Un-aristocratic society
Emerging middle class
Dominant element: English laborers
¾ of immigrants to Chesapeake:
Indentured Servants
Indentured Servants
Temporary servitude
fixed term (4-5 years)
in return for passage,
food and shelter
Completion of service, males: clothing, tools,
occasionally land
Actually: most nothing at all
New England life span
Males: 71 years
Females: 70 years
Cool climate and relatively
disease-free environment and
absence of large population
centers
Chesapeake life span
Males: 40 years
Females: slightly less
1 in 4 children died in infancy
Half died before 20
Only 1/3 of all marriages lasted
more than 10 years
Disease (malaria)
Salt-contaminated water
Galen and the 4 humors
Blood (heart—sanguine or
cheerful)
Phlegm (mucus from brain—sluggish)
Black bile (spleen—melancholy)
Yellow bile
(liver—angry
or choleric)
The General Condition of Women in the
Chesapeake Region
Life was good, ‘cause
I could fall in love with
a fish.
Chattle: property
All colonies originally had
slaves
Iron Act of 1750
Obstacle 1: no commonly accepted medium
of exchange
No specie
& experimental currency
Merchant Class
Boston,
NY,
Philadelphia
Yearly town meetings
Salem Witchcraft Trials
Root cause: tensions over gender roles
Accused women:
Middle-aged
Often widowed
Few or no children
Low social position
Domestic conflicts
Accused of other crimes
Abrasive to neighbors
Little tolerance for independent women
Church of England
Puritans
Dutch Calvinists
Jonathan
Edwards
John
Wesley
Charles
Wesley
George
Whitefield
Benjamin Franklin: most
celebrated amateur scientist in
America
Cotton Mather
Innoculation: deliberately infect
People with mild cases of
smallpox to immunize them
Whipping post
Stocks
Ducking stool
After the Glorious Revolution
Eight total royal colonies
Parliament strengthened mercantilist program
New Navigation Acts
Restricted colonial manufacturers
Prohibited currency
Regulated trade
Changes to British Government in the 50 years
after the Glorious Revolution
Parliament: growing supremacy over the king
Prime Minister and Cabinet: real executives
Depended heavily on landholders and
merchants
From 1650 to 1763, many “appointed” officials
Purchased their commissions for selves or
relatives
Then stayed in England, sending “proxy”
officials to represent them in the colonies
Proxies were poorly paid and resorted to
corrupt and extracurricular business dealings
Spent much time “away” from jobs
Meanwhile . . .
Colonies needed governing—laws, police,
transportation networks, public services
Following English political tradition, colonial
legislatures, in place in all of the colonies,
began going around the governors and other
officials and “taking charge.”
Popular with the people—enjoyed the idea of
self-governance, but still considered themselves loyal subjects of the King
But, governance limited to individual colonies
In fact, due to differences in economics, political
differences, social differences (Southern
aristocracy versus egalitarian New England, for
example), other differences, significant distrust
and dislike of colonies and colonial assemblies
for other colonies
Absolutely no thought of uniting into one
comprehensive group of colonies. Rather all
saw themselves as separate entities
Originally, the colonies did not want
to be united
Different colonies:
different reasons for
colonizing.
