Chapter 3
The Colonial Population
 The colonial population in the 1700s increased rapidly due to the large
families that people were having and to the large numbers of
immigrants arriving in the colonies.
 Colonists often suffered from a variety of diseases. Cotton Mather
conducted a successful experimental treatment to prevent smallpox by
inoculating people against the disease.
 A large group of German immigrants arrived in Pennsylvania looking
for religious freedom. These immigrants became known as the
Pennsylvania Dutch, and many became prosperous farmers.
Population Boom
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1700-300,000 by 1775 2.5 million
Colonists double numbers every 25 years.
Average age was 16 (Youthful) Consequences?
Political 20 English to every colonist 1700, by
1775 3-1.
 Bulk of population east of the Alleghenies.
 Populous colonies Virginia, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Maryland.
Population:
Ethnic &
Racial
Diversity
Indentured Servitude
 Owners would pay their passage to the new
world and earn Freedom dues.
 Freedom dues- includes barrels or corn, a
set of clothes, and a small parcel of land.
 Head-right system: Who ever paid the
passage of a laborer would receive 50 acres
of land. Opportunity for the elite to gain
more land. People that came to dominate
the region.
 Region brought 100,000 servants over by
1700.
Bacon’s Rebellion
 Prime land became scarce leaving indentured
servants with little to accumulate.
 Even after freed of servitude little opportunity was
left for them.
 Single young men frustrated with situations of
finding land and marriage.
 29 year old planter Nathaniel Bacon led 1000
Virginians in a revolt.
 Upset at William Berkley for not providing
protection against Indian raids.
Bacon’s Rebellion continued…
 Bacon attacks Native Americans friendly and
hostile.
 Chased Berkley out of Jamestown.
 Torched the Capital.
 Bacon died of disease which suddenly ended the
rebellion. Berkley is able to crush the remaining
rebels.
 Scene looks bad in England. Charles II is
unhappy at how Berkley handles it.
 Bacon ignited resentments of landless servants.
Population
Growth
Birth and Death
 Chesapeake
 1 in 4 children died
 Half die before age 20
 1/3 of all marriages +
10 years
 Bad water
 Malaria
 40 years for men
 < 40 for women
 New England
VS.
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Same
Disease free
“cleaner” water
Pop. quadrupled
from 1650- 1700
 71 for men
 70 for women
Chesapeake Women
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17th Century
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High female mortality rate
Women who lived through child birth averaged 8
children apiece (3 live)
# of women low= more latitude for women in
choosing husbands
18th Century
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Life expectancy increases – “seasoning”
Indentured servitude on decline
Sex ratio more equal
Patriarchal
New England
 Lower death rates= stronger family
structure
 More parental control for longer
 Puritan ideals valued women as wife and
mother
 But reinforced male superiority
New England Family
 Better Quality of Life. Cleaner water, less
disease. Add to life expectancy (70).
 Established Families. Natural reproduction, Early
marriages (arranged), large families, danger of
dying in childbirth.
 Family stability-children nurturing environment.
Grandparents.
New England towns
 Tight nit society of small villages and farms.
 Puritans unity for a purpose (Church).
 New towns legally chartered, proprietors moved
themselves and families to designated spots and
create a meetinghouse, surrounded by houses, a
village green.
 More than 50 families required a school.
 Harvard college created in 1636 (oldest college in
U.S.)
Slavery’s Beginning
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Portuguese-Dutch-English
Responsible for the forced immigration of as many
as 11 million Africans
95% of Africans first spent time in the West Indies
1700-1760 the number of Africans in colonies
increased x10
By 18th century, rigid distinction between black
and white
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White servants freed, black servants not
$ incentive to keep slaves and sell children
Idea of subordinating a race, not uncommon to
English: Irish and Natives
Slavery
 Bacon’s rebellion has landowners looking for
another source of laborers less troublesome.
 Some 10 million Africans were brought to the new
world. Only about 400,000 of them to N.
America.
 1680’s wages in England increase and fear of
mutinous servants increase.
 Royal African Charter loses its charter in 1672
which leads to rush in slave trade among others.
