Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution: Diversity and Social Structure

1. Today’s Agenda09.09.2019 • On my website you will find your Chapter 6 and 7 Historical IDs. • Due to this weeks unusualness your weekly reading quizzes will be take home – don’t get use to this.  • I will post them to my website. Yes, it will still be due on Friday. If you do not turn it in, then it will be a zero. • Bellwork • Topic: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution (Chapter 5)

2. Bellwork09.09.2018 • On your bellwork create a pyramid. Organize the pyramid to indicate the social classes of the colonies. • (Think, which group(s) are at the top, middle, bottom. Remember to be specific. Generalities do not prove you know the information.)

3. Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution1700-1775

4. Conquest by the Cradle • By 1775 Britain controlled 32 colonies in the New World (Canada to West Indies) • 1700 – 20 English Subjects to 1 American Colonist • 1775 – 3 English Subjects to 1 American Colonist • By 1775 most colonist were East of the Alleghenies (Appalachian Mts.) • Some Pioneers were pushing westward into (current day) Tennessee and Kentucky

5. America, a “melting pot”

6. A “Melting Pot” • Germans • 6% of population (150,000) • Early 18th C, PA • Moved to backwoods • Primarily Lutheran • Not loyal to the British Crown • Kept German heritage, language

7. A “Melting Pot” • Scots-Irish • 7% of population (175,000) • Scottish had been exiled to Ireland before emigrating to America • Early 18th C. PA (as squatters), MD, VA, Carolinas • Quick to attack and retaliate against Indians • No loyalty to Britain • Rebelled against colonial gov’t that were controlled by “eastern elites”

8. A “Melting Pot” • Other Ethnic Groups • 5% of population • French Huguenots • Welsh • Dutch • Swedes • Jews • Irish • Swiss • Scot Highlanders • Little to no loyalty to the British • African Slaves • 25% population • Heavily located in the South

9. A “Melting Pot” • While the majority of the population in the 13 colonies was Anglo-Saxon, it was one of the most ethnically diverse population in the world at the time. • The South was mixed black and white (with 90% of all slaves) • The North was primarily Puritan and the least ethnically diverse • The Middle colonies were the most ethnically diverse (PA)

10. Ethnic and Racial diversity by 1790

11. Structure of Colonial Society • America in the 1700s was a land of equality and opportunity (for whites) compared to Europe. • No titled nobility • No poor underclass • Most Americans were “yeoman” (small farmers) who owned their own land, there were small groups of skilled workers and tradespeople in the cities • Hard working colonist could raise their social status, which as impossible in England. • “rags to riches”

12. The Structure of Colonial Society • Wars began to lead to the stratification of American society • Merchants (New England and Middle Colonies) were enriched by war contracts (French and Indian War) • In the South, rich planters held power and riches because of their disproportionate ownership of slaves • Wealth was concentrated among the largest slave owners (by the Civil War this will be roughly 1% of pop.) • Slavery widened the gap between planters and poor whites

13. The Structure of Colonial Society • Some indentured servants continued to America • The poor and convicts from Europe were involuntarily shipped to America • 50,000 were shipped to America from England • Generally stayed in lower classes

14. The Structure of Colonial Society • Black slaves had no equality with whites and no hope of improving their social status • There was real fear in the South that they might rebel • S.C. (1760) tried to ban importation of more slaves, but Britain said “no” because she (Britain) wanted to continue to supply the colonies with cheap labor)

15. Structure of Colonial Society • New social pyramid: • Top: Wealthy merchants, lawyers, clergy, officials joined large planters, aristocrats at top (most respected) • 2nd: Lesser professional men • 3rd: Yeoman (own land) farmers, though farm sizes decreasing due to family increase, lack of new land 4th: Lesser tradesmen, manual workers, hired hands 5th: Indentured servants and “jayle birds,” convicts exiled to America by punitive English justice system 6th: Black slaves – some attempts to halt imports for fear of rebellion

