18 th Century America

1. 18th Century America Culture, Conflict, and Economic Growth

2. SLAVERY AND EMPIRE • Atlantic Trade • A series of trade routes crisscrossed the Atlantic. • Colonial merchants profited from the slave trade. • Slavery became connected with the color black, and liberty with the color white. • Africa and the Slave Trade • With the exception of the king of Benin, most African rulers took part in the slave trade. • The slave trade was concentrated in western Africa, greatly disrupting its society and economy.

3. SLAVERY AND EMPIRE • The Middle Passage • The Middle Passage was the voyage across the Atlantic for slaves. • Slaves were crammed aboard ships for maximum profit. • Slave traders took the vast majority of slaves to Brazil and to the West Indies, where death rates were high. • Less than 5 percent of African slaves went to what became the United States, but the slave population there increased steadily through natural reproduction.

4. SLAVERY AND EMPIRE • Chesapeake Slavery • Three distinct slave systems were well entrenched in Britain's mainland colonies: • Tobacco-based plantation slavery in the Chesapeake • Rice-based plantation slavery in South Carolina and Georgia • Non-plantation societies of New England and the Middle Colonies • Slavery transformed Chesapeake society into an elaborate hierarchy of degrees of freedom: • Large planters • Yeomen farmers • Indentured servants and tenant farmers • Slaves • With the consolidation of a slave society, planters enacted laws to protect their power over the slaves.

5. SLAVERY AND EMPIRE • The Rice Kingdom • South Carolinian and Georgian slavery rested on rice. • Rice and indigo required large-scale cultivation (which was done by slaves). • Under the task system, individual slaves did daily jobs, the completion of which allowed time for leisure or cultivation of their own crops. • By 1770, the number of South Carolina slaves had reached 100,000-well over half the colony's population. • The Georgia Experiment • Georgia was established by a group of philanthropists led by James Oglethorpe in 1733. • Oglethorpe had banned liquor and slaves, but the settlers demanded their right of self-government and repealed the bans by the early 1750s.

6. SLAVERY AND EMPIRE • Slavery in the North • Since the economics of New England and the Middle Colonies were based on small farms, slavery was far less important. • Given that slaves were few and posed no threat to the white majority, laws were less harsh than in the South. • Slaves did represent a sizable percentage of urban laborers, particularly in New York and in Philadelphia.

7. Slave Cultures and Slave Resistance • Becoming African-American • The common link among Africans in America was not kinship, language, or even "race," but slavery itself. • For most of the eighteenth century, the majority of American slaves were African by birth. • African-American Cultures • In the Chesapeake, slaves learned English, participated in the Great Awakening, and were exposed to white culture. • In South Carolina and Georgia, two very different black societies emerged: • Communities on rice plantations retained significant African cultural elements (e.g., housing styles, child naming practices, language). • Slaves in the cities of Charleston and Savannah assimilated more quickly into Euro-American culture. • In the northern colonies, a distinctive African-American culture developed more slowly, and African-Americans enjoyed more access to the mainstream of life.

8. Slave Cultures and Slave Resistance • Resistance to Slavery • A common thread among African-Americans was the desire for freedom. • Many plantation slaves in South Carolina and Georgia ran away to Florida or to cities. • The first eighteenth-century slave uprising occurred in New York City in 1712. • The Stono Rebellion of 1739 in South Carolina led to the tightening of the slave code. • A panic in 1741 swept New York City after a series of fires broke out that were rumored to have been part of a slave conspiracy to attack whites.

9. VI. IMPERIAL RIVALRIES

10. Spanish America • Texas • Missions from 1690 • Buffer against French settlement along Mississippi River • Catholic Missions • Cornerstone of Spanish settlement in North America • California • Buffer to Russian settlement in Pacific Northwest • 1768 – first permanent Spanish settlements

11. New Mexico • Most Successful Spanish colony in North America • Conflict with Indians • 1730s – Comanche becomes antagonistic tribe • Constant attacks on New Mexico in 18th century • Peace with Comanche • 1786, peace treaty • Population explosion • Emergence of New Mexican culture

12. New France • Mostly fur traders, still not many colonists • St. Lawrence River – Quebec City and Montreal • 75,000 colonists • “Upper Country,” Great lakes region • growth of fur trade and relationships with Indians • growing tensions with England

13. French Louisiana • Pierred Le Moyne D’Iberville • Founded New Orleans, 1718 • Indian attacks and political corruption • Growth of African Slavery in New Orleans • Natchez Revolt, 1729 • Indian attack near modern day Natchez, MS • African Slaves who fought in French militia are freed – growth of free black population in Louisiana

14. British North America • Diverse and Fragmented • Population growth • Natural Increase (especially New England) • Immigration • Frontier • Western PA, Southern frontiers, 1720s

16. Growth of Cities • All major colonial cities were seaports • Philadelphia becomes most important city in British colonies by 1840s-1850s • Port of Philadelphia lets out into the Delaware River • Class structure emerges in larger cities

17. Enlightenment in America The Enlightenment (c. 1650s-1780s) Intellectual movement which stressed power of human reason and progress through understanding of laws which governed nature and science.

18. Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790) • Most famous American Enlightenment thinker • First American to become internationally famous • Known before Revolution as scientist and inventor • Printer, writer, politician, post master, firefighter, kite flyer, wit, public intellectual

20. Religion in British America • The First Great Awakening – series of religious revivals beginning in New England during the 1730s • Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) • Led initial revivals in Northampton, MA 1733-1745 • “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” 1741 • George Whitfield (1714-1770) • Preaching tour of America, 1739-1741 • Extremely popular, toured NH to GA

21. Great Awakening • Revivals crossed economic, ethnic, and racial lines • Women were active participants • Religious divisions • Congregationalists led revivals • Anglicans ignored them • Baptists and Methodists churches grew the fastest • One of the first events to effect all British Colonies.

22. Colonial Class Structure • Merchants • Shipping cash crops • Import trade • Crafts people • Blacksmiths, butchers, distillers, coopers, candlestick makers • Free and bound labor • Stevedores, farmers, skilled slaves

23. Imperial System before 1760 • English Government • Widespread corruption • Increasing centralized power of monarchy • Run by nobles and upper classes, aristocratic • Colonial Government • Royal governor appointed by crown • Bicameral legislatures – lower house elected (House of Burgesses) • Governor could veto laws, but only legislature could levy taxes

24. Anglo American Culture • Unique culture began developing during first half of 18th century • Colonies stilled identified themselves as Englishmen and part of the British Empire • Coming conflicts would reveal how fragile the relationship between England and North America had become.