Colonial Culture

Colonial Culture Mrs. Lacks: US History

Politics in the Colonies • 1775: 8 colonies had royal governors, 3 under proprietors (MD, PA, DE), and 2 under self-governing charters (CT, RI) • Used bicameral legislatures – upper house (council) chosen by king, lower house by elections • Self-taxation through elected legislatures was highly valued

Dominion of New England • Forced by King James II (+NY+NJ) • Goals? • Sir Edmund Andros • Gained control • Implemented taxes without consent • Eliminated town meetings, schools, etc

Great Awakening • 1740s & 1750s • religious revival that started in New England and spread south • Led by preacher Jonathan Edwards • Targeted non church goers, as well as Native Americans and Africans • New protestant denominations formed

Higher Education • 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)

New colleges founded after the Great Awakening

British North America, a melting pot

Colonial Culture Trends • Attending church (most important ritual; showed status) • Tea drinking • punishment of criminals in public (reminded people of what not to do) • Attending elections (south)

City vs. Country Life • Urban life: • went to marketplaces • more contact w/the outside world [newspapers, ports] • Rural life: • Stayed on or close to farm • Probably never traveled far • Little access to school, church, and the outside world

England & Colonies Prosper • The new British colonies in North America grew quickly and were soon very successful traders • New England: ships, fish, lumber, furs • Middle: lumber, wheat, iron • South: tobacco and rice

England & Colonies Prosper • The English Parliament didn’t like that the colonists were trading with other countries • They viewed these actions as an economic threat, and wanted tighter reign on the colonies • Parliament instilled the Navigation Acts

Navigation Acts • NO country could trade with the colonies unless the goods were shipped in either colonial or English ships • All vessels had to be manned by crews that were at least ¾ English or colonial • The colonies could export certain products, including tobacco and sugar, and later rice, molasses, and furs, only to England • Almost all goods traded between the colonies and Europe first had to be unloaded at an English port

Triangular Trade • Trade between Europe, Africa, and North America • Europe sent manufactured goods to Africa • Africa sent slaves to North America • North America sent raw materials like sugar, cotton, and tobacco to Europe

Slavery • Slavery has existed since the beginning of time • Almost every culture, every race has been enslaved or taken slaves • Often people were enslaved as POWs or later, over religion (ex. Muslims enslaved Christians, Christians sold Muslims)

African Slave Trade • Began between African kings & Muslim traders (869 AD) • Muslims sold goods to African kings who paid with their own kin

African Slave Trade • African law recognized slavery and the right of owners to alienate slaves • Private wealth usually derived from control of dependents – children, wives, and slaves

African Slave Trade • Dutch were first Europeans to trade in West Africa • Dutch brought manufactured items, African kings paid with kin (ex. Ashanti sold Bobo & Mende) • Spanish brought Africans to Central & South America, and Spanish Florida first, then later to British N. America in mid-1700s • Dutch were first to sell Africans in British N. America (1619), but didn’t catch on until later

African Slave Trade • As the economy of British North America grew, more colonists could afford slaves (still a small percentage of the population) • Slavery existed in every colony originally

African Slave Trade • Scholars estimate that about 12 million Africans were sold by Africans to Europeans (most of them before 1776) and 17 million were sold to Arabs • Majority of Africans stayed in the Caribbean or went to Brazil • Became illegal in late 1700s/early 1800s in Britain • British navy patrolled West African shores to stop trade

Slave Transport • Amistad Clip • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM9MbOXjhrg

Slaves in the US • American plantations were dwarfed by those in the West Indies. • Most slaves were living with a family that maybe had one other slave • About a quarter of U.S. slaves lived on farms with 15 or fewer slaves. In 1850, just 125 plantations had over 250 slaves. • In 1860, 1.4% of people in the US owned slaves

Slavery in the US • Life depended on the job • House slaves had better lives than field slaves • Single home slaves usually lived with the family • Many slaves did additional odd jobs to make money – artisans, carpenters, etc. (eventually bought freedom) • Slaves on large plantations in the deep South typically had the worst lives

Black Slave Owners • In 1830, approximately 3,775 owned 12,760 slaves. • One in ten free black household heads owned at least one slave.

Major Revolts • New York City, 1712 • Slaves gathered on the night of April 6 and set fire to a building near Broadway • While the white colonists tried to put out the fire, the enslaved African Americans attacked them and ran off (later caught, tried, and executed) • Slave laws in NYC became more strict

Major Slave Rebellions • Nat Turner, 1832 • Southampton, VA • Highest # of fatalities by a slave rebellion in the South • About 60 white men, women, children killed

Colonial Culture