Colonial Society Prior to the
American Revolution
Colonial Demographics
• Colonial America, though mostly English, had
other races as well.
• Germans accounted for about 6% of the
population, or about 150,000 people by
1775.
• Most were Protestant (primarily
Lutheran) and were called the
Pennsylvania Dutch.
The Scots-Irish
• The Scots-Irish were about 7% of the
population, with 175,000 people.
• They had been transplanted to Northern
Ireland, over the decades, but did not found a
home there (the already existing Irish
Catholics resented the intruders).
• Many of them reached America and became
squatters, quarreling with both Indians and
white landowners.
Hot Headed Scots-Irish
• In 1764, the Paxton Boys was a vigilante
group that murdered twenty Native
Americans (the Conestoga Massacre)
• They also felt that the Pennsylvania colonial
government was wrong for using tax money
to provide subsistence to the peaceful Indians
living among them
• Continuing their contempt towards perceived
abusive governments, many of the Scots-Irish
became American revolutionists and later
presidents.
Andrew Jackson
Jimmy Carter
Andrew Johnson
George H.W. Bush
Ulysses S. Grant
William Clinton
Theodore Roosevelt George W. Bush
Harry Truman
Barak Obama
John Kennedy
Richard Nixon
• About 5% of the multinational population
consisted of other European groups, like
French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes,
Jews, Irish, Swiss, and Scots Highlanders.
Most with little loyalty to the English crown
• The Congregational Church had much
influence in Northern Colonies
• The Anglican Church (Church of England) had
more support in the Southern colonies and
New York (also more support for the king)
Changing Attitudes
The Enlightenment
• Philosophy that the world
is not governed by
chance or miracles but
fixed mathematical laws.
• People began to apply
experimentation and
reasonable thought to
society and started to
question their
governments
Individualism
• Political philosophy that the individual is the
most important unit of society and that
individuals have rights which come from God
Not a Monarchy.
• John Locke-Two Treatise of Government
(1689) “ Life, Liberty, Health or Possessions”
• Jean Jacques Rousseau- Social Contract (1762)
“Governments exist to protect the rights of the
people”
Social Mobility
• In contrast to
contemporary Europe,
America was a land of
opportunity.
• Anyone who was willing
to work hard could
easily go from rags to
riches, and poverty was
scorned upon.
• Puritan work ethic and
self-determination were
the keys to success
• Colonies has more social mobility than
England because classes are not established as
deeply
• Virginia has landowners, poor farmers, and
slaves.
• Massachusetts Bay is more equal because of
the Puritan Church
• The Southern colonial society was becoming
more socially segmented than the Northern
colonial society
Benjamin Franklin
• Was a noted author,
printer, satirist, political
theorist, politician, post
master, scientist, inventor,
civic activist, statesmen,
and diplomat
• World renowned scientist
discovered lightning as a
form of electrical power.
• Ben Franklin’s Poor
Richard’s Almanac
was very
influential,
containing many
common sayings
and phrases, and
was more widely
read in America
and Europe than
anything except for
the Bible.
The Junto
• Franklin organized a group of friends to
debate questions of morals, politics, and
natural philosophy, and to exchange
knowledge of business affairs
• The members of the Junto were drawn from
diverse occupations and backgrounds, but
they all shared a spirit of inquiry and a desire
to improve themselves, their community, and
to help others.
Freedom of the Press
• John Peter Zenger, a New York newspaper
printer, was charged with seditious libel.
• The judge urged the jury to consider that the
mere fact of publishing was a crime, no
matter whether the content was derogatory
or not.
• Zenger won the case in part to the defense
provided by Andrew Hamilton
• Afterwards, freedom of the press was pretty
much assured in America
The Great Awakening
• Due to less religious fervor than before and
worry that so many people would not be
saved (too materialistic), the stage was set for
a revival: the Great Awakening.
• Jonathan Edwards was a preacher with fiery
preaching methods, emotional moving many
listeners to tears while talking of the eternal
damnation that nonbelievers would face after
death, if they did not form a personal
relationship with God
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
• “That God that holds you over the pit of hell,
much as one holds a spider, or some
loathsome insect over the fire, abhors (hates)
you, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath
towards you burns like fire; He looks upon you
as worthy of nothing else but to cast you in
the fire;….. And yet it is nothing but His hand
that holds you from falling into the fire every
moment” Jonathan Edwards
• George Whitefield was even more convincing
than Edwards
• He even made Jonathan Edwards weep and
persuaded Ben Franklin to empty his pockets
into the collection plate.
