The American Pageant, 16th Edition, AP Edition

Chapter 5: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution (1700 – 1775)

I. Conquest by the Cradle
• A distinguishing characteristic shared by the rebellious colonies was population growth:
− 1700: There were fewer than 300,000 souls, about 20,000 of whom were black.
− 1775: 2.5 million inhabited the thirteen colonies, of whom half a million were black.
− White immigrants were nearly 400,000; black “forced immigrants” were about the same.
• The colonists were doubling their numbers every twenty-five years.
• 1775: The average age was about sixteen.
• 1700: There were twenty English subjects for each American colonist.
• 1775: The English advantage had fallen to three to one.
• The balance of power was shifting.
• The most populous colonies in 1775 were Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and
Maryland—in that order.
• Only four cities were of any size: Philadelphia with 34,000, trailed by New York, Boston, and Charleston.
• About 90% of colonists lived in rural areas.
II. A Mingling of the Races
• America was a melting pot from beginning, with numerous foreign groups.
• Germans were about 6% or 150,000 by 1775:
− They fled religious persecution, economic oppression, and war in the 1700s and settled chiefly in
Pennsylvania.
− They were primarily Lutherans.
− Known Pennsylvania Dutch, they were 1/3 of the colony’s population, living in the backcountry.
• Scots-Irish numbered around 175,000, or 7% of the population, by 1775:
− Although non-English, they spoke English.
− Over centuries they had been transplanted to northern Ireland.
− Their economic life had been hampered.
− In the early 1700s ten of thousands came to America.
− They became the first settlers of the West.
− When they came up against the Allegheny Mountains, they moved southward to Maryland and
down Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
− They built flimsy log cabins.
− They proved to be superb frontiersmen.
− By the 1800s, they had settled along the eastern Appalachian foothills.
− Pugnacious, lawless, and individualistic, they brought the Scottish secret of whiskey distilling.
− They cherished no love for the British government, or any other government.
− 1764: The Paxton Boys marched on Philadelphia.
− A few years later, they spearheaded the Regulator movement in North Carolina.
• About 5% were other European groups:
− French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss, and Scots Highlanders
• 49% of population = Anglo-Saxon
• Africans were the largest non-English group:
− They were 20% of the colonial population in 1775.
− The South held 90% of slaves.
• New England had the least ethnic diversity.
• The middle colonies, especially Pennsylvania, received the bulk of later white immigrants.
• Outside of New England about one-half were non-English in 1775.
• Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, 18 were non-English and 8 were not born
in the colonies.
The American Pageant, 16th Edition, AP Edition
• These immigrants laid the foundations for a new multicultural American national identity as different
groups intermingled.
• Likewise, the African American community was quite variegated in its cultural origins.
• In New England “praying towns” and in Great Lakes villages, different groups of displaced Native
Americans intermingled.
III. Africans in America
• In the deepest South, slave life was severe:
− The climate was hostile to health.
− The labor was life-draining.
− The rice and indigo plantations were a lonely life.
• Blacks in the tobacco-growing Chesapeake region had a somewhat easier lot:
− Tobacco plantations were larger and closer to one another than rice plantations.
− The size and proximity of plantations permitted slaves more visits with friends and relatives.
− As the population of female slaves rose by 1720, family life was possible.
− Growth was then mainly by natural increase, while the deeper South still depended on
importation of slaves.
• Number of slaves in the North grew as well.
• The language Gullah evolved among South Carolina blacks.
• Slaves helped build country with their labor:
− Some artisans: carpenters, bricklayers, tanners.
− Mostly manual laborers: cleared swamps, etc.
• Slaves resisted their oppression:
− 1712: New York slave revolt
− 1739: South Carolina slave revolt on Stono River
IV. The Structure of Colonial Society
• America seemed a shining land of equality and opportunity, except for slavery.
• But on the eve of revolution, America was showing signs of stratification and barriers to mobility:
− Wars enriched merchant princes in New England and the middle colonies.
− Wars created a class of widows and orphans.
• In New England, with open land less available, descendants faced limited prospects:
− Farms got smaller.
− Younger children were hired out as wage laborers.
− Boston’s homeless poor increased.
• In the South, large plantations continued their disproportionate ownership of slaves:
− The largest slaveowners increased their wealth.
− Poor whites increasingly became tenant farmers.
• Lower classes further swelled by the stream of indentured servants:
− Many ultimately achieved prosperity.
− Two signed the Declaration of Independence.
− Less fortunate were 50,000 paupers and convicts (“jayle birds”) involuntarily shipped to America.
• Least fortunate of all were the black slaves:
− They enjoyed no equality with whites.
− They were oppressed and downtrodden.
