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No video Questions today. Working Lives of Early Americans. Population Growth. 1650: 50,000 whites 1700: 225,00 whites, 5,000 blacks 1775: 1,690,000 whites, 500,000 blacks Population growth of 3% a year between 1720 and 1775 ( England about 1%)
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Population Growth • 1650: 50,000 whites • 1700: 225,00 whites, 5,000 blacks • 1775: 1,690,000 whites, 500,000 blacks • Population growth of 3% a year between 1720 and 1775 (England about 1%) • 80% of population growth due to natural increase • Concentration of population in Chesapeake /New England
Best poor man’s country • 18th C see an increase in population in middle colonies • Major region William Penn’s Philadelphia & Pennsylvania • More tolerant • More land • More freedom
Agriculture • 80-90% of households involved in farming • Close link with environment, hard physical labor. Agrarian Republic concept. • Importance of family labor, women and children. • Variety of crops, staples and food, regional variations • Seasonality of work - affected society, eg conception rate lowest during harvest • Farms/agriculture North v South
Year of a tobacco farmer • Jan - Seed tobacco beds • Feb - Made hills with hoe • Mar - Sow corn • Apr - Made more hills • May - Transplant tobacco, one to each hill • Jun - Top the plants to encourage growth • Jul - Removes suckers • Aug - Cut tobacco • Sept - Harvest corn • Oct - Cask tobacco in ‘hogsheads’ • Nov - Finish corn • Dec - Clear and Burn field
Agricultural Exports • Tobacco: • 1700 - 32 million lbs • 1770 - 83.8 million lbs • Market Value = £700,000 • Rice • 1710 - 1.6 million lbs • 1770 - 76.9 million lbs • Market value = £400,000
Urbanisation • Rapid growth of American cities • Importance of town planning • Urban populations in 1775 • Philadelphia 40,000 • New York, 25,000 • Boston, 15,000 • Charles-Town, 12,000
Effect of Urbanization • Specialization of labor • Diversification of jobs • Growth of professional classes of merchants, lawyers, doctors, newspaper editors • Concentration of artisans (18% of colonial popn) esp skilled ones, shopkeepers, petty capitalism • Education becomes important
Rich vs Poor • 18th C sees increased wealth inequality • Boston • 1687, richest 15% owned 50% of wealth • 1770 they owned 66% of wealth • South Carolina • 1730s, richest 10% owned 49% of wealth • 1770s they owned 56% of wealth. • Proportion owned by poorest falls
Dealing with Poverty • Poor mainly the sick, old, orphaned, and infirm, not the unemployed. Similar perceptions to England • Poor usually assisted by local government, either county court, or Anglican parish vestry - money raised through taxation • Poor have to apply for help • Most assistance is ‘outdoor relief’ i.e. cash / goods given to pauper or carer
Urban Poverty • Growing problem in 18thC, ports attract immigrants, often sick, poor etc on arrival • Appearance of first charitable societies, often organized for immigrants • German Friendly Society in Charles-Town, 1766. • Civic response is institutionalization: • Boston pre 1700; N.Y., 1736; Charles-Town, 1738; Philadelphia, 1767; Baltimore, 1773. • Desire to control poor, more prescriptive, less generous than rural areas.
Conclusions • 18th early America increasingly economically diverse. • Most people in work, long hours, securing future of family • Poverty significant problem only in the cities
Portfolio • 1st block to be handed in on Thursday 15th October • PaperA 2000 word paper (+/- 10%) page research paper, topic to be of students choosing in consultation with professor. Due Thursday 5th November
The Trial of Peter Zenger 1735 New York.
August 1731 William Cosby arrived in New York as Governor • Awkward man to deal with • Spiteful • Greedy • quick tempered and dull • Until arrival a member of New York’s Provincial Council, Rip Van Dam, stood in as a temporary Governor.
After arriving in New York • Demanded half of Van Dam’s salary • Van Dam’s reply • Split that salary as long as he received half of all the perks that Cosby had gained • Cosby would not agree • filed a law suit to get the money without giving anything up.
Cosby ordered the Supreme Court to hear the case without a jury • Van Dam challenged • an attempt by to avoid the law of New York • Legality of Cosby’s decision was put ironically before the Supreme Court • The Court voted in Cosby’s favor by a 2 to 1 Majority. • Cosby sent a letter to the dissenting judge, Chief Justice Lewis Morris • Demanded to know why he had dissented.
Morris explained his position • Rather than sending a private letter • Answer published in a pamphlet for all to see • published by Peter Zenger • Cosby’s reaction • fire Morris and replace him • James Delancey • a Cosby supporter
Van Dam, Morris, attorney James Alexander form opposition party to Cosby • Cosby took his battle to the press • installed his man at the only full time newspaper in New York • New York Gazette. • Opposition group went to the only other printer in town • John Peter Zenger • to start a second New York Newspaper • New York Weekly Journal. • Paper published details of Judge Morris’ election as an Assemblyman • Despite Cosby’s best attempts to rig the election.
After a couple of months of attacks Cosby attempted to close the Journal down. • Twice asked a grand jury (the people) to return indictments on libel • Twice refused. • After failing to get a indictment Cosby went after it by short changing the law.
