Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution 1700-1775 THEME: Compared with its 17th Century counterpart, 18th Century colonial society became more complex and hierarchical, more ethnically and religiously diverse, and more economically and politically developed. Colonial culture, while still limited, took on distinctive American qualities in such areas as evangelical religion, education, freedom of the press and self-government.

English : Colonials 1700 - 20:1 1775 - 3:1 2.5 million people in 13 colonies 90% pop. is rural VA, MA, PA, NC, MD are most populous 6% are Germans 7% Scots-Irish 20% African ???? Native American Middle Colonies most multi-ethnic

What were the characteristics of New England society? Class? Race? Education? Professions? Patterns of Settlement? Family Life?

Immigrant Families and New Social Order Puritans believed God ordained the family Reproduced patriarchal English family in New England Huge population growth caused by high life expectancy more than high fertility Greater longevity in New England resulted in “invention” of grandparents Multigenerational families strengthened social stability 3

Distribution of European and African Immigrants in the Thirteen Colonies

Social Hierarchy in New England Absence of very rich necessitated creation of new social order Half-Way Covenant evolves in 2nd Generation New England social order: Local gentry of prominent, pious families Large population of independent yeomen landowners loyal to local community Small population of landless laborers, servants, poor 6

Commonwealth of Families Church membership associated with certain families and church activities increasingly reflected that Membership defined by the “elect” Development of the “Half-Way Covenant” (p. 57) Education provided by the family 4

Women’s Lives in Puritan New England Women’s roles Farm labor, although not necessarily same tasks as men Often outnumbered men 2:1 in church membership Women could not control property Divorce difficult for a woman to obtain Both genders accommodated themselves to roles they believed God ordained 5

Professions 90% people are involved in farming Ministers Fisherman Sailors Merchants Manufacturing Few doctors Few lawyers

Chesap. Family Life at Risk Normal family life impossible in Virginia Mostly young male indentured servants Most immigrants soon died In marriages, one spouse often died within seven years Extended families common Mortality rates so high that without immigration, population would have declined 8

Women in Chesapeake Society Scarcity gave some women bargaining power in marriage market Female indentured servants vulnerable to sexual exploitation Childbearing extremely dangerous Chesapeake women died twenty years earlier than women in New England 9

The Structure of Planter Society: A Dispersed Population Large-scale tobacco cultivation required: Great landholdings Ready access to water-borne commerce Result: population dispersed along great tidal rivers Virginia a rural society devoid of towns Education system was seen as unnecessary and got little attention 11

SOCIAL HIERARCHY

Race and Freedom in British America Indians decimated by disease European indentured servant pool waned after 1660 Enslaved Africans filled demand for labor TIPPING POINT: BACON’S REBELLION in Virginia 1676 12

Roots of Slavery First Africans came to Virginia in 1619 Status of Africans in Virginia unclear for 50 yrs. Rising black population after 1672 prompted stricter slave laws Africans defined as slaves for life Slave status passed on to children White masters possessed total control of slave life and labor Mixing of races not tolerated 13

Origins and Destinations of African Slaves, 1619–1760

Agricultural South

American Life in the Seventeenth Century 1607-1692 THEME: In the Chesapeake region, 17th Century colonial society was characterized by disease-shortened lives, weak family life and a social hierarchy that included hardworking planters at the top and restless poor whites and black slaves at the bottom. By contrast, early New England life was characterized by healthy, extended life spans, strong family life, closely knit towns and churches, and a demanding economic and moral environment.

Olududah Equiano The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined together it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck, and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs. Every circumstance I met with served only to render my state more painful, and heighten my apprehensions and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites.

One day they had taken a number of fishes, and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on the deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity when they thought no one saw them of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings. One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea: immediately another quite dejected fellow, who on account of his illness was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same if they had not been prevented by the ship's crew, who were instantly alarmed. Those of us that were the most active were in a moment put down under the deck, and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people of the ship as I never heard before, to stop her and get the boat out to go after the slaves. However two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other and afterwards flogged him unmercifully for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery. In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now relate, hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade.

Slave ship Slave ship This plan graphically depicts the crowded, unsanitary conditions under which enslaved Africans were packed like cargo and transported across the Atlantic. (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Map: The Settlements of the Lower South This map shows the towns and fortifications of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, as well as the overlapping claims by the Spanish and the English to the territory south and west of Fort King George. The many Georgia forts reflect that colony's role as a buffer state between rice-rich South Carolina and the Spanish troops stationed in Florida.