− Some white colonists worried about the growing number of slaves in colonies.
− British authorities, however, resisted any attempt to limit the transatlantic slave trade.
V. Clerics, Physicians, and Jurists
• Colonial professions:
− Most honored was the Christian ministry, but by 1775 ministers had less influence than earlier.
− Most physicians were poorly trained.
The American Pageant, 16th Edition, AP Edition
− First medical school was established in 1765.
− Aspiring young doctors served as apprentices.
− At first, lawyers were not favorably regarded.
VI. Workaday America
• Agriculture was the leading occupation, employing 90% of people:
− Tobacco the main crop of Maryland and Virginia.
− Middle (“bread”) colonies produced much grain.
− Overall, Americans enjoyed a higher standard of living than the masses of any country.
− Fishing ranked far below agriculture, yet was rewarding, with a bustling commerce.
− Commercial ventures were another path to wealth.
• Triangular trade was very profitable.
• Manufacturing was of secondary importance.
• Household manufacturing (spinning and weaving by women) added impressive output.
• Skilled craftspeople few and highly prized.
• Lumbering was the most important manufacturing activity.
• Colonial naval stores were also highly valued.
• But an imbalance of trade developed by 1730s.
• 1733: British passed Molasses Act to squelch North American trade w/ French West Indies.
• Americans responded with smuggling.
• This foreshadowed the impending imperial crisis:
− Headstrong Americans would rather revolt than submit to dictates of a far-off Parliament that
seemed bent on destroying their livelihood.

VII. Horsepower and Sailpower

• America, with a scarcity of money and workers, suffered oppressive transportation problems:
− Roads did not connect to major cities until 1700s.
− Roads were often clouds of dust in summer and quagmires of mud in winter.
− Dangers included tree-strewn roads, rickety bridges, carriage overturns, and runaway horses.
− Population clustered along banks of navigable rivers.
• Taverns sprang up along main routes.
• Gossips also gathered at taverns.
• Taverns helped crystallize public opinion and proved to be hotbeds of agitation as the revolutionary
movement gathered momentum.
• Mid-1700s: Intercolonial postal system started.
VIII. Dominant Denominations
• 1775: Anglican and Congregational the tax-supported “established” churches.
• Most people did not worship in any church.
• In colonies that had established churches, only a minority belonged.
• The Church of England:
− Members were called Anglicans.
− Official faith in Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, part of New York.
− In England, it was a major prop of kingly authority.
− In America, the Anglican Church fell short of its promise.
− It was less fierce and more worldly than the religion of Puritanical New England.
− Sermons were shorter.
− 1693: The college of William and Mary (Virginia) was established to train a better class of clergy
• Congregational Church:
− It grew out of the Puritan Church.
− It was formally established in New England (except Rhode Island).
The American Pageant, 16th Edition, AP Edition
− At first it was supported by taxing all residents.
− Congregational and Presbyterian ministers grappled with political questions.
− Anglican ministers hesitated to resist the crown.
• For the time, religious toleration in colonies.
IX. The Great Awakening
• Spiritual conditions of the colonies:
− In all colonial churches, religion was less fervid in early eighteenth century than before.
− The Puritan churches in particular sagged under the weight of two burdens:
• Their elaborate theological doctrines
• Their compromising efforts to liberalize membership requirements
• Clerical intellectualism sapped the spiritual vitality from many denominations.
• Arminianism—Jacobus Arminius challenged the Calvinist doctrine of predestination:
− He claimed that all humans, not just the “elect,” could be saved if they accepted God’s grace.
− This doctrine was considered a “heresy.”
• 1730s–1740s: Great Awakening exploded:
− Started by Jonathan Edwards in Massachusetts.
− Sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”:
• Warned that relying on “good works” was a folly
• Said Christians must depend solely on God’s grace
• Provided lurid detail on hell
• George Whitefield’s evangelical preaching revolutionized spiritual life in the colonies.
• Orthodox clergymen (old lights) were skeptical of the emotionalism and theatrical antics used by
revivalists.
• New lights defended the Awakening for revitalizing American religion.
• Congregationalists and Presbyterians split over this issue, and many joined the Baptists or Methodists.
• The Awakening left many lasting effects:
− The emphasis on direct, emotive spirituality seriously undermined the old clergy.
− Many schisms increased the number and competitiveness of American churches.
− It encouraged new waves of missionary work.
− It led to the founding of colleges.
− It was the first spontaneous mass movement.
− It contributed to a growing sense of Americanism.
X. Schools and Colleges
• Education was first reserved for the aristocratic few:
− Education should be for leadership, not citizenship, and primarily for males.
− Puritans were more zealous in education.
