1. The Thirteen English Colonies, 1630–1750
The American Nation
Chapter 4 – Section 5 –
Life in the Colonies
The Thirteen English Colonies, 1630–1750
Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

2. Life in the Colonies Objectives to learn:
Chapter 4, Section 5
Objectives to learn:
What class differences existed in colonial society?
How did the Great Awakening affect the colonies?
How did the colonists educate their children?
How were the colonies affected by the spread of new ideas?

3. What was life like in the colonies?
Chapter 4, Section 5
Colonial Society Social Classes
Gentry - wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, lawyers, royal officials
Middle Class - farmers, craftsworkers, trades people; ¾ of white colonists
Lower Class - farmhands, indentured servants (people who signed contracts to work without wages for 4 to 7 in return for their ocean passage) and slaves

4. What was life like for women in Colonial Society?
Job was to take care of household, husband, and children
In Backcountry – worked in fields with husbands.
In cities- worked outside the home (ex. maids, cooks, nurses, midwives, seamstresses)
Some inherited trades and businesses from their fathers (ex. Butchers, shoemakers, silversmiths, printers)
Did not have formal education
Dame schools = private schools run by women in their own homes

5. What was life like for Africans in Colonial Society?
Enslaved on rice, tobacco, and indigo plantations
Language was influenced by African culture – Gullah = language enslaved Africans spoke that included a distinctive combination of English and African languages
Along the coasts – enslaved in shipbuilding industry
Some were enslaved, skilled craftsmen
Some bought freedom
1700s – African population increased

6. Life on Colonial Farms (2:32)

7. Changes in Population with the Colonies (3:03)

8. Colonial Life (3:20)

9. What was the Great Awakening?
Chapter 4, Section 5
Religious movement of the 1730s and 1740s
Began with powerful ministers:
Jonathon Edwards
George Whitefield
Caused many people to split from their old churches and start new ones
Growth of so many churches = people became more tolerant of different religious beliefs
New religions focused less on formal training and more on the holy spirit
Impact = Encouraged a spirit of independence.
Independence with government???
Influenced leaders in the American Revolution???

10. The Great Awakening (1:22)****

11. What was education like in the colonies?
Chapter 4, Section 5
New England
Focus on religion
Public schools = schools supported by taxes.
One-room school house
Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies
Apprenticeships
Private schools
Education only for the wealthy.
Tutors = private teachers.
Wealthy sons went to schools in England.
Education illegal for slaves.
Boys learned a trade/craft by living with a master and working for free in return for training.

12. Education in the Colonies (3:22)

13. What new ideas spread in the colonies in the 1700s?
Chapter 4, Section 5
Enlightenment:
Movement started in Europe
Applied reason and logic instead of superstition to understand the world
John Locke = English philosopher wrote people could gain knowledge by observing and experimenting
Benjamin Franklin = Enlightenment thinker who used reason to invent useful devices to improve his world
Colonial Cities
Growth of cultural events (ex. Theater)
1st weekly newspaper = John Campbell’s Boston News-Letter (in 1704)
Growth of colonial newspapers = example of freedom of the press = John Peter Zenger’s trial for libel (the act of publishing a statement that may unjustly damage a person’s reputation).

14. Ben Franklin – An Enlightened Thinker (3:48)***

15. Successes of Ben Franklin (1:05)

16. Ben Franklin and Electricity (2:24)

17. Franklin’s Successes with Communication ((:43)

18. Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac (:44)

19. Diversity in Philadelphia and Impact of Ben Franklin on the City (1:10)

20. The Colonies at the Turn of the 18th Century (:54)

21. Section 5 Assessment The Great Awakening encouraged people to
Chapter 4, Section 5
The Great Awakening encouraged people to
a) remain in the churches they had grown up with.
b) worship in a calm, quiet atmosphere.
c) separate religion and politics.
d) think more independently about their political rights and governments.
Benjamin Franklin is a good example of the Enlightenment spirit because he
a) used reason to invent practical devices and create public services.
b) used reason to argue that John Peter Zenger had not committed libel.
c) rose from the lower class to the middle class.
d) published the first regular weekly newspaper in the English colonies.
Want to connect to the American History link for this section? Click here.

22. Section 5 Assessment The Great Awakening encouraged people to
Chapter 4, Section 5
The Great Awakening encouraged people to
a) remain in the churches they had grown up with.
b) worship in a calm, quiet atmosphere.
c) separate religion and politics.
d) think more independently about their political rights and governments.
Benjamin Franklin is a good example of the Enlightenment spirit because he
a) used reason to invent practical devices and create public services.
b) used reason to argue that John Peter Zenger had not committed libel.
c) rose from the lower class to the middle class.
d) published the first regular weekly newspaper in the English colonies.
Want to connect to the American History link for this section? Click here.