The Mosaic of 18 th Century America

Main Issues Forces of Division Slave Societies in the 18 th c. South Enlightenment and Awakening in America Anglo-American Worlds of the 18 th c. Towards the Seven Years War

Forces of Division English colonists were angry at French empire & trade with Indians British colonists were too divided to create a coordinated resistance Immigration altered colonies Regional differences divided colonists “Frontier” conflicts with Indians

Immigration & Social Tensions 1700: 290,000 colonists 1750: 1.5 million colonists High birth rates, low mortality Death rate 20% lower than BR Land, crops, trading No large famines

The Scots-Irish Scotland/Ireland Indentured servants ◦Convicts and dissenters Push-pull factors Community culture ◦Carolinas

German Immigration Push-pull factors ◦Land loss ◦Pennsylvania ◦Farming Convicts and dissenters ◦Poor ◦Disenfranchised

Immigration Patterns by 1760 Urban diversity and stratification Faster in South Squatting in the “backcountry” Chain migration Religious differences Regionalism Native lands Becoming white, and American

(Palatinate = Southern Germany) “Why should the Palatinate Boors be suffered to swarm into our settlements, and by herding together establish their languages and manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our customs, any more than they can acquire our complexion?

Frontier Conflicts Immigrants and the poor moved west for cheap land Confrontations with Indians ◦Penn, 1763: Irish Paxton Boys killed Indians ◦Carolinas, 1760s: Regulators were vigilantes acting in a legal vacuum, class tensions Colonial boundary disputes ◦New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, 1760s: Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys were vigilantes settling border differences

Slavery in the 1700s By 1775 approx. 25% of people in colonies were slaves, nearly all lived in the South Distinct and separate society in the South, but more interaction in the North Slave codes and laws, combined with cultural differences and the demand for labor created the idea of a black race fit only for slavery An “American problem” not just Southern

Slave Life and Survival Cultures, languages and religious from Africa persisted in the colonies Families struggled to maintain sense of normality Extended kin and fictive kin Families on large plantations faced possibility of sale at auctions Marriages were not recognized as legal Illegal to teach them to read or write Owners feared teaching them Christianity

Slave Resistance Natchez Revolt of 1729 Stono Rebellion 1739 South Carolina Angola Dozens killed Increased fear and oppression Maroon communities

The Enlightenment Late 17 th century Science & philosophy ◦Natural laws ◦Rationality & reason ◦Improve mankind Elites & wealthy Impacted politics & government John Locke

Great Awakening, 1720s-60s Religious Revivalism Reaction to Puritanism Whitefield ◦Tent gatherings ◦Mass conversions “New Lights” ◦Converts ◦Anti-authoritarian Democratic and Populist Tendencies Diversity

Anglo-American Worlds Politics, Government & Economy British Liberal Monarchy ◦“Balanced Constitution” ◦“Benign Neglect” Representation ◦Virtual vs. Actual ◦Colonial governors Political Contentment thru 1740s Mercantilism, industry, urbanization Strong and regulated control over colonial economies

British Colonies in the 1750s Great Diversity ◦No unified colonial identity Immigration and regionalism ◦Slavery, ethnicity, religion, economic differences Frontier conflicts over land & borders Imperial tensions Enlightenment and Great Awakening “Benign neglect” and Representation