16. Clerics, Physicians, Jurists • Clerics: most respected • Physicians: poorly trained, not well respected, little medical knowledge (bleeding), “apprentices”, Epidemics killed many • Jurists: aka Lawyers, not well favored

17. Workaday America • 90% of population involved in agriculture ~ led to highest living standard in world history • Chesapeake: Tobacco, wheat • Middle: grain • Fishing pursued in all colonies, major industry in New England ~ Stimulated shipbuilding, training for future navy • Commerce successful, especially in New England and PA

18. The Triangular Trade • New England merchants gain access to slave trade in the early 1700s • Rum brought to Africa, exchanges for slaves • Ships cross the Middle Passage, slaves trades in the West Indies. • Disease, torture, malnourishment, death for slaves • Sugar brought to New England • Other items trades across the Atlantic, with substantial profits from slavery making merchants rich

19. Workaday America • Manufacturing was secondary: Lumbering most important, also rum, beaver hats, iron, spinning/weaving • 1730s: growing American population demanded more English products • Shipbuilding • Colonies had important (and ‘rare’) materials such as tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine • Huge trees in colonies used British ships • Helped Britain main power over the seas

20. Workaday America • By the 1730s, there was a growing imbalance between Britain and her colonies. • Colonist demanded more and more British products (increasing population) • British population was reaching a saturation poinnt for imports from America. • How could colonist sell enough goods to make money to buy what they wanted in Britain? • Seeking foreign (non-British) markets

21. Workaday America • Foreign Trade • Exports to Europe had to pass through Britain, where British to a piece of the profits • Most important trading partner for colonists were the West Indies • 1733 – Molasses Act • British West Indian plantes pressured Parliament to stop American trade with French West Indies • This would cripple Colonial trade and standard of living • Colonist began to smuggle and bribe

22. Horsepower and Sailpower • Transportation was a huge problem in Colonial America • Sparse population • Tons of land • Scarcity of money and workers • Roads • Dirt Roads • Dangers of Stagecoaches • Waterways • Heavy reliance on waterways • Population clustered around banks of navigable rivers • Tons of traffic

23. Horsepower and Sailpower • Taverns (along main routes) • Provided amusements • Gambling, bowling, pool, bars) • All social classes mingle together • Gossips (political talk) • Important for crystallizing public opinion • Centers of agitation as revolutionary movement grows • Postal System • Slow, infrequent, privacy was a problem

24. Dominant Denominations • Two denominations “established” (tax-supported): Anglican (GA, NC, SC, VA, MD, NY) & Congregational(New England except RI) • Anglican church served as prop of royal authority • Anglican church more worldly, secular, less zealous, clergy had poor reputation (College of William & Mary) • Congregational church grew out of Puritan church, agitated for rebellion

25. Religious diversity by 1775

26. THE GREAT AWAKENING • The Great Awakening was a spiritual renewal that swept the American Colonies, particularly New England, during the first half of the 18th Century.  It began in England before catching fire across the Atlantic.  • Unlike the somber, largely Puritan spirituality of the early 1700s, the revivalism ushered in by the Awakening brought people back to "spiritual life" as they felt a greater intimacy with God. 

27. The Great Awakening • Began in Massachusetts with Jonathan Edwards (regarded as greatest American theologian) • Rejected salvation by works, affirmed need for complete dependence on grace of God (“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”) • Orator George Whitefield followed, touring colonies, led revivals, countless conversions, inspired imitators Jonathan Edwards George Whitefield

28. THE GREAT AWAKENING Background Great AwakeningNewDenominations Political & socialimplications • Puritan ministers lost authority (Visible Saints) • Decay of family (Halfway Covenant) • Deism, God existed/created the world, but afterwards left it to run by natural laws. Denied God communicated to man or in any way influenced his life…get to heaven if you are good. (Old Lights) • 1740s, Puritanism declined by the 1730s and people were upset about the decline in religious piety. (devotion to God) • “New Lights”: Heaven by salvation by grace through Jesus Christ. Formed: Baptist, Methodists • Led to founding of colleges • Crossed class barriers; emphasized equality of all • Unified Americans as a single people • Missionaries for Blacks and Indians

