Chapter 5
Colonial Society on the Eve of
Revolution
Essential Question
• To what extent were the American colonists
“Americanized?”
– Keep in mind, changing identity and changing
ideas, beliefs, and culture are historical themes.
Colonial Society
• The natural fertility of the American population led to 2.5
million people living in the colonies by 1775.
Colonial Society
Things to notice:
•
Germans settled heavily in Pennsylvania
•
The Scots-Irish, seeing that the Germans had taken
most of the farmland in Pennsylvania, moved to the
frontier area of Maryland, Virginia, and Western
Carolinas.
•
The colonies was probably the most diverse in the
world.
•
The South had 90% of the colonies slaves.
•
New England showed the least ethnic diversity
•
Indian tribes intermingled, as they were displaced
by white settlers, and created new cultures and
societies.
•
Africans, coming from different tribes, intermingled
to create a new ethnicity we call African Americans.
Structure of Colonial Society
• America was generally more egalitarian than
Europe. Most people were small farmers and
raised their own crops by their own hard
work.
• But stratification was beginning to occur.
• The richest 10 percent of Bostonians and
Philadelphians, money made as war suppliers,
owned 2/3 of the wealth.
Structure of Colonial Society
• Almshouses were created in cities to help the
poor.
• Paupers (poor people) were forced to wear
the letter “P” on their clothing – they ranked
even below indentured servants in society.
• Wealthy landowners owned most of the slaves
and largest tracts of land in the South.
• There were plenty of indentured servants
• Convicts, such as rapists, murders, and thieves
were shipped to the colonies.
Structure of Colonial Society
• The clergyman was still the most honored
profession, although not as much as during
the early days of Massachusetts Bay and
Plymouth.
• Agriculture was the leading industry
The “Triangular Trade”
Rum from New England goes to
Africa
Captain exchanges slaves for
molasses; takes molasses to
New England to make more
rum.
Captain trades rum for slaves
and goes to the Caribbean
(West Indies).
New England merchants also
shipped food and lumber to the
Caribbean and traded with the
Spanish, Dutch, and French.
England had many restrictions
on colonial trade but the
colonists would ignore British
law – Salutary Neglect!!
Workaday America
• Mercantalism dictated that American colonists
buy British products, but England couldn’t keep
up with the fast-growing American population’s
demands.
• Worse yet, England’s population couldn’t buy
anymore raw material from America because
America’s supply was bigger than Britain’s
demand.
• From who do the colonists buy and sell? Hello
France and Spain in the West Indies (Caribbean).
Workaday America
• Great Britain’s Parliament decided to pass the
Molasses Act, aimed at preventing colonists from
trading with the French West Indies. A step toward
revolution?
The British
government
is trying to
destroy me!
A Cradle of Democracy?
• Taverns sprang up along main travel routes in
the colonies.
• All social classes would mingle
• Gossip was a source of news and political
opinion
Dominant Denominations
“Established” Churches
Anglican Church
Congregational Church
• Tax-supported
• Official church in Georgia, N. and
S. Carolina, Virginia, Maryland,
and part of New York
• The Anglican Church suffered in
colonial America because of its
poorly qualified clergy and close
ties with British authorities
• Tax-supported
• Grew out of the Puritan Church
• Established in all of New England,
except Rhode Island (of course)
Screwed again,
thanks a lot
England
The Scots-Irish were Presbyterian and the Irish were Catholic, but their religions
were never officially supported in the colonies.
Great Awakening
Many worshipers began to doubt
predestination.
Also, many colonists began to say
that individual actions, not your
devotion to a particular church’s
beliefs, was the path to Heaven.
George Whitefield
Preach it
brotha!
Jonathan Edwards
Effects of the Great Awakening
• Emotion
• Increased competition among churches:
schisms develop
• Increased missionary work among the Native
Americans and black slaves.
• Led to the founding of Princeton, Brown,
Rutgers, Dartmouth.
• United Americans with a common history and
shared experiences.
•
Charter Colonies: King grants rule
directly to the colonists. Governors
and councils appointed by propertyowning colonists.
– Connecticut and Rhode Island
•
Proprietary Colonies: Land granted by
the king to a caretaker. Governor and
royal council appointed by the
caretaker.
– Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania
•
Royal Colonies: Governor and Royal
Council are directly controlled of the
monarchy
– Georgia, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Virginia
Politics
• Freedom of the press is born!
– John Peter Zenger railed against the corrupt royal governor of
New York in his newspaper. He was sued and taken to court.
The jury, comprised of colonists, defied British law and
determined him to be not guilty.
• Usually though, colonial legislatures would fight against
royal governors by voting to withhold the governor’s
salary
– The King of England didn’t want to spend too much money on
the colonies so the royal governor had to get paid by the
colonial legislatures, the House of Burgesses!
– This made some royal governors corrupt
Questions to Consider
• In what ways were the European colonists
being “Americanized?”
• In what ways was America being
“Europeanized?”
• Was Colonial America communities of conflict
or consensus? Why?