Rhode Island
Slavery continued…
 Most slaves came from W. Africa.
 Captured by African costal tribes, traded to
markets on the coast, put onto ships, 20%
death rates, brought to auction blocks.
 Early slave codes made blacks and their
children property.
Changing Population
 By Late 17th century
 Non-native population outnumbered native
population
 English immigration declined, but others started
coming…
Ethnic Mix
 Germans made up 6%. Mainly in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Dutch-Error
 Protestant (Lutheran) 1/3 of colony’s pop.
 Clung to their language and heritage.
 Scots-Irish 7% of Pop.
 Lived in Westward frontiers
 Ready for violence, secrets of whiskey, no love for
British government.
 Paxton Boys march on Philadelphia. Protest
Quaker policy with Indians.
continued
 5% consisted of other European groups including
the French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes,
Jews, Irish, Swiss, and Scots Highlanders.
 Largest Non-European group was the Africans.
 South held most slaves (Racial Composition) and
Mass. Least amount of diversity.
 New multi culture groups established as they
intermarried.
*Structure of Colonial Society
 No titled Nobility. Most white Americans
were small farmers.
 Cities small classed artisans.
 Opportunity to rise from lower class to
upper more possible than anywhere else.
 Beginning to show signs of barriers by the
eve of the Revolution.
 Merchants began profiting from the conflicts of
the 1690’s and 1700’s.
 Imported clothing, dined tables, china, and
silverware.
 1750’s 10% owned 2/3 of the taxable wealth in
Boston & Philadelphia.
 New England size farms begin to shrink. Why?
 Many in New England became wage laborers or
sought land beyond the Alleghenies.
Professions
 Most honored was the Ministry. Not as strong as
early Puritans but still prestige.
 Physicians poorly trained and less prestige.
Apprentice and then turned loose on victims.
“Bleeding” was a popular remedy.
 Epidemics were common including smallpox and
diphtheria.
 Law was not favorable at first. Most disputes in
court were presented by people themselves.
People regarded them as “Noisy windbags”
Workday
 Agriculture led the way. (90%), Tobacco in South,
Grain in Middle (Breadbasket)
 Fishing was pursued in all colonies. Shiploads of
cod sent to Catholic countries.
 Stimulated shipbuilding
 Increase in commerce, enriches all the colonies.
 Good merchants- trade in Caribbean(sugars for
timber and food) England (Spanish oranges and
wine, gold, for industrial goods) all sold for profit
back home.
Rise in Colonial Commerce
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Amazing that colonies survived
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Trans-Atlantic trade
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lack of currency
harsh laws from Parliament
N. American products
W. Indies products
African products
From trade an elite merchant class
emerged
Triangular Trade
 From America go to Africa with rum. Load
up on slaves for the rum and head to the
West Indies, trade slaves for molasses to be
brought back to N. America to be distilled
into rum.
The Rise of the American Merchant, 1750
Strains in trade
 Population demands more British goods.
Slow growing England reached saturation
 Trade with French W. Indies becomes
important to buy goods. Molassess Act of
1733 stops that trade. Reaction=Bribe and
smuggle. (Foreshadowing)
South
North
 Chesapeake Tobacco
 Overproduction lowered cost
 By 1700 plantations with 12+
slaves were common
 SC + Georgia Rice
 Mud/swamps/heat/insects
 Africans better laborers than
whites
 Stronger, less likely sick,
handle heat
 SC Indigo
 Overall:
 Dependence on cash crops =
limited urban centers
 N. England
 Diverse agriculture =
commercial sector
 Small scale/just for family
 NY/Penn/Conn
VS
 German immigrants
 Improved farming
 Women worked with men
 Everyone had a craft
 Candles, carpentry, weaving,
soap
 A good to trade and
sell…this developed into
tradesmen and urban
centers
 Natural resources: lumbering,
mining, and fishing
 1764 Hasenclever Iron
Factory in NJ
Patterns of Society
 The Plantation (South)
 Most were relatively small estates
 Far from cities or towns
 Plantation Slavery
 Smaller farms less social separation
 By mid 18th century over ¾ slaves on plantations of at
least ten slaves
 Almost half of all slaves lived in communities of 50
slaves or more
Stono Rebellion 1739
 100 Africans rose up and seized weapons
and killed several whites.
