PRE-REVOLUTION AMERICA U.S. HISTORY JONES COLLEGE PREP

THE GREAT AWAKENING  A religious movement which resulted in the rebellion against an authoritarian religion *MAJOR PLAYER: George Whitfield preacher from England who moves to colonies and declares “All who are here [heaven] are Christians” –the ideas it produced opposed the notion of a single truth or a single church –God’s will is not interpreted by the monarch, but rather by the colonists themselves –Resulted in cultural and political repercussions as well. –Aided in development a “national consciousness” which unified people across races, religions, and classes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF GREAT AWAKENING –UNIFIED COLONISTS –PROMPTED THE BEGINNING OF SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE –RESULTED IN THE RISE OF EDUCATION –RISE IN INDIVIDUALISM

EDUCATION  Schooling becomes a priority among settlers, especially New England –Harvard founded in 1636: males went to learn to serve as ministers, lawyers, judges, governors, and simply to become well educated –Females were limited in their studies. Most learned household duties  Women could not hold office or vote, but were responsible for much of the household work, and took over farms when husbands died.

ENGLAND’S CONTROL OVER AMERICA  England utilizes mercantilism in order to hold political and economic control over the colonies –IRON ACTS- passed in 1750 by English Parliament in order to limit the production and trade of iron goods. –NAVIGATION ACTS  A constant flux in the English rulers makes this policy difficult to maintain –Period of Salutary neglect: battles with France took attention away from colonies – pics/navacts.htm

NAVIGATION ACTS  1650 and 1651 forbade the importation into England of all goods except in English ships or ships owned by the producing country, eliminating third party carriers.  1660 forbade the importing into or the exporting from the British colonies of any goods except in English or colonial ships (with ¾ of the crew British) and it forbade certain colonial articles such as sugar, tobacco, wool and cotton from being shipped to any country except to England or some English plantation in order to keep them from competitors  1660s and 1670s acts were also designed to tighten enforcement, as patrolling the lengthy coastline of America with its many bays and rivers was extremely difficult and costly. The net result was that the navigation acts, while rigorous on paper, were very loosely enforced and the colonists with became habitual offenders and smugglers.  1675 King Charles the second designated certain Privy Councilors as “Lords of Trade and Plantations” in order to make colonial trade more profitable. From then until 1696 the Lords of Trade handled most colonial matters.  1696 navigation act confined all colonial trade to English built ships and tried once again to toughen enforcement procedures in order to collect duties. In addition it voided this all colonial laws passed in opposition to the navigation acts, and the act created the Board Of Commissioners for Trade And Plantations. The Board's 15 members provided centralized control of colonial affairs.

NATURAL RESOURCES  Use of land brings profit to many new colonists –Plantations and Farms built on fertile soil. Motivated many people from less prosperous lands to settle (Think: Ohio Company)  Main cause for the expansion of slave trade  America became known for its resources such as fish, livestock, flour, and lumber