1. The American Colonies in the 1700’s and Mercantilism AP US -Hamer Unit 2

2. Growing Population  More by birth rate then immigration  1700: 300,000 people (20,000 black slaves)  1775: 2.5 million people (400,000 white immigrants, 500,000 black slaves)  Average age in 1775 was 16

3. Urban vs. Rural  Few major cities  Philadelphia (34,000), NYC, Boston, and Charleston  90% of population lived in rural areas  Didn’t reach much past the Appalachians Philadelphia in 1800

4. Diversity  Mainly English but more diverse than anywhere else  German 6%  Scots Irish 7%  Others 5%  Africans 20%  Americans became a new ethnicity

5. American Social Ladder  More stratified in the 1700’s than the 1600’s  Top few were very wealthy (planters and merchants)  Mostly middle  Artisans  Shopkeepers  Farmers  Workers (Labor or servants)  Some destitute women and children  Land became scarcer  Convicts from England  Slaves  Less stratified than Europe + ability to progress up the social ladder

6. Jobs of the 1700’s  Clergy  Physicians  Lawyers  Agriculture - 90% of the people  Shipbuilding and fishing  Manufacturing

7. Transportation in the Colonies  Terrible roads - these were improving in the 1700’s though  Waterways  Caused the slow dissemination of news  Taverns found along travel routes  Became the place to get news and share ideas  Mail existed, but not confidential or quick

8. Religion in the 1700’s  Congregationalists (This is the new word for Puritans) and Presbyterians made up half of all church members in 1775  Anglicans were 1/4  Congregationalism, Presbyterianism, and Rebellion became a Holy Trinity

9. Education  Public education was not a priority in England  New England soon wanted public education so that they could have educated, Bible reading citizens  Massachusetts School Law (and soon other New England colonies) required a school teacher for every town with more than 50 families  Not much schooling in the south because of distance between homes – relied more on tutors  Colleges at the time were to train ministers and learn old, dogmatic education  What does it mean to have an educated citizenship – how will this affect the Revolution?

10. Culture  Very little in America since people were working so hard to build a country  Ben Franklin was the first “civilized” American  The few scientists, like Franklin, were not approved of by clergy

11. Press  Not many libraries or individual ownership of books  Franklin started the first public lending library in Philadelphia  By 1775, 40 colonial newspapers  News was slow  Zenger case, argued by Hamilton, allowed for more freedom of the press and therefore more discussion about life and politics

12. Colonial Folkways  Hard life  Dirty  Some time for play  Dancing and plays allowed in South (away from Puritans!)  Many similarities  Some democracy, ethnic and religious toleration, spoke English, mainly Protestant, used to independence

13. Mercantilism  What is it?  Economic system where the mother country is supposed to profit from her colonies.  Colonies supply raw materials to only the mother country  Colonies also provide markets for the manufactured goods from the mother country (and only the mother country)  Wealth for the mother country is measured in bullion

14. Early Mercantilism  American colonies could not produce manufactured goods  Woolen Act 1699 – No manufacturing of textiles  Hat Act 1732 – No manufacturing of hats  Iron Act 1750 – No manufacturing of iron products

15. Growing Problems with Trade  Trade Imbalance  Growing American population demanded more British goods  Slow growing British population quickly got saturated with American goods  America had no bullion left (it all went to England)  American colonies shipped to other countries  Also began to buy from other countries

16. Tightening the Mercantilist System  Molasses Act of 1733  Created by England to get the colonists to stop buying cheaper French Caribbean molasses to make rum  Parliament would not end the act in spite of colonial pleas  Colonists got around this with smuggling…this will lead the tone for future conflicts