Unit 1 1607-1763

1. Unit 11607-1763 Part 4

2. Three Regions: • Southern • Middle • New England

3. Southern • One crop farming: rice, tobacco, indigo, cotton after 1793 • Plantation System = need for cheap labor • Indentured Servitude • Slavery after Bacon’s Rebellion • Piedmont area: small farms, poor, far from water • Navigable rivers

4. Middle • Large family farms; estates • Produced grain, livestock • Navigable rivers = no need for towns

5. New England • Crumby land, climate • Lumbering, ship building, fishing • Small family farms • Religious issues set New England apart

6. Colonial Society: Much Social Mobility • The Upper Crust: Large landowners in south & mid section, NE merchants, ship owners, clergy • Puritan work ethic…God and material gain • Lowest class: Indentured Servants: often traded passage for years of service BUT no stigma • In 1660 13 of the 28 members of the House of Burgesses had been indentured servants

7. Slavery • First here in 1619…brought by a Dutch ship to Jamestown but no one interested • Not commonplace until after Bacon’s Rebellion • Most slaves were used in MINING • Came to America via the Middle Passage • Savage treatment • 30% died on the way • 11 million total…forced migration

8. Slavery • Slaves not protected by tradition, law or the Church • 1663 in Maryland: All African slaves were slaves for life • Citizens could not free slaves if they wanted to • Children of slaves same status • Families were split up • Marriages not considered legally binding

9. Slaves • Slavery was considered absolutely necessary for the southern economy • Education of slaves was forbidden in most of the South • BUT slaves were not cheap. As valuable property, they were treated fairly well (considering)

10. Slaves • By 1672, the British had taken over the slave trade (asiento) from the Spanish • Monopoly was given to the Royal African Co. by the crown • Many northerners were morally opposed to slavery (Quakers) • Before cotton was king, more slaves were used in the mining industry than on tobacco plantations • By the Revolution, Slavery was legal in ALL colonies

11. Native Americans • 1600 100,000 Native Americans in NE • 1675 10,000 left…mostly smallpox • English policy was extermination EXCEPT for the Iroquois • View: Natives did not have permanent dwellings so no crime in taking their land • Puritans believed natives were children of the Devil

12. Native Americans • Introduced colonists to corn and planting, girdling trees, fertilizing, dog issues • Natives were more skillful in battle but could not organize themselves • Were undone by smallpox and rum

13. The English and the Native Americans • First major conflict: 1637 The Pequot War in Conn. • 1675 King Philip’s War in Mass. (Chief Metacomet of the Wanpanoaga tribe) • The English won in both cases

14. Culture and Education • Not much leisure time for the arts • Puritans thought most of it was vanity • Music, theater were immoral • Practical arts OK: furniture, baskets, quilting BUT not fancy…plain and useful • Portraits were OK too

15. Noteworthy portrait Painters: • John Copley • Benjamin West • By 18th C. architecture was Georgian Style

16. Literature • Sermons like Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by preacher Jonathan Edwards • Histories like A History of the Plymouth Plantation by Bradford • Diaries, Almanacs, etc • Poetry by Anne Bradstreet

17. The Scarlet Letter • By Hawthorn • Written LATER • BUT was a commentary on Puritan New England

18. Education • Most important in New England • Puritan belief: All (even girls) should be able to read the Bible • 1636 Harvard established to train ministers • 1647 Mass. General School Act: communities taxed to provide for free public schools

19. Education • Middle Colonies: some schools; most through religious groups • BUT Middle colonies had the widest variety of religious denominations • South: few schools. Farms too spread out. Not practical BUT wealthy had governesses and tutors

20. Education • All colonial schools were primitive: few books, worked around the growing season • BUT higher proportion of literacy in the colonies in America than anywhere else on earth • At first universities only to train ministers • Later (18th C.) a growing interest in science

21. Universities • The Enlightenment caused folks to demand university courses in science and universities responded • Colleges brought men together and served to break down local loyalties

22. Religion • Greatest variety in the Middle colonies • NE: Congregationalists and other Protestant groups • South: Anglican and others • All religions NOT equal before the law even after the Glorious Revolution

23. The First Great Awakening 1730-1744 • A colony-wide religious revival • Salvation through the grace of God • Message away from doctrine • Preached Hellfire and brimstone • J. Edwards and Sinners in the Hands… • Gilbert Tenant (Presbyterian) in Middle colonies • George Whitefield (Methodist but preached in many colonies. He had impressed Benjamin Franklin who was a Deist.

24. The First Great Awakening • Reduced the sharpness of the differences between the colonies • People confessed their sins openly • Sermons scared them to death • By 1744 it was over • People joined Anglican church. They were embarrassed by their emotional excesses

25. The Enlightenment(The Age of Reason) • Emphasized reliance on reason; rational thinking • Newton’s Natural Laws of the universe • Adam Smith: Supply and demand ARE natural laws of economics • The well-rounded man: Jefferson and Franklin (Did they represent the typical American or were they exceptional?)

26. Deism • The “rational” religion • Accepted the existence of a creator • BUT once the universe was created, the Creator’s presence was not necessary as natural laws of the universe kept things running. • Jefferson, Franklin and most other real students of the Enlightenment embraced Deism…God as a watchmaker.

27. Science • Professorships in science were offered at Wm and Mary, Harvard, King’s College (now Columbia) • Rittenhouse built the first American Orrery (model of the solar system) • 25 Americans were elected to the Royal Society to Promote Scientific Knowledge

28. The Enlightenment • Cotton Mather (one of our foremost experts on witches and witchcraft) promoted inoculation against smallpox • John Bartram (an American) was appointed royal botanist to King George III • John Locke: Man can gain knowledge and power over the universe through observation and experiment.

29. Newspapers and books • Type and paper were expensive so there were few subscribers to newspapers, etc, BUT many, many readers • Peter Zenger 1734 NY brought charges in the press against NY’s Royal Governor. Was jailed, tried but acquitted. Not guilty since charges were true…a landmark case for freedom of the press

30. The Calendar • Until 1752 Dutch, Germans, Swedes and most from the continent used the New Style calendar • The English used the Julian (old style) calendar • A ten-day problem with some holidays • The English switched over • Also, NE Congregationalists and Delaware Quakers had their own version of the Julian calendar…stripped of pagan references

31. Crime and Punishment • Few incarcerations…too costly to the community • Public humiliation or execution instead • Funerals more public and social than weddings • Recreation: sledding, sleigh rides where there were horses and snow, hunting, fishing, horse racing, bull baiting, cock fighting

32. The Sabbath • Celebrated differently depending on where one was • Puritans: Rigid. Could not grind corn, or work at all. The sheriff could not even arrest criminals • The Dutch: taverns were open

33. Trivia • Bed and Board (Chairman) • Diets (beverages until mid 17th C not much) • Trenchers • Cutlery • Bathing • Home Heating • Chimney cleaning • To crack a smile… • Marriage Age…lower as time went on