− The primary goal of the clergy was to make good Christians rather than good citizens.
• A more secular approach was evident by the 1800s.
• Educational trends:
− Education for boys flourished.
− New England established schools, but the quality and length of instruction varied widely.
− The South, because of geography, was severely hampered in establishing effective school
systems.
− Wealthy southern families leaned heavily on private tutors.
• The general atmosphere in colonial schools and colleges was grim and gloomy:
− They emphasized religion and classical languages (Latin and Greek).
− They focused on doctrine and dogma, not reason and experiment.
− Discipline was severe.
− College education was geared toward preparing men for the ministry.
The American Pageant, 16th Edition, AP Edition
• Nine colleges were established during the colonial era:
− Student enrollments were small, about 200.
− Instruction was poor, with curriculum heavily loaded with theology and “dead languages.”
− By 1750, there was a distinct trend toward “live” languages and modern subjects.
− Ben Franklin helped launch the University of Pennsylvania, first college free from any church.
XI. A Provincial Culture
• Art and culture still had European tastes, especially British.
• Colonial contributions:
− John Trumbull (1756–1843) was a painter.
− Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827), known for his portrait of George Washington, ran a museum.
− Benjamin West (1738–1820) and John Singleton Copley (1738–1815) were famous painters.
• Other colonial contributions:
− Architecture was largely imported and modified to meet peculiar conditions of the New World.
− The log cabin was borrowed from Sweden.
− 1720: Red-bricked Georgian style introduced.
− Noteworthy literature was the poetry of enslaved Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753–1784).
− Benjamin Franklin wrote Poor Richard’s Almanack.
• Science was slowly making progress:
− A few botanists, mathematicians, and astronomers won repute.
− Benjamin Franklin was considered the only first-rank scientist produced in the American
colonies.
XII. Pioneer Presses
• Americans were generally too poor to buy books and too busy to read:
− Byrd family of Virginia had largest collection, about 4,000 volumes.
− Benjamin Franklin established in Philadelphia the first privately supported circulating library.
− By 1776 there were about 50 public libraries and collections supported by subscription.
• Printing presses:
− They first printed pamphlets, leaflets, and journals.
− 40 newspapers existed on eve of the Revolution.
− Newspapers were a powerful agency for airing colonial grievances and rallying opposition.
• Zenger trial (1734–1735): John Peter Zenger assailed the corrupt royal governor.
• The Zenger decision helped establish the doctrine that true statements about public officials could not be
prosecuted as libel:
− It was a banner achievement for freedom of the press and for the health of democracy.
− It pointed the way for the open discussion required by the diverse society.
XIII. The Great Game of Politics
• There were three kinds of colonial governors:
− By 1775, eight colonies had royal governors appointed by the king.
− Three had governors selected by proprietors (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware)
− Connecticut and Rhode Island elected their own governors under self-governing charters.
• Each colony had a two-house legislature:
− Upper house was appointed by the crown in 8 royal colonies and by the proprietor in 3
proprietary colonies. It was chosen by voters in 2 self-governing colonies.
− Lower house was the popular branch, elected by the people (property-owners).
• In some colonies the backcountry areas were seriously underrepresented and resented the
colonial elite.
• Self-taxation through representation was a privilege Americans cherished above most others.
• London generally left colonial governors to the mercies of the legislatures.
• Colonial assemblies asserted authority over governors by withholding their salary.
The American Pageant, 16th Edition, AP Edition
• Administration at the local level varied:
− County governments remained the rule in the South.
− Town meetings predominated in New England.
− The middle colonies used a mixture of the two forms.
• Town meetings, with open discussion and open voting, were a cradle of self-government.
• The ballot was by no means a birthright:
− Upper classes, fearful of democratic excesses, were unwilling to grant the ballot to everyone.
− 1775: Still religious and property qualifications.
− About half of adult white males disfranchised.
• But right to vote was not impossible to attain because it was easy to acquire land.
• Yet, eligible voters often did not exercise this privilege; instead they deferred to the elite.
• By 1775 America was not a true democracy socially, economically, or politically.
• But colonies were far more democratic than Europe.
• Democratic seeds were planted, later bringing forth a lush harvest.
XIV. Colonial Folkways
• Everyday life was drab and tedious:
− Food was plentiful, but the diet was coarse and monotonous.
− Basic comforts were lacking.
− Amusement was eagerly pursued where time and custom permitted.
• By 1775, British North America looked like a patchwork quilt:
− Each colony was slightly different, but all were stitched together by common origins, common
ways of life, and common beliefs in toleration, economic development, and self-rule.
− All were physically separated from the seat of imperial authority.
− These facts set the stage for the struggle to unite.
•