The Cultures of Colonial North America

1. The Cultures of Colonial North America 1700 – 1780

2. Indian America • Native Americans showed a great capacity to adapt and change by using European materials and participating in trade (on which they became dependent for survival) • Though the French seemed to have better relations with the Indians than most other nations, the Indians still tried to play each country off against the other • By the end of the 18th century, it was the sheer number of colonists that concerned the Indians, as their populations declined due to disease • The horse modified the Great Plains Indian cultures by making them nomadic hunters and warriors

3. The Spanish Borderlands • New Spain was the largest and most prosperous colony in North America • Whereas Mexico City was a cultural hotspot, the borderlands of California, New Mexico, Texas and Florida were considered buffer zones to protect them from other colonial powers • Florida society was multiracial, combining Spanish, Indian, and African • New Mexican society was spreading due to ranching and farming along the Rio Grande

4. The Spanish Mission System • Presidios, or forts were built on the fringes of the colonies to protect the interior • The mission system converted the Indians and made them subject to the Spanish Crown • Indians were not forced to join, but were not allowed to leave • Missions promised a higher standard of living • Congregacions: villages of converted Indians who worked for the benefit of Spain, overseen by the missions

5. The French Crescent • The Catholic Church was also instrumental in creating a “Second Catholic Empire” in America • French allied with Indian trading partners to set up a line of military posts and settlements • French communities combined French and Indian elements in architecture, dress, and familial patterns • New France was a crescent-shape of settlement from Canada to the port of New Orleans in Louisiana

7. New England • Puritan congregations governed local communities (very little distinction between secular and religious authority) • Puritans did not come to create a society where religion could be practiced freely (harsh repression) • Though the Toleration Act was passed in 1689, it was first resisted • By the 1700s, other denominations were allowed to practice openly in Massachusetts • New England grew in population and stressed the limits of available land

8. The Middle Colonies • New York had one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the colonies; NYC grew quickly, but land was unavailable in the rural areas to immigrants • Pennsylvania Quakers were more tolerant of immigrants and boasted a 4% raise in population every year! • Middle Colony communities were more individualized than the tightly controlled New England colonies, creating a loose dispersal of small towns throughout the countryside

9. The Backcountry • Most pioneers owned little or no land, hacking out their own squatted-tract of land • Men were warriors and women were focused on domestic duties • Conflicts between settlers and Indians made the area a violent region • Helped to create that “pioneer-myth” of American culture • Movement into the Backcountry forced England to officially forbid this activity and raise colonial taxes to protect these “pioneers,” creating some early resentment for English rule

10. The South • A tri-racial society: European, African, and Indian • Specializing in tobacco, rice, and other commercial crops, it was overwhelmingly rural, with large plantation homes taking vast tracts of land in the Lower South • The Lower South was dominated by large plantations, that seemed to echo the large sugar plantations of the Caribbean • Yet, small tobacco farms were widely found in the Upper South, creating a well-developed network of neighborhoods, establishing community and white solidarity

11. Traditional Culture in the New World • Life revolved around family, kinship, the church and the local community • Nostalgia for Europe helped to fix a conservative colonial attitude towards culture • Oral traditions and suspicious towards change • Community needs outweighed those of the individual • Majority of rural Americans were self-sufficient farmers who practiced diverse agriculture • Artisans and craftsmen flourished in the commercial cities as the craft system continued in the colonies

12. The Frontier Heritage • Land was plentiful and cheap, but that did not lead to any form of democracy • Slave labor was common and indentured servants rarely won freedom • Yet life for indentured servants offered more opportunities in the 18th century, due to the growing prosperity of the colonies • Violence and brutality were considered an essential part of colonial life

13. Population Growth and Immigration • High fertility rates and low mortality rates played important roles in the spike in population from 1700-1780 • Mainly due to an abundance of food, colonists enjoyed relatively good health • Britain was the only colonial power to encourage immigration, including foreign immigration

15. Social Class • In New Spain, class was based on racial purity • New Spain and New France kept their hereditary ranks and styles from the Old World • In the British colonies, elite was open and based on wealth • Social mobility was common • The large middle class was a social phenomena (as it did not exist in New Spain or France) • The British colonies had a higher standard of living than England

17. Economic Growth and Inequality • New Spain and France were economically stagnant compared to the British colonies • Though the growth of a middle class was an impressive social achievement, the gap between the rich and poor increased, especially in the cities and commercial farming regions • Land shortages created the “strolling poor,” or homeless

18. Contrasts in Colonial Politics • British authority was decentralized using royal governors and locally elected assemblies to govern • Most adult white males could vote • Leadership was entrusted to men of high rank and wealth • Most colonial assemblies had considerable power over local affairs because they controlled the finances

19. Cultural Transformation of British North America • The colonies were more open to intellectual and religious challenges than the French and Spanish • Education and literacy was widespread in the British colonies • Unlike Spain and France, the British made little attempt at cultural censorship

20. The Enlightenment • Philosophical movement that stressed that the universe was governed by natural laws, emphasizing rationality, harmony, and order • John Locke proposed a state that existed to provide for happiness and security of individuals who were endowed with the natural rights of life, liberty, and property • Though most held to tradition, many colonists who were self-made, embraced these new ideas • Colonial colleges taught a mixture of the traditional with Enlightenment viewpoints

21. Decline in Religious Devotion • The economic growth in the colonies and the development of a colonial upper class led to a more cosmopolitan culture in the cities • Puritan churches saw falling membership and attendance at services due to “uninspired” ministers • Change to an established church led to a decline of regular goers, and the emergence of “half-way” members that weakened the overall influence of religion • Questioning of tenets like Predestination

22. The Great Awakening • Reverend Jonathan Edwards of Massachusetts called for a return to Puritan traditions that appealed to dissatisfied young people • Stressing “emotional conversions” preachers spoke with passion and fire igniting religious fervor in the young and disenfranchised • George Whitefield toured America, fueling the movement with his fiery sermons (revival meetings) • Religious enthusiasm gave people relief from social and economic stresses • Conflict between the Old and New Lights • A full national event, that spread to the South where Christianity was introduced to slaves • 1740-1780: number of churches doubled; church membership increased with the population (women and the young affected, too)

23. The Politics of Revivalism • It empowered ordinary people to challenge their leaders • Old Lights politically tried to stamp the New Lights, but they politicized and won out in the end (they would provide the leadership for the American Revolution) • Gave people the first chance to participate in public debate about religion, war, and economics