American Life &
Colonial Society to the
Eve of the Revolution
AP Chapters 4 & 5
The Tobacco Economy
Indentured Servitude
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Working for “Freedom Dues”
 A few barrels of corn
 New suit of clothes
 Small piece of land
Headright System
 Pay the passage of a
laborer & get 50 acres
 Wealthy amassed huge
landholdings
Frustrated Freedmen
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Land becomes scarcer
Can’t find a wife
Bacon’s
Rebellion - 1676
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1,000 Freedmen…
Put down an Indian
Revolt, torched
Jamestown & chased
Gov. William Berkeley
out of town…
**Wealthy planters begin
to fear large numbers of
landless freedmen**
Colonial Slavery
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African coastal tribes
captured and sold slaves
to merchants
More than 20% would die
on the “Middle
Passage”…
Harsh slave codes
passed…
A few slaves eventually
become slaveholders
themselves…
Slave Culture
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Gullah
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Goober
Voodoo
Music & Dances
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Banjo
Bongo Drums
The New England Family
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Life expectancy – 70 years…
Women marry at 20 – have
babies about every 2 years….
Strong families, grandparents
take a role…
Divorce extremely rare
Education important
 Towns with 50+…
 Old Deluder Satan Laws
Harvard, 1636
Half-Way Covenant
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Population grows but
church membership
declines…
Half-Way Covenant
admitted to baptism (but
not communion)
unconverted children of
existing members
Weakens strict Puritan
practices
“Praying Towns”
Salem Witch Trials 1692
New England
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Poor Soil, cold
climate ….
Diversified agriculture
and industry…
“Yankee Ingenuity”…
“Puritan Work
Ethic”…
Colonial Growth
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1700: 20 Englishmen
per colonist…
1775: 3 Englishmen
per colonist…
Largest non-English
colonial group was
African – 20% of the
population in 1775
Germans (Deutsch) 6% of pop in 1775
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Variety of
Protestant sects
(mostly
Lutheran)…
Fled wars,
religious
oppression…
No loyalty to
British
Scots-Irish: 7% of population in 1775
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Predominantly
Presbyterian…
“Pugnacious, lawless,
and individualistic”…
Whiskey distilling
frontiersmen…
Paxton Boys…
Regulators in NC…
No loyalty to British
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12 future presidents..
Other Groups:
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French Huguenots
Welsh
Dutch
Swedes
Jews
Irish
Swiss
No loyalty to British
“Melting Pot”…
5% of population in 1775
Religion in the Colonies
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Church of England (Anglican
Church) official in:
 GA, SC, NC, VA, parts of
NY
Congregational Church
(Puritanism) official in:
 All of New England except
RI
Roman Catholics were
discriminated against…
General feeling of Religious
Toleration especially in Middle
Colonies…
Great Awakening
Jonathan Edwards
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Preached that
salvation could not be
achieved by good
works, only through
God’s grace…
“Sinners in the Hands
of an Angry God”
George Whitefield
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Electrifying Orator
Appealed to emotions
Countless sinners
would “holler” and
express conversion at
many revival
meetings…
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“Old Lights”
 Orthodox clergymen who
were skeptical of the
emotionalism of the Great
Awakening
“New Lights”
 Defended the Awakening
and the revitalizing of
religion
Congregationalists…
 Began a steady decline…
Colonial Literature & the Press
Benjamin
Franklin
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Poor Richard’s
Almanack
Many famous
sayings:
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“A penny saved is a
penny earned”
“Honesty is the best
policy”
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Also a first rate
scientist/inventor
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Electricity
Bifocals
Franklin Stove
Lightening Rod
Zenger Trial
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Peter Zenger, NY
newspaper editor
Critical of the Royal
Governor
Defended by Alexander
Hamilton
Found Not Guilty
***Establishes the
precedent of a free press
Comparing the
Colonies
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Charter Colonies
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Proprietary Colonies
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CT & RI
MD, PA, & DE
Royal Colonies
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The remaining 8