Life in Colonial America

Anne Bradstreet She was the first published poet in America with a book of her poetry published in One of the first settlers to the Plymouth Colony with John Winthrop.

Cotton Mather and Smallpox An epidemic of smallpox struck Boston in Cotton Mather used knowledge from the Turks and enslaved Africans to find a cure for smallpox. Cotton Mather was also influential during the Salem Witch Trials.

Mennonites Mennonites- America’s first large group of German immigrants. Lived in Pennsylvania, and they became known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Wanted religious freedom. Believed in separation of church and state, and they believed in being baptized when you become Christian.

John Peter Zenger’s Case (1734) New York’s royal governor (Cosby) removes New York Supreme Court Chief Justice (Morris) from office. Morris hires Zenger, a printer, to publish an anti- government newspaper. Zenger is arrested for libel, which is published defamation, because criticizing a royal authority was against the law. Zenger’s lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, argued that freedom of the press would stop government from being corrupt. The jury sided with Zenger, and his case gives us freedom of the press.

Gullah White planters would try and keep their African slaves as separated as possible, even to the point of using slaves who spoke different languages. South Carolina’s rice crop needed a large workforce that worked together, and these African slaves overcame the language barrier. Gullah was a mixture of English and African words (think about Spanglish today), and it helped the Africans retain their culture and mix their cultures together.

Oppression and Resistance Disobedient slaves were whipped, beaten, branded, and had their fingers or toes amputated. Slaves resisted slavery with passive resistance- worked slowly, lost/broke tools, or didn’t work hard. Some slaves would escape, earn money and purchase their freedom, or they were freed.

Stono Rebellion The governor of Spanish Florida offered refuge and land to slaves in order to weaken South Carolina’s economy slaves attacked their white overseers at Stono River, steal their guns, and attack whites as they travel south. A South Carolina militia kill over half of the slaves involved. Rebellions like the Stono Rebellion lead to harsher punishments and stricter control on the plantations.

Enlightenment Challenged Church authority in relation to science, and eventually was used to challenge government authority. Elevated the power of human reasoning. Social, political, and economic relationships were based on natural laws – and reason could find out what these laws were. Rationalism-The emphasis on logic and reasoning. Use Rationalism to find those natural laws.

John Locke He wrote Essay on Human Understanding- he believed people were born with minds that were blank slates that were molded by society. The Church taught people were born sinners, Locke taught people could become better humans. He also believed all people had rights.

Jean Jacques Rousseau He wrote The Social Contract – which stated his beliefs on how a government should be formed by the consent of the people. The people also had the power.

Baron de Montesquieu He wrote Spirit of the Laws where he says a government should have a Judicial, Executive, and Legislative branch. These branches would prevent a government from becoming corrupt.

The Great Awakening The decline in religious devotion and teachings of the Enlightenment led to the Great Awakening- the revival of religious fervor in colonies and dependence on God. Jonathan Edwards preached fire and brimstone sermons like “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. He thought you should have an internal emotional experience to bring you closer to God. George Whitefield challenged Church authority by warning people to be careful of listening to preachers not born again. John Wesley was the founder of Methodism in the 1730s/1740s.

Religions We Know Today Baptists gained a large membership in the South because of its emotional and energetic preaching, it was against the brutality of slavery, and it taught all people were equal before God. A large population of slaves became Baptists.