing activity in
colonies
 Timber consumed by
shipbuilders
 1770 – 400 ships
produced/yr.
 1/3 of British merchantmarine was American
made
Trade Imbalance
 Britain was saturated with Colonial goods
and did not need anymore.
 Colonists needed more material from Britain
desperately
 This created a trade imbalance; the colonies
need more from Britain than Britain did from
its colonies.
Tobacco
 Colonial tobacco filled
the pipes of many
French gentlemen
 But, the tobacco was
forced to go through
British customs where
they received a tariff
(re-exported)
The Molasses Act of 1733
 Parliament passed an act with the intention of
limiting American colonial trade with the
French West Indies.
 This was the first imperial crisis. An imperial
crisis is when colonists get angered by a
legislative move made by the monarch.
Roads
 By the 1700s, roads began to connect major
cities in the colonies to one another.
 Roads during the Roman Empire were better
built for travel than American colonial roads.
 Summer – dusty dirt roads
 Winter – muddy, impassable roads
 Travelers often drafted wills!
Taverns
 Popped up on roadways and
in large cities
 Bowling alleys, bars
 Pool tables, gambling
 Cradle of democracy
 Samuel Adams – owned
famous brewery and tavern,
Green Dragon Tavern
Postage
 Intercolonial Postage
System – established
around 1750 – service
was slow and
infrequent
 Secrecy was not
guaranteed (some
postal carriers would
read the mail)
The Great Awakening
 Began a religious
awakening that spread
throughout the colonies
 Jonathan Edwards
 Northampton,
Massachusetts – 1734
 -tall, intellectual, delicate
 Preached dependence on
God’s grace…
Jonathan Edwards
 Edwards preached a bold
message that hell was very
real, and literally scared his
congregation
 “hell is paved with the
skulls of unbaptized babies”
George Whitefield
 1738 – orator of rare
gifts
 Ex-alehouse owner
 Magnificent voice
 Human helplessness
 Divine Omnipotence
 Many imitated him
The Great Awakening
 Revivals – sinners professed conversion into
Christianity, they were “saved.”
 Created competitiveness in American
Christian churches
 Promoted higher learning: Princeton, Brown,
Rutgers, and Dartmouth
 First mass movement in colonies
Education in The Colonies
 Education was a time
honored English
tradition
 Colonists shared the
belief, and sent many
sons back to England
to study at Cambridge
Schools in the Colonies
 New England – some tax supported, and
some private schools both primary and
secondary
 South – wealthy families hired private tutors
for their children’s education
 Schools focused on religion, Classics, Latin,
Greek, and dogma rather than reason.
Art and Culture
 Colonists, with a frontiersman spirit,
typically were uninspired by arts and culture
 When they did, they preferred English and
European tastes.
John Trumbull
1756-1843
From Connecticut
Forced to move to London to finish his
training in art.
Washington by Trumbull
Charles Wilson Peale
 1741 – 1827
 Famous portrait artist of 18th century
 Painted famous early Americans
 Ran museum, dentist
Washington by Peale
Benjamin West
 1738 – 1820
The Death of Nelson
John Singleton Copley
 1738-1815
Watson and the Shark
Poor Richard’s Almanack
 Published by Benjamin
Franklin from
Philadelphia 17321758
 Thrift, morality,
industry, common
sense
Libraries and The Press
 Byrd Family of Virginia had the largest
private library in the colonies numbering
4,000 books
 Ben Franklin est. first public library in Phila.
 1776 – 50 public libraries
 40 colonial newspapers (mostly weekly
readers, and news was late)
John Peter Zenger
 Trial 1734-1735
 Printed story about
corrupt Royal Gov. of
New York
 Taken to Royal Court
 Jurors defied the judge
because the article
about corruption was
true.
Politics In The Colonies
The 13 Colonial Governments
8 with Royal Governors
3 Proprietor appointed Governor (MD,PA,DE)
2 elected Governor with popular election
(RI,CT)
Politics cont…
 All colonies had a two-house legislature
 Upper House – (Council) – appt. by Crown
or proprietor
 Lower House – popular elections for
representatives
 Raise taxes for colonial expenditures through
self taxation (imp to people)
Colonial Life
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Life was drab/tedious
Labor heavy/constant
Food was plentiful
Diet course and plain
Church – no heat
Homes – little heat
No plumbing
Colonial Life
 No running water
 Candle – Oil lamps used for light
 Hogs in the street would serve as garbage
disposal
 Buzzards were legally protected
Amusement
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Watching militia drills
House-raisings
Quilt bees
Weddings and funerals
 Typically strong
liquors were distilled
for get togethers…
Amusements
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Cockfights
Card playing
Horse racing
Fox Hunting
Dancing, jigs, square
dance
 Lotteries also popular
Test Review
 Manufacturing in the
colonies
 Result of rapid
population growth in
colonies?
 Colonial governors,
what kind, how many?
 Cities in colonies
 Surest avenue to
wealth in colonies?
 Merchants and military
supplies
 Benjamin Franklin
 Be able to describe the
Scots-Irish
 Poor people were a tiny
# in colonies compared
to England
Test Review
 Triangular trade
 Was culture and art
important in colonies?
 Religion was less
fervid by dawn of
revolution
 Population growth =
fertility of all
Americans
 Two largest church
denominations
 Why did English want
to est. the Church of
England in colonies?
 The Great Awakening
 Penn – first college
outside of church
control
Test Review
 Why did Scots go to
Ireland & then
America?
 Slaves and wealth from
slaves were not dist
evenly
 What were “new light”
preachers?
 What did Scots-Irish
do 1st when est a new
community?
 Education was reserved
for the aristocratic few
 Average age of
colonist?
 Colonial schools =
religion
Test Review
 Voters had to be
property holders
 Why did Americans
want to trade with
people other than
British?
 Presbyterian and
Congregational
ministers supported the
revolution
 Colonies had rapid
growing populations
 How could colonial leg
force governors to do
what they wanted?
 Major manufacturing
of colonies?
 Colonial taverns = who
went?
Test Review
 Religious doctrine of
Armenians
 New England
promoted education
 Most important
economic enterprise =
agriculture
 John Peter Zenger
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Jonathan Edwards
Benjamin Franklin
Phillis Wheatley
Colonies had perhaps
the most diverse
population in the
world, but still mostly
Anglo-Saxon
Test Review
 Self-taxation through
representation =
important political
principle of era
 How did Scots-Irish
view government?
 Scots-Irish and religion
= bond that held them
together
 Least important
economic activity of
colonies =
manufacturing
 Most and least diverse
area of colonies
 Franklin was not a poet
 Colonies in N.A. did
not have complete
democracy
Test Review
 By 1775 = less social
mobility
 Know region of
prominence of the
following:
 Congregationalist
 Anglican
 Presbyterian
 No Asians in colonies
 British vetoed efforts
to end slave trade in
colonies = too
prosperous