29. Schools and Colleges • Traditional English approach • Reserved for aristocratic few, not for regular people • This idea was slowly broken down by colonist • Puritan New England pushed education more than other colonies • Primarily for religious reasons • Education in New England • Primarily for boys • Primary & Secondary Schools • Elementary schools in middle and southern colonies • Education was hampered by population density, workday

30. Schools and Colleges • The general atmosphere in school • Focus on Religion • Independent thinking discouraged • Severe Discipline • Rich families (especially in South) sent boys to England to get a “real” education

31. Harvard, 1636—First colonial college; trained candidates for ministry • College of William and Mary, 1694 (Anglican) • Yale, 1701 (Congregational) • Great Awakening influences creation of 5 new colleges in mid-1700s • College of New Jersey (Princeton), 1746 (Presbyterian) • King’s College (Columbia), 1754 (Anglican) • Rhode Island College (Brown), 1764 (Baptist) • Queens College (Rutgers), 1766 (Dutch Reformed) • Dartmouth College, 1769, (Congregational)

32. New colleges founded after the Great Awakening

33. THE GREAT AWAKENING • The Awakening's biggest significance was the way it prepared America for its War of Independence.  • In the decades before the war, revivalism taught people that they could be bold when confronting religious authority, and that when churches weren't living up to the believers' expectations, the people could break off and form new ones.        

34. THE GREAT AWAKENING • Through the Awakening, the Colonists realized that religious power resided in their own hands, rather than in the hands of the Church of England, or any other religious authority.  • After a generation or two passed with this kind of mindset, the Colonists came to realize that political power did not reside in the hands of the English monarch, but in their own will for self-governance

35. Pioneer Presses • Few private libraries existed • Circulating libraries existed • B. Franklin est. 1st in Philadelphia • By 1776, there are 50 • Colonist were generally to poor to buy many books and/or too busy to read

36. Pioneer Presses • Pamphlets, leaflets, journals • Printed by hand-operated printing presses • By 1775, 40 colonial newspapers were in print • Newspapers were powerful way colonist could rally support around various causes

37. The Zenger Case • NY • John Peter Zenger, newspaper printer, was brought to court for libel • Seditious – inciting rebellion • Libel – printing something that damages someone’s reputation • British law said that the truth or falsity of what Zenger wrote did not matter; it still damages the reputation • Zenger’s lawyer (Alexander Hamilton) eloquently argued that “the very liberty of both exposing and opposing arbitrary power” was at stake • Hamilton argued that was he said was the truth, so it cannot be libel

38. The Zenger Case • The jury acquitted Zenger • Land mark court cases because it will help to establish the legal doctrine of “freedom of press”

39. Great Game of Politics • In 1775, the 13 colonies had different gov’t forms • Colonial governors • 8 had royal governors • 2 (MD, PA, DE) were under proprietors who appointed governors • 2 (CT, RI) elected their own governors under self-governing charters

40. Great Game of Politics • Colonial legislatures (assemblies) • Most had 2-house legislatures • Upper House was chosen by those who appointed the governor (the crown, proprietors, or voters in self-governing colonies) • Lower House was chosen by the people (those with enough property to qualify) • Backcountry voters were generally underrepresented and resented governmental elites • Self-taxation through direct and local representatives was an import privilege colonial for colonial voters

41. The Great Game of Politics • Royal governors • Many were good and able, but a few were corrupt and incompetent • Even the respected royal governors had trouble maintain/enforcing power because they represented a far-off authority

42. The Great Game of Politics • Colonial assemblies’ attempts to assert their authority • Withheld governor’s salary unless he did what they wanted • The governor was normally in need of money (otherwise he would not be in America); most governors gave in • The London government should have paid governors from independent sources • 1767 –Townshend taxes arranged to pay governors independent of legislatures; but by that time colonists were already angry over taxation became angrier over new taxes