Characteristics of the South Cash Crops: Tobacco, Cotton, Indigo, Rice Rural society, along rivers Plantations largely self-sufficient Prosperous from cash crops Women are second-class citizens Scarcity of Women Few Settlers & high mortality rates.S. attitudes toward women Slavery entrenched in Southern economy New African-American culture Slaves out # whites  Stono Rebellion, 1739, Charleston, Carolina

Slavery in the Colonies 10 million slaves come to the colonies in 300 years Fatality rates 20% or higher during “Middle Passage” By mid 1680’s slaves outnumber indentured servants Slaves eventually outnumber whites in Carolinas and deep South In South and in the Chesapeake region a new culture emerges as slaves become Af.-Americans in music, religion and language 1739 Stono revolt in SC 1740’s slave imports slow

COMPARE/CONTRAST NORTHERN MIDDLE SOUTHERN Puritan Religious Freedom Farm & Industry Small Farms Protestant Ethic Slow, but Growing Conflict w/Indians Healthy Climate Exceptions- RI Quaker Rel. Toleration Farms Democratic/Tolerant Good Rel.w/Indian Chesapeake Malarial Exceptions - MD Catholic/Misc. Royal Colonies Cash Crops Plantations Slavery Buffer States/ Punitive Wars Malarial Climate Exceptions- NC

COMPARE/CONTRAST NORTHERN MIDDLE SOUTHERN Puritan Religious Freedom Farm & Industry Small Farms Slow, but Growing Conflict w/Indians Good Climate Quaker Rel. Toleration Farms Democratic Tolerant Good Rel.w/Indian Malaria in Chesap. Catholic/Misc. Economic Cash Crops Plantations Slavery Buffer State Punitive Wars Malarial

When, Why, and How did the various English settlements in the new world come to be controlled by England?

Keeping the colonies under England’s economic and political control PROBLEM: Keeping the colonies under England’s economic and political control England’s Solutions: 1650- Parliament passes Navigation Acts to regulate colonial trade 2. 1686- James II merged northern colonies and disbanded their local assemblies After 1688 - Parliament strengthened the Navigation Acts by creating Board of Trade and moving trials to Admiralty Courts

MERCANTILISM Wealth = Power More Wealth  More Power Export Revenue $ > Import Expenses Colonies Provide: Supplies of Raw Materials A Market for Finished Goods

KEY IDEA America existed to serve the interests of England America was a MEANS to English ENDS

Raw Materials England Colonies Currency Finished Products

http://members.tripod.com/lylesj/trade/tritrade.html

Mercantilist Controls on Trade Navigation Laws, 1650 = only English ships may trade with the colonies Trade with Europe must first pass through England Certain products could only be made in England Currency was restricted – produced primarily in England “Royal Veto” used against colonial assemblies Royal Governor, ESPECIALLY Sir Edmund Andros

Dominion of New England 3 EFFECT: Trade imbalance in Colonies CAUSE: Increased Competition in Europe 2 EFFECT: Mercantilism Dominion of New England Glorious Revolution 4 EFFECT Colonial Smuggling Royal Crackdown 6 EFFECT Colonial Self-Government 5 EFFECT Salutary Neglect

Salutary Neglect AKA Benign Neglect Stricter regulations on trade not enforced AS LONG AS trade imbalance continued Colonies controlled by Royal Governors BUT local assemblies used “power of the purse”

INTENTION/ CAUSE ECONOMIC CONTROL OF COLONIES UNINTENDED EFFECT UNIFY THE COLONIES

PROS & CONS of Mercantilism Stifled American economic initiative Southern Colonies favored over Northern Cash Crop prices set by English Merchants Gouging Colonies were dependent on England Not equal partners Currency Depreciation PROS England paid bounties on shipping industry =government subsidies American had a monopoly on Tobacco America was not taxed to support the English Army or Navy Americans generally. better off than English

What were the effects of the Glorious Revolution? In Virginia? In the Bay Colony? In New York? In Maryland? Bacon’s Rebellion Dominion of New England Salem Witch Trials Leisler’s Rebellion Coode’s Rebellion

What happened? Why? What is its historical significance? Salem Witch “Trial” What happened? Why? What is its historical significance?