• Imitators copied his emotional shaking
sermons and his heaping of blame on sinners.
• These new preachers were met with
skepticism by the “old lights,” or the orthodox
clergymen.
Impact of the Great Awakening
• Brought many colonist into churches,
including Native Americans and African
Americans.
• Caused people to question traditional British
authority and the Anglican Church
• Built many churches in the South that created
a social meeting area for discussion
• Both the Enlightenment and Great Awakening
emphasized the individual.
Advantages
• Founding of “new light” centers like
Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth.
• The Great Awakening led to divisions among
Protestant congregations into New and Old
Light factions
• It increased religious fervor
• The movement helped erode respect for
religious authority by challenging some of the
traditional denominations
• It also promoted democratic concepts,
including a sense of freedom of conscience.
• The Great Awakening was the first religious
experience shared by all Americans as a
history.
Mercantilism
• Focuses on exporting of goods (selling goods
manufactured in the country) in exchange for
gold, silver, or money and limiting number of
imports (goods that are sold in the country
but made elsewhere.) Exports>imports=profit
(gold)
• Prosperity of a nation is dependant on its
supply of capital
• Colonies were expected to supply the mother
country with raw materials and a market for
Triangular Trade
• Three way trading network between Europe,
Africa and the Caribbean and North American
colonies
• A ship would leave New England with rum and
go to the Gold Coast of Africa and trade it for
African slaves. Then, it would go to the West
Indies and exchange the slaves for molasses,
which it’d sell to New England once it
returned there.
The Middle Passage
• Portion of the triangular trade route where
slaves from Africa were transported to the
auction block or sugar plantations of the
Caribbean
• Slaves were tight packed to increase numbers
and profit
• Disease killed many during the journey
• Others were forced to eat to maintain their
weight so they would fetch a higher price at
auction
Trees Cause Tension
• Britain sometimes marked
the tallest trees for its navy
(for ship masts)
• Colonists resented that,
even though there were
countless other good trees
in the area and the marked
tree was going toward a
common defense
• It was the principle
Molasses Act
• Law passed by Parliament in 1733
• Imposed a six pence per gallon tax on molasses
from non-British colonies. It would cripple
American international trade by hindering its
trade with the French West Indies.
• The Act was not passed for the purpose of
raising revenue, but rather to regulate trade by
making British products cheaper than those from
the French West Indies
• Colonists got around it through smuggling.
American Art and Architecture
• John Trumbull of Connecticut was
discouraged, as a youth, by his father.
Battle of Bunker Hill
• Charles Willson Peale,
best know for his
portraits of George
Washington, also ran a
museum, stuffed birds,
and practiced dentistry
in addition to his art.
• Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley had
to go to England to complete their ambitious
careers.
Death of General Wolfe by
West
Portrait of Paul Revere
Copely
• Architecture was largely imported from the
Old World and modified to meet American
needs.
• The log cabin was borrowed form Sweden.
• The red-bricked Georgian style was
introduced in about 1720.
Seeds of Self-Government
• Practically every colony utilized a two-house
legislative body.
• The upper house was appointed by royal
officials or proprietors.
• The lower house was elected by the people.
• Self-taxation with representation came to be
a cherished privilege that Americans came to
cherish above most other rights.
The Fabric of America
• America in 1775 was like a quilt, each part
different and individual in its own way, but all
coming together to form one single, unified
piece.
Colonial Society Quiz
1. Which group of European immigrants was
known for their quick tempers and taking
justice into their own hands against the Native
Americans in Pennsylvania?
2. Which colonial region had stronger religious
ties to the Anglican church resulting in
stronger support for the king of England as
well?
3. What is the name for the intellectual
movement (that started in Europe and spread
to America) that focused on logical thought
and experimentation to explain the social and
political workings of the world?
4. According to individualism, who gives people
natural rights such as life, liberty, and
property?
5. How could a person achieve social mobility in
colonial America?
6. What freedom of expression did the Zenger
trial safeguard?
7. Which Great Awakening minister used fiery
imagery to convince colonists to form a
personal relationship with God in his sermon,
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?
8. According to the economic system of
mercantilism, what were the colonies
supposed to provide to the mother country?
9. What is the name for the portion of the
triangular trade route that transported slaves
from Africa to the Americas?
10. The Molasses Act made it expensive for the
American colonies to import sugar from which
foreign colonies?
11. Which natural resource was a source of
tension between the English colonists and the
English government? Not because the item
was in short supply, it was the principle of
Britain demanding the resource from the
colonies