Virginia:
economic
Plymouth/Mass. Bay:
religious freedom
Georgia:
a refuge for debtors
The colonies also had different economic
activities as well as geographic aspects
Examples:
New England-mountainous, rocky soil,
fishing, lumber, crafts
The South—
warm, moist
climate; mostly
agricultural economy with
crops that grew well in that
climate; slave-based economy
From beginning, all colonies had a
governor
Mercantilism—colonies
as a means to national
wealth
Eventually, all colonies
converted to royal
colonies, with governors
appointed by king/
parliament
One reason for early attempts at
unification: security from Native Americans
1643: New England Confederation
New England colonies agreed to work
together to defend against Native
American attacks or attacks by Dutch
settlers in what is today New York
Few powers and little cooperation
because of disagreements; ended 1684
1754: Meeting of representatives of 7
British colonies and leaders of the
Iroquois Nation in Albany, New York to
plan defense against possible attacks
from French and Native American allies
At the meeting, Benjamin Franklin
proposed the Albany Plan of
Union, that would include a
council of colony representatives
that could levy taxes and raise
an army as well as regulate
trade with Native Americans
Rejected by colonial governments
Frs Marquette &
Joillet
Champlain (Quebec)
Cavelier
La Salle
Cartier
Key elements of French Expansion
Louis XIV’s search for national unity
and increased world power
Fur trade—deeper into wilderness
Missionary zeal (Jesuits)
Mississippi River Valley bottom lands drew
French farmers discouraged by Canada’s
short growing season
Differences between British and French
with regard to relations with Native Americans
Native Americans: protect independence
British: better & more plentiful goods
French: tolerance—adjusted behavior to NA
patterns
Phase 1: 1754-1756
Local (North Amer.)
French upper hand
Fort Necessity
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Phase 2: 1756-1758
Hostilities in Europe but mainly an American
fight
1757: Pitt brought war in America more under
British control
Impressed enlistment
Seizure of supplies without compensation
Compelled colonists to provide shelter
to British troops
Phase 3: 1758-1760
British reimbursed colonists for supplies
Returned control over military recruitment to
colonial assemblies
Large numbers of British “regulars” sent to
America
French suffered from series of poor harvests;
could not sustain early successes
Key British victories; main one: Quebec
Effects of French and Indian War on British
Empire and American Colonies
Doubled size of British Empire
Greatly enlarged national debt
Resentment toward Americans by British leaders
Forced colonies for first time to act in concert
against a common foe
Seemed to confirm illegitimacy of English
interference in colonial affairs
Colonials resented British regulars
Americans angered British
Contemptuous of colonists due to ineptitude
during war
Said Americans had made few financial
contributions
Bitter that some merchants sold food and other
goods to French
Persuaded many English leaders that a major
reorganization of the empire was necessary
London increased authority over colonies
Different viewpoint about colonies
Land itself was of value to empire
Population it could support
Taxes it could produce
Imperial splendor it would confer
Franklin
Pitt
Unfortunate qualities of King George III
Determined to be active and
responsible monarch
Removed Whig coalition
Replaced with new coalition
through patronage and bribes
Gained uneasy control of
Parliament
Serious intellectual and psychological limitations
Bouts of insanity
Immature and insecure
Background
Proclamation of 1763 angered
colonists against the King
French and Indian War caused a financial
crisis in Great Britain
Britain stationed 10,000 troops in
America. Protection of colonists or
threat to the colonials if they wanted
liberty?
New king (1760), George III, chose
George Grenville, a financial expert,
to serve as Prime Minister (1763)
George Grenville
Mutiny Act of 1765
Colonists required to assist in
provisioning and maintaining the
Army (quartering)
Ships of the British navy assigned
to patrol American waters and
search for smugglers
Customs Service enlarged
No more proxies for colonial posts
George Grenville
1. American customs service
(collected duties or taxes on
imports) losing money.
2. Felt colonists smuggling goods without
paying duties.
3. Result: Parliament passed the Sugar
Act in 1764.
Reduced duties on foreign
molasses while taxing
things not taxed before.
Smugglers could be tried in
single-judge court.
Colonial merchants—complained
that the Sugar Act reduced their
profits and violated their rights.
Merchants angry because were being
taxed by a body where they had no
duly elected representatives.
King’s loyal subjects; upset with Parliament
George Grenville
Currency Act of 1764
Required colonial assemblies to
stop issuing paper money
Stamp Act of 1765
Imposed a tax on most printed
documents in the colonies
“Indeed, there was something in the Grenville
program to antagonize virtually everyone.”
