Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution

I. Conquest by the Cradle

a. 13 Colonies?

i. Britain actually ruled 32 colonies in North America by 1775, including Canada, the Floridas, and various Caribbean islands

ii. A couple of the nonrebellious colonies, Canada and Jamaica, were larger, wealthier, and more populous than some of the revolting thirteen

b. Population Growth

i. 1700 – 300,000 people

1. 20,000 were black

ii. 1775 – 2.5 million people

1. ½ million were black

a. 400,000 were “forced immigrants”

2. White immigrants made up 400,000 of the increased number

iii. The colonists were doubling their numbers every 25 years

c. Political Consequences of Population Growth

i. 1700 – There were 20 English for each American colonist

ii. 1775 – There were 3 English for each American colonist

iii. This set the stage for a momentous shift in the balance of power between the colonies and Britain

d. Population Location

i. Most of the population was east of the Alleghenies. Some pioneers populated Tennessee and Kentucky

ii. Most populous colonies in 1775:

1. Virginia

2. Massachusetts

3. Pennsylvania

4. North Carolina

5. Maryland

iii. Four cities:

1. Philadelphia

2. New York

3. Boston

4. Charleston

iv. 90% of people lived in rural areas

II. A Melting Pot of the Races

a. Germans

i. Accounted for 150,000 people or 6% of the population in 1775

ii. They were fleeing religious persecution, economic oppression, and the ravages of war

iii. They mainly settled in PA

iv. Most were Lutheran or from other Protestant sects

v. They were known erroneously as the Pennsylvania Dutch (a corruption of the German word Deutsch, for “German”)

vi. Not having been brought up English, they had no deep-rooted loyalty to the British crown

b. Scots-Irish

i. Accounted for 175,000 people or 7% of the population in 1775

ii. They had been transplanted from southern (they were Scots Lowlanders) to northern Ireland. As a result:

1. The Irish Catholics already there, hating Scottish Presbyterianism, resented the intruders

2. In addition, the English government placed burdensome restrictions on their production of linens and woolens, causing them to not prosper

iii. Most fled to PA because they were tolerant and had good soil

iv. Finding the best soil already taken by Germans and the Quakers, they pushed out on the frontier

v. Many illegally squatted on unoccupied lands

vi. They spread from western PA down to GA

c. Personality of the Scots-Irish

i. Were pugnacious, lawless, and individualistic

ii. Brought with them the Scottish secrets of whiskey distilling

iii. They cherished no love for the British government that had uprooted them and still lorded over them – or for any other government

1. They led the armed march of the Paxton Boys on Philadelphia in 1764 – protesting the Quaker oligarchy’s lenient policy toward the Indians

2. Spearheaded the Regulator movement in NC – an insurrection against eastern domination of the colony’s affairs

iv. 12 future presidents, including Andrew Jackson, were of Scots-Irish decent

d. Other Groups

i. 5% of the multicolored colonial population consisted of other European groups:

1. French Huguenots

2. Welsh

3. Dutch

4. Swedes

5. Jews

6. Irish

7. Swiss

8. Scots Highlanders

ii. Except for the Scots Highlanders, all felt little loyalty to the British crown

iii. The largest single non-English group was African, accounting for nearly 20% of the colonial population in 1775

e. Ethnicity By Location

i. New England – Showed the least ethnic diversity because it was mostly staked out by the original Puritan migrants

ii. Middle Colonies – Received the bulk of later white immigrants and boasted an astonishing variety of peoples

iii. The South – Held about 90% of the slaves

iv. Outside of New England, about ½ the population was non-English in 1775

f. Melting Pot

i. As these various immigrant groups mingled and intermarried, they laid the foundations for a new multicultural American national identity unlike anything known in Europe

ii. The African slave trade long had mixed peoples from many different tribal backgrounds, giving birth to an African American community far more varied in its cultural origins than anything to be found in Africa itself

iii. In the New England “praying towns,” where Indians were gathered to be Christianized, the blurring of individual tribal identities occurred