He asked his attorney general to present the information in front of the Chief Justices • his appointed men • Bench warrant for Zenger’s arrest • Zenger’s attorny’s • James Alexander and William Smith • Disbarred when they objected to the fact that the trial was to be heard by two Chief Justices, Philipse and Delancey – both hand picked by Cosby
After this one of the country’s foremost attorneys Andrew Hamilton signed on to represent Zenger. • Cosby then tried to rig the jury but this was too much even for his judges.
The charge was libel • the truth was not a defense against libel at this time • libel was simply writing bad things about the government. • Hamilton’s Defense was a surprise he did not deny that Zenger had published the Journal • The judge instructed the jury that they could not judge on the libel but only on if Zenger had printed the Journal. • And then leave it to the court to decide if there were libel.
Hamilton’s closing speech • Hamilton’s summation in response to this however brought up his real point as the following quotation show “I know, may it please Your Honor, the jury may do so. But I do likewise know that they may do otherwise. I know that they have the right beyond all dispute to determine both the law and the fact; and where they do not doubt of the law, they ought to do so. Leaving it to judgment of the court whether the words are libelous or not in effect renders juries useless (to say no worse) in many cases.”
And further he was to explain “The question before the Court and you, Gentlemen of the jury, is not of small or private concern. It is not the cause of one poor printer, nor of New York alone, which you are now trying. No! It may in its consequence affect every free man that lives under a British government on the main of America. It is the best cause. It is the cause of liberty. ”
The Jury retired and declared Zenger Not Guilty • Technique Hamilton had used was know as Jury Nullification • jury returns a verdict of "Not Guilty" despite its belief that the defendant is guilty of the violation charged. • Jury nullifies a law it believes is either immoral or wrongly applied to the defendant whose fate that are charged with deciding.
Decision shows two things • That the people of New York, and broader America, believed that free speech was part of their liberty • That they as a people would not accept unrestrained control by the officials of Britain.
Georgia: Enlightenment Utopia • Founded 1733 experiment in Enlightenment belief in social improvement • James Oglethorpe • Land would be given away rather than sold
Founders planned to produce silk and wine • items no other colony had yet succeeded in producing • Banned slavery and hard liquor • In practice, the experiment failed miserably • Land unsuited for planned crops • Settlers demanded access to alcohol • Gradually came to accept need to use slave labor
Spread of Enlightenment values through the colonies • Found ready audience among colonial elites • Rise of professions • Emergence of trained lawyers and doctors also helped to spread Enlightenment ideas through the colonies
The Great Awakening • Swept Protestant world in 1730s and early 1740s • Evangelical • Emphasis on personal conversion experience • William Tennent • Pennsylvania • Log Cabin College • Jonathan Edwards • 1734-35 Connecticut • A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God (1737) • Revival • An emotional Response to God’s Word that brought sudden conversion to scores of people
Wesley and Whitfield • Transatlantic Awakening • John Wesley – Georgia 1735 • George Wesley – Georgia • Bethesda Orphanage • 1739 Wesley returns to America • Huge meetings
Gender & Great Awakening • Initially Male • Finally more women than men experienced conversion • 1800 majority • De facto control of church’s
Split established denominations • Evangelical and non-evangelical sects • Presbyterian • Old side – anti revival • New side – pro revival • Congregationalist • Old Light – anti revival • New light – pro revival • Gave rise to Baptists, Methodists, and other evangelical denominations
Led to the founding of several new colleges • 1740 – Three colleges in America • Harvard • William and Mary • Yale • Evangelicals wanted to display their commitment to education and learning • College of New Jersey • 1st class 1748 • Moved to Princeton in 1756 • College of Rhode Island – Brown • Queens College – Rutgers
Eleazer Wheelock • School for Indians • Samson Occum • Dartmouth • Anglican non revivalist tried to compete • College of Philadelphia/University of Philadelphia • King’s College/ Columbia University
Resulted in religious transformation of America • 1700 • Three main churches • 1) Congregationalist in New England • 2) Quaker in Delaware Valley • 3) Anglicans in the south • 1800 • 1) Methodists • 2) Baptists • 3)Presbyterians
Secular Explanations • Possible socio-economic reasons for encouraging a return to religion. • War of Austrian Succession, started1739, disrupted trade and led to • economic stagnation • falling living standards • growth in poverty and vagrancy in America. • 1737-8 diphtheria epidemic in New England killed about 20,000 colonists, mainly children • Slave rebellion
Disease, warfare, rebellion & shifting population • demonstrated fragility of life, and the immediacy of death. • Charismatic preachers who told of the importance of repentance yet who promised salvation, more likely to be effective.
Conclusions • Did Great Awakening help to create a climate for revolution? • Severed some of the religious links between the colonies and Great Britain • especially between the ordinary people and the Anglican church. • The first pan-colonial event • touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of colonists • a common religious experience • helped to define the American character.
Stimulated mass communications • newspapers, letters, and publishing. • Information forms were to prove valuable during the war of Independence. • Gave revolutionaries a Calvinist language which they used against the British. • e.g emphasis that loyalty to God over-rides loyalty to state • Tied in with Republican thought concerning the ability of subjects to legitimately dissolve the bonds between them and the King.