Northern merchants: restraints on commerce
and increased burden of taxes would hurt them
Settlers: resented closing the West
Southern planters: feared additional taxes and
losing ability to pay debts to English merchants
Professionals: shared concerns of merchants
and planters
Small farmers: suffer from increased taxes and
abolition of currency
Boston: Sons of Liberty
Shocked by depression of 1760s
Active and vocal
protests—
spread to other
colonies
Throughout the colonies, the British began to
challenge the basis of colonial power—the
colonial assemblies (or legislatures)
More Taxes
Stamp Act of March 1765
Required that stamps be
placed on many kinds of items
1765—Colonists united to defy the law.
Virginia Resolves
Patrick Henry: Americans
possessed the same rights
as Englishmen—right to be
taxed by own representatives
James Otis
Persuaded members of Mass. Colonial
Assembly to call an inter-colonial congress:
The Stamp Act Congress
More Taxes
The Townshend Acts
Charles Townshend—new
Chancellor of Exchequer
Imposed duties on goods imported to
colonies from Great Britain
Unrest and Violence
June 1768—British agents
seized the Liberty
a ship owned by Boston merchant
John Hancock—accused of
smuggling
Result: riots in Boston
Result: 4,000 Redcoats
One soldier for
every 4 citizens
Three-penny tax on tea
Lord Frederick North
Taxation without
representation
Unrest and Violence
March 5, 1770: Boston Massacre
Former slave Crispus Attucks
and 3 others slain
by British troops.
Propaganda and an etching
by Paul Revere incited people
Jury of colonists found British
soldiers guilty of manslaughter
but punishment was token
Captain Preston defended by John Adams
Samuel Adams
Leading and most effective radical
Called for a boycott of British goods—
including women boycotting English
cloth and tea.
British constitution
Unwritten; general sense of how things done
Distributed power to 3 elements of society:
monarchy, aristocracy, common people
Designed so no one unchecked power
King & ministers had corrupted the constitution
Concept of virtual representation
Each Member of Parliament (MP) represented
the interests of the whole nation and the whole
empire, no matter where they came from
The many boroughs of England, the whole of
Ireland, and the colonies thousands of miles
away were thus represented in Parliament,
even though they elected no representatives of
their own.
Americans: actual representation—the people
elect their own representatives
Unrest and Violence
British East India Company—
tea monopoly harmed by the
colonial boycotts.
More than 8 million tons
unsold in warehouses—
BEIC nearing bankruptcy.
Lord North: the Tea Act of 1773:
BEIC duty free tea sales to colonies
Colonial merchants taken out of tea
trade—infuriated.
Unrest and Violence
December 16, 1773:
Boston Tea Party
15,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor
Unrest and Violence
King George’s response:
The Intolerable Acts of 1774
1. Boston Harbor shut down.
2. Quartering Act
3. Military commander in
chief, General Thomas Gage,
appointed governor of Massachusetts
(reduced self-government)
4. Royal officers tried elsewhere
Quebec Act
Extended boundaries of Quebec
Granted political rights
to Roman Catholics
and recognized
legality of Catholic
Church in enlarged
province
Concern: plot afoot to
subject Americans to
papal tyranny
The First Continental Congress
September 1774, Philadelphia
56 delegates (all colonies but Georgia)
Rejected plan for colonial union
Statement of grievances
Series of resolutions:
preparations for defense
against possible attack
Non-importation,
non-exportation, non-consumption
Meet spring of 1775
After First Continental Congress,
colonial militias formed—
minutemen. Stockpiled
arms and ammunition.
General Gage learned of stockpiling through
Loyalists. April 1775—marched on
Concord, Mass. with 700 Redcoats.
Warnings from Revere, Dawes and Prescott
April 19, 1775: 70 militia on Lexington
Village Green-The “shot heard around the
world”—8 minutemen killed; 9 wounded.
One Redcoat injured.
The Road to Revolution
British then continued on to
Concord--found arsenal empty.
Heading back to Boston, 3,000-4,000
minutemen fired on British from behind
stone walls and trees.
Numerous British casualties—the beginning
of the American Revolution.