Late 1600s – Early 1700s
New England
 Patriarchal Society
 Social covenant
 Church Crisis
(Enlightenment Ideals):
Jeremiad and Half Way
Covenant
 First Great Awakening:
Jonathan Edwards, George
Whitfield
 Salem Witch Trials:
indicative of growing social
class distinctions
Colonial Economics
 Most colonists farmers
 Reliance on triangular
trade
 Not enough British
goods to purchase, leads
to illegal purchases from
France and French West
Indies
 Molasses Act in 1733foreshadows Imperial
Crisis
 Immigration goes
mainly to Middle
Colonies
 Germans and Scots
Irish move to
Pennsylvania
 Scots Irish also become
the ultimate
frontiersman
 Paxton Boys, Regulator
Movement
 American
Colonial
breakdown
of Scots Irish
Ben Franklin on the Germans
 In short unless the stream of their importation could be
turned from this to other colonies, as you very
judiciously propose, they will soon so out number us,
that all the advantages we have will not in My Opinion
be able to preserve our language, and even our
Government will become precarious.
What is an American?- Jean de
Creveceour
 It is no wonder that this country has so many charms, and
presents to Europeans so many temptations to remain in it. A
traveller in Europe becomes a stranger as soon as he quits his
own kingdom; but it is otherwise here. We know, properly
speaking, no strangers; this is every person's country; the variety
of our soils, situations, climates, governments, and produce,
hath something which must please every body. No sooner does
an European arrive, no matter of what condition, than his eyes
are opened upon the fair prospect; he hears his language spoke,
he retraces many of his own country manners, he perpetually
hears the names of families and towns with which he is
acquainted; he sees happiness and prosperity in all places
disseminated; he meets with hospitality, kindness, and plenty
every where; he beholds hardly any poor, he seldom hears of
punishments and executions; and he wonders at the elegance of
our towns, those miracles of industry and freedom
Social Life
 Taverns
 Congregationalist and
Anglican Churches are tax
supported
 Focus on enlightenment
ideals (John Peter Zenger
case)
 New emphasis on
education (college more
important than alphabet)
 Lots of improvements
(roads, mail, printing)
Government
 8 colonies had an




appointed Royal Governor
3 chose their Royal
Governor
2 (Ct and RI) elected their
governors
Almost all governments
run on a two house system
(top is appointed by crown,
bottom is popularly
elected)
Backcountry highly
underrepresented
 Slavery overwhelming in the
South though most slave
traders were from Rhode
Island
 Barbados Slave Code