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Colonial Society on the
Eve of Revolution
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Conquest by Cradle
By 1775 Great Britain ruled
32 North American colonies

By 1775 colonial population was
dramatically increasing

2.5 million people in 13
colonies…most people East of
Allegany Mountains

Average age was 16

Rural society…90% were farmers
Territorial Expansion 1775
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A Mingling of Races
Ethnic Diversity

Mostly English people

6 % German (Lutheran / named
erroneously Pennsylvania Dutch)

7% Scots-Irish, many were
squatters past the Allegany
mountains

Scots-Irish became
revolutionaries

Paxton Boys led a march on
Philadelphia to protest “fair”
treatment of Indians
Paxton Boys and Regulators
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Regulators led a march in North Carolina to
protest certain North Carolina “geographic
powers”
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“Americans were
multicultural and
multicolored”
As mentioned, English ,
Scot-Irish, French
Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch,
Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss
and Scots-Highlanders.
African Slaves and Native
Americans also part of
new “American”
Many mixed peoples
In contrast to Europe,
America was a land of
opportunity
Rags to riches could
happen
The Ultimate Rags to Riches Man
+Southern Colonial
Structure
Plantation
owners
• Rich
plantation owners /
many slaves
• Yeoman
farmers / owned
own farms with some slaves
• Landless
whites who owned
no land or were tenant
farmers (some had been
indentures servants)
• Black
and Indian Slaves
Yeoman
farmers
Landless whites
Free blacks
Slaves
Indians
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Clerics, Physicians, and Jurist
Clergy

Clergy were honored in colonial
days
Colonial Physicians

Physicians were not highly trained
but still wielded a great amount of
authority

Bleeding was the most famous
remedy

Smallpox was rampant
(inoculations began in 1721)
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Lawyers
At first lawyers were not
well liked.
Many were self trained.
By 1750 this perception
began to change.
Business contracts grew
so did respect for those
that could interpret legal
documents.
Many lawyers, like John
Adams, defended high
profile accused people
John Adams defended
those British accused in
Boston Massacre
+Workaday America
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Agriculture was the
biggest activity
Fishing and whaling
Triangular Trade
Manufacturing and
secondary industries
Skilled craftsmen
Lumbering for
Britain’s navy was a
big industry
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Triangular Trade
New England 
Africa = Rum
Africa  West Indies
= Slave Trade
(Middle Passage)
West Indies  New
England = Molasses
England and
+ New
England Trade
1730s – America’s booming
population v. England’s slowgrowing population = America
needed to trade with other
countries
Americans traded with other
countries but all trade had to
go through British ports =
British took part of the profit
Molasses Act – aimed at
stopping American trade with
French West Indies
Colonists bribed and
smuggled their way around
the law
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Horsepower and Sail Power

Early taverns
Along with town meetings, “the
cradle of democracy”
Roads were poor and
connected only cities
• Travel by canals and river
boats also occurred
• Inefficient mail system
• Taverns sprang up near
roads to serve weary
travelers and were great
places of gossip and news
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Dominant Denominations
Two established churches of
Anglican and Congregationalist

Anglican Church (Church of
England)

William and Mary established to
train Anglican ministers

Congregationalist churches
evolved from Puritan belief
The Great Awakening

Less religious fervor in colonies set
stage for The First Great
Awakening

Fiery preachers like John Edwards
and George Whitefield gave “fire
and brimstone speeches” to win
new converts to religion
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First religious experience shared
by “Americans” as a collective
whole
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New Lights v. Old Light Ministers
Old Lights
 Orthodox
clergymen
who did not want to
dilute their churches
 Great Awakening
led
to the founding of
“new light” centers
like Brown and
Rutgers.
New Lights
 Traveling
preachers, like
Jonathon
Edwards, with
emotional
sermons
appealing to
human behavior
and God’s fury
+ Schools and
Colleges
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Primarily centered in New
England towns
In dimly lighted one room
school houses children
learned reading, writing ,
arithmetic, rhetoric and
classical languages
Early colleges focused on
training of ministers
First non-denominational
college was the University
of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
+Idle Hands were the
Devil’s Hands
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There was little time for
recreation
Few great artist emerged
until after the War of
1812
Perhaps most influential
colonial work was Ben
Franklin’s Poor Richard’s
Almanac
Ben Franklin also
advanced Science
Architecture ran from log
cabin to red-bricked
Georgian style and later
clapboard style homes
+Pioneer presses
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An early seditious libel
case of John Peter Zenger
who had written against a
royal colonial governor
Defended by lawyer
Alexander Hamilton
Established the precedent
of a free press with a right
to report on political
actions (true statements
are not libelous)
+Great game of
Politics
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Mostly white land owning
males exercised
suffrage…acquiring land
easier in America than
elsewhere
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Town meeting in New
England
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By 1775 most colonies had
royal governors and utilized a
two house legislative body
(upper and lower house)
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The right to self-taxation with
representation was quickly
becoming a cherished belief
+Colonial Folkways
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Few home amenities
Lotteries funded towns,
groups and churches
Amusements existed with
quilting bees , barn
raisings, horse racing,
cock fighting, fox hunting
“Yuletide was fooltide” in
New England
Sun Up to Sun Down work
was the way of the
colonist