 They attempted to escape to Florida, but the
uprising was quickly put down and most of
the Africans were put to death.
Patterns of Society Cont’d
 The Puritan Community (North)
 Town structure as opposed to farm/plantation
 All new colonies had a “covenant”- religious tie
 Tightly knit communities
 The Witchcraft Phenomenon
 Events
 1680s-1690s Salem, MA (most famous, but not only one)
 Why?
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Women with power, land accused
Others in low social position
Most were middle aged and widowed with few or no children
Puritan society had little tolerance to “independent” and “deviant”
women
Salem Witch Trials
 Younger woman claim certain older woman
bewitched them.
 Witch hunt- 1692, legal lynching of 20 and two
dogs.
 Witch hunts often directed at property owning
woman.
 Possible social and religious issues part of the key.
 Ended when governor’s wife is accused
Patterns of Society Cont’d
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Cities
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1770s two largest ports
New York 25,000
Philadelphia 28,000
Boston 16,000
visible difference between rich and poor
Dominant Denominations
 Anglican Church found in the south
Congreational in New England.
 Both tax supported
 Anglican-shorter sermons, faith was less
fierce. Clergy reputation poor leads to
College of William and Mary in 1693.
 Congregational- grown form puritan
established in New England.
The Colonial Mind
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Pattern of Religions
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Anglicanism, all supporters to be taxed to
support the church
Puritans saw Catholics as “agents of the
Devil”
The Decline of Piety
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Denominationalism: with so many diverse
sects, which one is right?
Puritan attendance was actually very high
The Great Awakening
Religion was less dramatic in the 18th century
compared to the 17th. Feeling churchgoers were
going “soft”.
Religious revival: 1730’s and 40’s
1st in Northhampton, Massachusetts by John
Edwards. Good works would not suffice and you
needed complete dependence on God’s grace.
Painted detail picture of hell and the eternal.
Style was learned and closely reasoned.
 The Great Awakening
 Target: women and third of fourth generation
sons
 not change/rebellion but rather salvation
 John and Charles Wesley
 George Whitfield
 Jonathan Edwards
 George Whitefield in 1738.
 Great orator.
 Toured the colonies with message of human
helplessness and God’s ultimate power.
 During these revivals countless “sinners” had
conversions and hundreds rejoiced in their
salvation.
 Soon inspired imitators.
 Caused divisions among the Church’s in their
practices that were created.
The Colonial Mind Cont’d
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The Enlightenment
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Reason, logic, and science as divine
need not turn to God for guidance, rather human
moral sense
Locke, Spinoza, Descartes, Voltaire  Jefferson,
Franklin, Madison
Education
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1647 law required every town in Mass. to support a
public school
Indians and Blacks remained largely outside of the
system
Harvard, William and Mary, Yale and Princeton
Continued…
 It undermined the old clergy whose authority was
education and erudition.
 The schisms caused many new churches and new
competition.
 Fresh wave of missionary works with Indians and
slaves.
 Led to “new light” centers of learning such as
Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth.
 Broke down sectional boundaries between people.
Education
 Puritans pushed education because of need to read
the bible. Make “Good Christians”
 Mostly for boys. New England primary and
secondary schools.
 Middle and Southern colonies had some tax
supported schools but many were private.
 Emphasis on religion and classical languages.
 College in New England geared towards Ministry.
 South sent many to England for college. Why?
Press
 40 colonial newspapers at the time of the
Revolution.
 John Peter Zenger case. Went after the royal
governor.
 Charged with libel and sedition.
 Zenger claims the truth. Courts instructed the jury
to disregard wether it was the truth but judge him
on the mere fact he printed it.
 Jurors found him not guilty. Banner achievement
for freedom of the press.
Politics
 Most colonies had a royal governor and a two
house legislature. Upper house by crown and
lower by the people.
 Assemblies found various ways to assert authority.
Withhold governor’s pay.
 County governments in the south and town
meetings in new england.
 Most colonies had property or religious rights
attached to voting.