III. The Structure of Colonial Society

a. Advantages to Living in Colonial America

i. No titled nobility dominated society from on high and no poor class threatened it from below

ii. The most remarkable feature of the social ladder was its openness – no matter who you were you could move up the ladder. This was rare in England

b. Colonial Social Stratification in New England and middle colonies

i. Society was beginning to show signs of stratification and barriers to mobility

ii. Armed conflicts of the 1690s and early 1700s had enriched a number of merchants in New England and the middle colonies. They made their fortune off profits made as military suppliers

1. They sported imported clothing and dined at tables laid with English china and gleaming silverware

2. They came to be seated in churches and schools according to their social rank

3. In Boston and Philadelphia, 10% of the population was paying for 2/3 of the taxes

iii. War also created a class of widows and orphans. This created a need for the first almshouses (house for old and needy people, founded by charity) in the 1730s (in Philly & NY) to care for the destitute (so poverty stricken as to be without the necessities of life)

iv. As the supply of unclaimed soil in New England dwindled and families grew, existing landholdings were repeatedly subdivided. The average size of farms shrank drastically. Younger sons and daughters were forced to hire out as wage laborers, or eventually seek virgin tracts of land beyond the mountains. People increasing became homeless

c. Colonial Social Stratification in the South

i. Power of planters continued to be bolstered by their disproportionate ownership of slaves

ii. Wealth was concentrated in the hands of the largest slaveowners, widening the gap between the prosperous gentry and the “poor whites” who were more and more likely to become tenant farmers

d. Growing Lower Classes

i. Indentured Servants

1. The ranks of the lower classes were further swelled by the continuing stream of indentured servants

ii. Paupers and Convicts

1. 50,000 convicts were transported to the colonies by English authorities

2. Some were victims of circumstance and harsh laws, but other were robbers, rapists, and murderers

iii. Slaves

1. Enjoyed no equality with whites and could not gain status

2. Oppressed and downtrodden, the slaves were America’s closest approximation to Europe’s volatile lower classes, and fears of black rebellion plagued the white colonists

3. Some colonial legislatures feared black rebellion and passed laws to restrict or halt their importation, but British authorities vetoed them. They wanted to preserve the cheap labor for the colonies and especially the sugar plantations in the West Indies. New England slave traders benefited handsomely from the British policy

4. This would continue to be a point of contention when Thomas Jefferson attempted to end slavery in early drafts of the Declaration of Independence, but southerners forced him to withdrawal the provision

IV. Clerics, Physicians, and Lawyers

a. Clergy

i. A prestigious and honored position, although less so in 1775

b. Physicians

i. Poorly trained and not highly esteemed

ii. Not until 1765 was the first medical school established, although European center attracted some students

iii. Bleeding was a favorite and frequent fatal remedy

c. Epidemics

i. Smallpox

1. Afflicted 1 out of 5, including George Washington

2. A crude form of inoculation was introduced in 1721, despite the objections of many physicians and some of the clergy, who opposed tampering with the will of God. Powdered dried toad was a favorite prescription for smallpox

ii. Diphtheria

1. An epidemic in the 1730s took thousands

d. Lawyers

i. At first, the law profession was not favorably regarded

ii. Parties to a dispute often presented their own cases in court

iii. Future president John Adams was a young law student when the father of his wife-to-be frowned upon him as a suitor

V. Workaday America

a. Agriculture

i. Leading industry – 90% of the people

ii. Tobacco – staple crop in MD and VA, though wheat spread through the Chesapeake, often on lands depleted by the overgrowth of tobacco

iii. Americans probably enjoyed a higher standard of living than the masses of any country in history up to that time

b. Fishing

i. Pursued in all the American colonies, but was a major industry in New England

ii. The fishing fleet also stimulated shipbuilding

c. Commerce

i. Commerce enriched all the colonies, especially New England, NY, and PA

ii. They provisioned the Caribbean sugar islands with food and forest products

iii. They hauled Spanish and Portuguese gold, wine, and oranges to London, to be exchanged for industrial goods, which were then sold for a juicy profit in America

d. Triangle Trade

i. It was profitable, but small in relation to total colonial commerce. Here is an example of the trade:

1. Rum would be taken from New England to Africa

2. Rum would be traded for slaves

3. Slaves would be taken to the West Indies

4. Slaves (timber, foodstuffs) would be traded for molasses

5. Molasses (sugar) would be taken to New England

6. Molasses would be distilled (a process of extraction) into rum

ii. We would also trade tobacco, fish, lumber, and flour to England for textiles

e. Manufacturing

i. Was only of secondary importance

ii. Distilling rum

iii. Beaver hats

iv. Iron forging (including PA’s Valley Forge)

v. Spinning and weaving

vi. Carpenters

vii. Strong laborers and skilled craftspeople were scarce and highly prized (a VA carpenter who committed murder was freed because his woodworking skills were needed)

f. Lumbering

i. The most important manufacturing activity

ii. Lumber was used for shipbuilding

iii. It started mainly in New England, but spread to the other colonies. By 1770, 400 vessels were created each year

g. Naval Stores

i. Britain was anxious to gain and retain mastery of the seas

ii. Tar, pitch, rosin, turpentine, and trees of masts were highly valued

iii. Anyone caught taking down a tree marked by an arrow for His Majesty’s navy could be fined. This engendered considerable bitterness

h. Trade Problems

i. Fast-breeding Americans demanded more and more British products, but Britain’s population reached the point where they couldn’t buy anymore American goods

ii. America had to turn to foreign markets

i. Trading With Other Countries

i. By the Revolution, most of the Chesapeake tobacco was being shipped to France and other foreign countries

ii. Most of American timber and foodstuffs went to the West Indies

iii. Molasses Act – act passed by parliament that was aimed at squelching American trade with the French West Indies. Colonists, knowing that the act would cripple their trade, responded by bribing and smuggling

VI. Horsepower and Sailpower

a. Roads

i. Dirt roads were treacherously deficient (news of the Declaration of Independence on July 4^th, 1776 reached Charleston from Philadelphia in 29 days)

ii. Roads were often clouds of dust in the summer and quagmires of mud in the winter

iii. Stagecoach travelers braved such additional dangers as tree-strewn roads, rickety bridges, carriage overturns, and runaway horses

iv. Some prayed with their families and made wills before they left

b. Waterways

i. Population tended to cluster on the banks of navigable rivers

ii. Coast traffic and slow and undependable, but relatively cheap and pleasant

c. Taverns

i. Sprang up along the main routes of travel and in the cities

ii. Their attractions customarily included such amusements as bowling alleys, pool tables, bars, and gambling equipment

iii. All social classes would mingle there

iv. They were clearinghouses of information, misinformation, and rumor

v. Taverns proved to be hotbeds of political talk and agitation as the revolutionary movement gathered momentum

d. Postal System

i. An intercolonial postal system was established by the mid-1700s

ii. Service was slow and infrequent, and secrecy was problematic. Mail carriers, serving long routes, would sometimes pass the time by reading the letters entrusted to their care

VII. Dominant Denominations

a. Church of England (Anglican Church)

i. Official faith in:

1. Georgia

2. South Carolina

3. North Carolina

4. Virginia

5. Maryland

6. part of New York

ii. It was the same official religion as in England, so in America it served as a prop to the king’s authority. British officials naturally made vigorous attempts to impose it on additional colonies, but they ran into much opposition. Anglican ministers naturally supported their king during the Revolutionary War

iii. Compared to Puritanism, its sermons were shorter, hell was less scorching, and amusements (like fox hunting) were less scorned

b. Anglican Ministers

i. Anglican ministers were so bad in 17^th century VA, that the College of William and Mary was founded in 1693 to train a better class of clerics

ii. Anglicans in the New World were seriously handicapped by not having a resident bishop, whose presence would be convenient for the ordination of young ministers. American students of Anglican theology had to travel to England to be ordained. Establishing an American bishop caused concern to many non-Anglicans and they were opposed to that idea

c. Congregational Church

i. Official faith in:

1. New England colonies except RI

ii. MA taxed all residents to support Congregationalism at first, but relented and exempted members of other well-known denominations

iii. Presbyterianism, though closely associated with Congregationalism, was never made official in any colonies

iv. Increasingly turning from the Bible to burning political issues in this sinful world, Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and rebellion became a trinity

d. Religious Toleration

i. Roman Catholics were still discriminated against, as in England. However, there were fewer Catholics in America, and less laws against them and they weren’t strictly enforced

ii. In general, people could worship as they pleased

VIII. The Great Awakening

a. Religion in the Early 18^th Century

i. All religion were less fervid in the early 18^th century than it had been a century earlier

ii. Churchgoers increasingly complained about long, tedious sermons from Puritan pulpits

iii. Liberal ideas began to challenge the old-time religion. Worshippers now proclaimed that human beings were not necessarily predestined to damnation and might save themselves by good works. Even more threatening to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination was the new belief that individual free will, not divine decree, determined a person’s eternal fate

iv. As a result, a few churches conceded that spiritual conversion was not necessary for church membership

b. Jonathan Edwards

i. The Great Awakening exploded in the 1730s and 1740s

ii. It was ignited in Massachusetts by an intellectual pastor, Jonathan Edwards

iii. Edwards proclaimed the folly of believing in salvation through good works and affirmed the need for complete dependence on God’s grace. He painted in lurid detail the landscape of hell and the eternal torments of the damned. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was the title of one of his most famous sermons. He believed that hell was “paved with the skulls of unbaptized children”

iv. His preaching style was learned by others

c. George Whitefield

i. Was an English minister who was a great orator and had an electrifying new style of preaching

ii. He toured the colonies with a message of human helplessness and divine omnipotence, appealing to the emotions

iii. During revival meetings, countless sinners professed conversion and hundreds of “saved” hollered with religious excitation

iv. Whitefield soon inspired American imitators

d. Ministers and What They Thought About the Great Awakening

i. Old Lights (Orthodox clergymen) – Deeply skeptical of the emotionalism and the theatrical antics of the revivalists

ii. New Lights – Defended the Awakening for its role in revitalizing American religion

iii. Congregationalists – Split over the issue. Many went over to the Baptists and other sects more prepared to make room for emotion in religion

e. Lasting Effects

i. The emphasis on direct, emotive spirituality seriously undermined the older clergy, whose authority had derived from their education and erudition (scholarly learning)

ii. The schisms it set off in many denominations greatly increased the number and the competitiveness of American churches

iii. It encouraged a new wave of missionary work to the Indians and slaves

iv. It led to the founding of “new light” centers of higher learning, such as Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth

v. It was the first spontaneous mass movement of the American people. It tended to break down sectional boundaries as well as denominational lines and contributed to the growing sense that Americans had united as a single people with a common history and shared experiences

IX. Schools and Colleges

a. Who Is Education For?

