COLONIAL SOCIETY: Family, Social Order, and Religion

Sources of Stability: New England Colonies of the Seventeenth Century New Englanders replicated traditional English social order Contrasted with experience in other English colonies Explanation lies in development of Puritan families 2

Immigrant Families and New Social Order Puritans believed God ordained the family to prevent temptation outside the family Reproduce patriarchal English family structure in New England Greater longevity in New England results in “invention” of grandparents Multigenerational families strengthen social stability 3

Commonwealth of Families Most New Englanders married neighbors of whom parents approved; chose “godly” partners Education provided by the family Towns of families, not of individuals New England families did not need indentured servants 4

Women’s Lives in Puritan New England Women not legally equal with men Marriages based on mutual love Most Women contributed to society as wives and mothers church members small-scale farmers Women accommodated themselves to roles they believed God ordained 5

Women’s Roles Women cooked, washed, made clothes, milked the cows, and gardened day in and day out “deputy husbands” – there was both dependency and independence

Social Hierarchy in New England Absence of very rich necessitates creation of new social order (neither rich nor poor) New England social order becomes -leader not based on wealth but other criteria - much greater social mobility than in England 6

The Challenge of the Chesapeake Environment Imbalanced sex ratio among immigrants High death rate Scattered population 7

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 a decade Serial marriages, extended families common Orphaned children raised by strangers 8

Women in Chesapeake Society Scarcity gives some women bargaining power in marriage market Women without family protection vulnerable to sexual exploitation Childbearing extremely dangerous Chesapeake women died 20 years earlier than women in New England 9

The Structure of Planter Society: The Gentry Tobacco the basis of Chesapeake wealth Early gentry become stable ruling elite by 1700 10

The Structure of Planter Society: The Freemen The largest class in Chesapeake society Most freed at the end of indenture Live on the edge of poverty

The Structure of Planter Society: Indentured Servants Servitude a temporary status Conditions harsh Servants regard their bondage as slavery

The Structure of Planter Society: Post-1680s Stability Gentry ranks open to people with capital before 1680, no matter reputation or social standing Demographic shift (life expectancy increased)after 1680 creates creole(born in America) elite Shift adds stability/legitimacy to colony Ownership of slaves consolidates planter wealth and position Freemen find advancement more difficult

The Structure of Planter Society: A Dispersed Population Large-scale tobacco cultivation requires great landholdings ready access to water-borne commerce Result: population dispersed along great tidal rivers Virginia a rural society devoid of towns Dispersion results in lack of institutions, like schools 11

Rise of a Commercial Empire English leaders ignore colonies until 1650s (Salutary Neglect) Navigation Acts passed to regulate, protect, glean revenue from commerce 17

Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1660 Most important law passed by the Crown prior to the American Revolution Ships engage in English colonial trade must be made in England (or America) must carry a crew at least 75% English Enumerated goods only to English ports 1660 list included tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, dyes, ginger Pay tariff at port, England makes money, colonists lose money (initially) 18

Regulating Colonial Trade: The Navigation Act of 1663 Goods shipped to English colonies must pass through England Increased price paid by colonial consumers because colonists had to pay the duties added on in the English port. 19

Results of 1663 Act Encouraged domestic shipbuilding Prohibited European rivals from getting these enumerated goods anywhere else but England

Regulating Colonial Trade: Implementing the Acts New England merchants skirt laws English revisions tighten loopholes – governors now responsible to keep other countries out of ports 1696--Board of Trade created(to enforce) Navigation Acts eventually benefit colonial merchants because 25% of all England’s needs come from American Colonies. 20

Civil War in Virginia: Bacon's Rebellion Nathaniel Bacon leads rebellion, 1676 Rebellion allows small farmers, blacks and women to join, demand reforms Governor William Berkeley regains control Rebellion collapses after Bacon’s death Gentry recovers positions, unite over next decades to oppose royal governors 22

COMMON EXPERIENCES, SEPARATE CULTURES 29

Growth and Diversity 1700-1750 – colonial population rises from 250,000 to over two million Much growth through natural increase Large influx of non-English Europeans, especially African, Scotch-Irish, and Germans