Ch 5: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution (1700-1775)
A) Population Boom
1. Remarkable natural fertility → colonists doubled every 25 yrs
2. Originally, 20 Eng subjects for each Am col → only 3 to 1 → shift in power
B) Colonial America: A Melting Pot
1. Mostly Anglosaxon, but multicultural
2. 6% Germans
5. 20% Africans: heavily concentrated in South; largest non-Eng popn
6. Outside New Eng (least diverse), ½ popn non-English
C) American Society
1. Social Mobility (aot Europe’s)
D) American Economy → Very High Standard of Living
1. Different trades
W Indies→New Eng: distill molasses into rum & repeat
3. Trade Imbalance w. England
E) How Taverns & Congregationalism Contributed to Revolution
1. Roads in poor condition → taverns built along main routes & in cities
F) Great Awakening 1730s-40s
1. Clergy preached tediously, over-erudite sermons that bored parishioners
2. Liberal ideas challenged old-time rel; some attacked predestination. EX: Arminians preached that individual free will, not divine decree, determined fate
3. Jonathan Edwards ignited Great Awakening by proclaiming the folly of believing in savlation thru good works & affirming the need for complete dependence on God
4. George Whitefield introduced electrifying new style of preaching that helped Great Awakening
5. Effects of Emotionalism:
1. Eng saw edu as blessing only for aristocratic; edu only for leadership not citizenship
2. New England
H) Self-Govt in the Colonies
1. Colonies either royal, proprietors, self-governing
2. Bicameral
4. Royal governors not paid by crown → power of purse in local hands
5. Not complete democracy
1. Remarkable natural fertility → colonists doubled every 25 yrs
2. Originally, 20 Eng subjects for each Am col → only 3 to 1 → shift in power
B) Colonial America: A Melting Pot
1. Mostly Anglosaxon, but multicultural
2. 6% Germans
- fled rel persecution, econ oppression, war & settled in PA, totaling 1/3 PA’s pop’n
- Lutheran → greater rel diversity of PA
- No allegiance to British crown
- Didn’t prosper esp after Eng govt placed restrictions on prod of linens & wool
- Presbyterian ‘intruders’ resented by Cath Irish
- Sol’n: abandoned Ireland & moved to PA; best land taken by Germans → frontiersmen illegally squatted & quarreled w. both Indian & white owners
- Resented British govt for uprooting & lording over them
5. 20% Africans: heavily concentrated in South; largest non-Eng popn
6. Outside New Eng (least diverse), ½ popn non-English
C) American Society
1. Social Mobility (aot Europe’s)
- No titled nobility or pauperized underclass; mostly small farmers
- Cities had small class of skilled artisans & unskilled day laborers
- Many indentured servants ultimately achieved prosperity & prestige
- Many deported convicts came to be highly respectable citizens
- War enriched military suppliers|impoverished widows + children
- Supply of unclaimed soil dwindled, size of farms shrank → homeless poor
- South: wealth concentrated in hands of largest slave owners
- Comparable to Europe’s volatile lower classes
- Though colonial legislatures sensed threat of heavy concentration of resentful slaves & moved to halt importation, British authorities vetoed.
D) American Economy → Very High Standard of Living
1. Different trades
- 90% ppl involved in agriculture = leading industry
- Fishing/whaling pursued in all colonies; major export of New Eng
- Fishing → shipbuilding → lumbering
- Provisioned Caribbean sugar islands w. food & forest products
- Triangular trade- New Eng→Gold Coast, Africa: trade rum for Afr slaves
W Indies→New Eng: distill molasses into rum & repeat
3. Trade Imbalance w. England
- Growing Am popn demanded more & more Brit products; otoh slow-growing Brit popn early reached saturation pt for absorbing Am imports
- Sol’n: foreign (non-British) markets, e.g. France & Fr. W Indies
- Brit W Indies annoyed → Molasses Act, aimed at stultifying N Am trde w. F W Indies
- Colonists’ reactions: bribing & smuggling their way around law
E) How Taverns & Congregationalism Contributed to Revolution
1. Roads in poor condition → taverns built along main routes & in cities
- Taverns = cradle of democracy b.c all social classes would mingle
- Ppl talked about politics→ important in crystallizing public opinion
- COE: major prop of kingly authority; Brit officials tried to impose it on additional colonies, but to no avail; clergymen supported king for tax
- Congregational Church= outgrowth of Puritan Church, est in all New Eng colonies; Ministers increasingly discussed political issues & promoted rebellion
F) Great Awakening 1730s-40s
1. Clergy preached tediously, over-erudite sermons that bored parishioners
2. Liberal ideas challenged old-time rel; some attacked predestination. EX: Arminians preached that individual free will, not divine decree, determined fate
3. Jonathan Edwards ignited Great Awakening by proclaiming the folly of believing in savlation thru good works & affirming the need for complete dependence on God
4. George Whitefield introduced electrifying new style of preaching that helped Great Awakening
5. Effects of Emotionalism:
- Stress on direct, emotive spirituality undermined older clergy (education & erudition)
- Stimulated competition of sects (schisms increased # of churches)
- Broke down sectional boundaries → unified sense of Americans
1. Eng saw edu as blessing only for aristocratic; edu only for leadership not citizenship
2. New England
- Edu for boys flourished; many attended Eng universities
- Primary & secondary schools established early on
- Some elementary schools tax-supported; other privately operated
- Wealthy Southern families leaned heavily on private tutors
- Prepared men for ministry→ emphasized rel & dead languages (Latin & Greek)
- Independence of thinking discouraged & severe discipline enforced
- Ben Franklin helped launch U Penn, 1st Am college free from church control
- Newspapers showed public’s opposition to British policy
- Peter Zenger’s newspaper assailed corrupt royal governor & was charged w. seditious libel
- Lawyer defended by saying that he had printed the truth
- In spite of royal judge’s instructions, jury returned verdict of not guilty
- Achievemt for freedom of press & democracy → not libel to criticize
H) Self-Govt in the Colonies
1. Colonies either royal, proprietors, self-governing
2. Bicameral
- Upper House (Council): appted by crown, proprietor, or chosen by voters
- Lower House: elected by voters
4. Royal governors not paid by crown → power of purse in local hands
5. Not complete democracy
- Rel/prop qualifications for voting
- Privileged upper classes unwilling to grant ballot to everyone
- Tolerance
- Edu advantages
- Equality of econ opportunity
- Freedom of speech, press, assembly
- Representative govt
v._colonial_society_on_the_eve_of_revolution.doc | |
File Size: | 53 kb |
File Type: | doc |