i. The English believed it was reserved for the aristocratic few

ii. Education should be for leadership, not citizenship, and primarily for males

iii. Slowly, the colonists broke the chains of these ancient restrictions

iv. Some institutions were tax-supported, while other were privately operated

b. New England Education

i. The Congregational Church stressed the need for Bible reading by the individual worshiper

ii. The primary goal of the clergy was to make good Christians rather than good citizens

iii. New Englanders, at a relatively early date, established primary and secondary schools, which varied widely in the quality of instruction and in the length of time that their doors remained open each year. Back-straining farm labor drained much of a youth’s time and energy

iv. They also boasted an impressive number of graduates from the English universities, especially Cambridge, the intellectual center of England’s Puritanism

c. Southern Education

i. Since the population was widely diffused over the area, it was severely handicapped by logistics in attempting to establish an effective school system

d. Curriculum

i. Grim and gloomy

ii. Emphasis was placed on religion and on the classical languages, Latin and Greek

iii. The focus was not on experiment and reason, but on religion

iv. Orthodoxy (going along with the standard) was encouraged; independence of thinking was discouraged

v. Discipline was severe

e. College Education

i. Was geared toward preparing men for the ministry in New England

ii. Churches would wither if a new crop of ministers was not adequately trained to lead the region’s spiritual flocks

iii. For purposes of convenience and economy, 9 local colleges were established during the colonial era

iv. Student enrollments were small, numbering about 200 boys at the most

v. Instruction was poor by today’s standards

vi. By 1750, there was a tread toward “live” languages and other modern subjects

vii. Harvard (1^st) – 1636 (Congregational); William and Mary (2^nd) – 1693 (Anglican); Pennsylvania (3^rd) – 1751 (Nonsectarian)

X. A Provincial Culture

a. Painting

i. Had similar tastes to the English

ii. Charles Willson Peale, best known for his portraits of George Washington, had to go to England (like many other artists) to complete their training

b. Architecture

i. Most was imported from the Old World. Even the log cabin was borrowed from Sweden

ii. Red-bricked Georgian style, was common from 1720 to the Revolution

c. Literature

i. Was generally undistinguished

ii. Phillis Wheatley - a slave girl brought to Boston at age 8 and never formally educated. She published a book of poems and wrote other polished poems. It is remarkable that she could overcome her severely disadvantaged background and write any poetry at all

iii. Benjamin Franklin (the first civilized citizen) – Known for his autobiography and Poor Richard’s Almanack. This publication contained many pithy sayings and emphasized such virtues as thrift, morality, and common sense. Examples are “Honesty is the best policy” and

d. Science

i. It rose above superstition and made some progress, but was behind that of the Old World

ii. Benjamin Franklin was perhaps the only first-rank scientist produced in the colonies. Among his inventions/discoveries were:

1. Electricity

2. Bifocal glasses

3. Franklin stove

4. Lightning rod

XI. Pioneer Presses

a. Books

i. Americans were too poor to buy books and too busy to read them

b. Libraries

i. A few private libraries of fair size could be found, especially among the clergy

ii. Benjamin Franklin established the library in Philadelphia

iii. By 1776, there were about 50 public libraries

c. Newspaper

i. The hand-operated printing press cranked out pamphlets, leaflets, and newspapers

ii. Just before the Revolution, there were about 40 colonial newspapers (a single, large sheet folded once)

iii. The news often lagged many weeks behind the event, especially in the case of overseas happenings

iv. Newspapers proved to be a powerful agency for airing colonial grievances and rallying opposition to British control

d. Peter Zenger

i. Important case in New York involving Zenger, a newspaper editor

ii. His newspaper had criticized the corrupt royal governor and was charged with seditious libel

iii. He and his lawyer (Alexander Hamilton) argued that he had printed the truth

iv. The royal chief justice instructed the jury no to consider the truth or falsity of Zenger’s statements, the mere fact of printing them was enough to convict

v. The jurors returned a verdict of not guilty

vi. Legacy –

1. Achievement for freedom of the press

2. It helped the health of democracy

3. It pointed the way to open public discussion, which was required by the diverse society that colonial New York and all America

4. Newspapers were free to print responsible criticisms of powerful officials, though full freedom of the press was unknown during the pre-Revolutionary era

XII. The Great Game of Politics

a. Types of Colonies

i. Royal – 8 colonies (king chose the governor)

ii. Proprietary – Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware (proprietors chose the governors)

iii. Charter – Connecticut and Rhode Island (elected their own governors under self-governing charters)

b. Legislature

i. Most colonies had a bicameral legislature

ii. Royal – upper house (appointed by the crown); lower house (elected by the people)

iii. Proprietary – upper house (appointed by the proprietor); lower house (elected by the people)

iv. Charter – upper house (elected by the people); lower house (elected by the people)

v. One could only vote if they owned enough property

vi. Self-taxation through representation was a precious privilege that Americans had come to cherish above most others

c. Governors

i. Most were able men, but some were incompetent and corrupt

ii. Even the best appointees had trouble with the colonial legislatures, because the royal governor embodied a bothersome transatlantic authority over 3,000 miles away

d. How Colonial Assemblies Asserted Their Authority

i. Some of them withheld the governor’s salary unless he yielded to their wishes

ii. He was normally in need of money – that’s why he was forced to go to America – so the tactic usually worked

iii. British authorities should’ve arranged to pay them from independent sources. This generated a spirit of revolt

e. Administration at the Local Level

i. New England – Town meeting (open voting and open discussion – direct democracy)

ii. Middle Colonies – A modification of the New England and Southern local governments

iii. South – County government

f. Voting

i. Religious or property qualifications for voting existed in all the colonies. ½ adult white males were disenfranchised. The upper classes were fearful of democratic excesses and weren’t willing to grant suffrage to everyone

ii. However, suffrage was not beyond the reach of most enterprising colonists. Yet, eligible voters often did not vote because they left it up to the upper class unless someone corrupt was in office

iii. There were even stiffer qualifications for officeholding

g. America Democratic?

i. By 1775, America was not yet a true democracy. However, it was far more democratic than England and the European continent

ii. Colonial institutions were giving freer rein to the democratic ideals of:

1. Tolerance

2. Educational advantages

3. Equality of economic opportunity

4. Freedom of speech

5. Freedom of press

6. Freedom of assembly

7. Representative government

XIII. Colonial Folkways

a. Life in Colonial America

i. Life was drab and tedious

ii. People labored from dawn until dusk

b. Food in Colonial America

i. Was plentiful

ii. Ate more meat than people in the Old World

c. Shelter in Colonial America

i. Basic comforts now taken for granted were lacking:

1. Churches and homes were poorly heated

2. No running water

3. No plumbing

4. No bathtubs

5. Candles and oil lamps provided faint and flickering light

6. Garbage was dumped on the streets. Hogs and vultures would eat the garbage

d. Leisure Time in Colonial America

i. Militia assembled periodically for several days of drilling, interspersed with merrymaking and flirting

ii. Funerals and weddings allowed for a social gathering and drinking

iii. House-raising, quilting bees, husking bees, and apple parings

iv. Winter sports

v. Card playing

vi. Horse racing

vii. Billiards (brought over by Dutch and English settlers)

viii. Cockfighting

ix. Fox hunting

x. Dancing was favored in the South (square dance)

xi. Lotteries were used to raise money for churches and colleges, including Harvard

xii. Plays (popular in the South, but frowned upon in Quaker and Puritan colonies (and in some places forbidden by law – some thought it was time consuming and immoral))

e. Holidays

i. Christmas – Frowned upon in New England as an offensive reminder of “Popery.” “Yuletide is fooltide” was a common Puritan sneer

ii. Thanksgiving – Combined thanks to God with an opportunity for socialization and drinking

f. Commonalities in the Colonies

i. All were basically:

1. English in language and customs

2. Protestant in religion

3. Had other faiths, which allowed for some degree of religious toleration

4. Had opportunities for social mobility

5. Possessed some measure of self-government, but it wasn’t a complete democracy

6. British North America by 1775 looked like a patchwork quilt – each part slightly different, but stitched together by:

a. Common origins

b. Common ways of life

c. Common beliefs in toleration, economic development, and above all, self-rule