1. America’s History Eighth Edition
James A. Henretta
Eric Hinderaker
Rebecca Edwards
Robert O. Self
America’s History Eighth Edition
CHAPTER 4
Growth, Diversity, and Conflict
1720–1763
Copyright © 2014 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. I. New England’s Freehold Society
A. Farm Families: Women in the Household Economy
Women - duty “to love and reverence” husbands
girls learned from mothers - subordinate to fathers
2. Wife as the “helpmate”
Women assumed the role - dutiful helpmates
3. Motherhood
Most married - early twenties - birth 6 or 7 times by their early forties
4. Restrictions
No equality for women within the church; most women accepted such restrictions as social norms
I. New England’s Freehold Society
A. Farm Families: Women in the Household Economy
1. Husband the head of the household – In The Well-Ordered Family (1712), Reverend Benjamin Wadsworth of Boston told women that it was their duty “to love and reverence” their husbands; girls learned from their mothers to be subordinate to their fathers; courts prosecuted more women than men for the crime of fornication.
2. Wife as the “helpmate” – Women assumed the role of dutiful helpmates; they tended gardens, spun thread and yard from flax and wool, wove cloth, knitted sweaters and stockings, made candles and soap, churned milk into butter, fermented malt for beer, preserved meats, and mastered dozens of other household tasks.
3. Motherhood – Most women married in their early twenties and had given birth six or seven times by their early forties. Fear of death during childbirth and the importance of baptism for the new baby were believed to be a reason many Puritan women clung to the church even when fewer men were attending.
4. Restrictions – No equality for women within the church; most women accepted such restrictions as social norms.

3. I. New England’s Freehold Society
B. Farm Property: Inheritance
Family authority
landless children placed as indentured servants
landless men - laborer to tenant to freeholder.
2. Children of wealthy parents
parents choose children’s spouses - economic concerns outweighed love
3. Marriage
Bride gave husband legal ownership of her property
4. Father’s duty
provide inheritance for children or lose status
men moved families to frontier - land cheap and abundant
I. New England’s Freehold Society

4. I. New England’s Freehold Society
C. Freehold Society in Crisis
Population increase
Rapid natural increase doubled population
from 100,000 in Puritan colonies – 1700
2. Changes in family life
Parents provide one child inheritance of land
less control over their children
couples limit family size or moved to the frontiers
3. “Household mode of production”
System of community exchange families swapped labor and goods

5. II. Diversity in the Middle Colonies
A. Economic Growth, Opportunity, and Conflict
1. Tenancy in New York
attract migrants, landowners granted long leases and the rights to sell improvements (houses, barns)
new tools such as the cradle scythe (1750s) increased the amount of grain produced but not enough to enable quick profits and land ownership.
2. Conflict in the Quaker Colonies – Early Quakers had settled in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, building simple homes and getting by with little.
By 1760s, wealthy landowners in eastern Pennsylvania were using slaves and poor immigrants on their farms
a new class of “agricultural capitalists” forming = men who were landlords, speculators, storekeepers, and large-scale farmers
their presence marked the growing divisions between the social classes in the region.

6. II. Diversity in the Middle Colonies
B. Cultural Diversity
1. Religious and ethnic diversity – The city of Philadelphia had more than 12 religious denominations present in 1748
migrants married within their ethnic groups
large population of wealthy Quakers helped to shape the culture of Pennsylvania
pacifists purchased land from Native Americans rather than seizing it
II. Diversity in the Middle Colonies
B. Cultural Diversity 6

7. II. Diversity in the Middle Colonies
2. The German Influx – 100,000 German migrants settled in the Pennsylvania/western New Jersey region in the 17th and 18th centuries
discouraged from marrying outside of their ethnicity; advocated married women having the legal right to hold property and write wills
3. Scots-Irish Settlers – Largest group of migrants came from Ireland, numbering about 115,000
most were Scots and Presbyterians who had faced religious and economic repression by the English
settled in Pennsylvania region for religious tolerance; retained cultural practices.
II. Diversity in the Middle Colonies
B. Cultural Diversity 7

8. II. Diversity in the Middle Colonies
C. Religion and Politics
1. Religious Diversity – Orthodox church officials of several religions brought intolerance to the colonies.
religious groups enforced acceptable behavior through communal self-discipline
Quaker marriage rules maintained that couples have land and livestock; wealthy Quakers encouraged marriage among their children, while the poor remained single or married later in life.
As Quaker population declined by 1750s, religious groups seeking increased political power (Lutherans and Baptists)
II. Diversity in the Middle Colonies

9. III. Commerce, Culture, and Identity
A. Transportation and the Print Revolution
1. Improved transportation networks – From 1700 to 1750, colonies transformed by dramatic increases in shipping in the north Atlantic and construction of new networks of roads
transportation networks carried people, merchandise, information, and printed matter.
2. Print revolution – In 1695, British government surrendered the power to censor all printed materials
printers in England responded with a flood of newspapers, pamphlets, handbills, advertisements, scientific treatises, novels, and other printed matter
publications crossed the Atlantic and colonies began to create their own new publications, which facilitated the development of colonial identity and solidarity.
III. Commerce, Culture, and Identity
A. Transportation and the Print Revolution
1. Improved transportation networks – From 1700 to 1750, colonies transformed by dramatic increases in shipping in the north Atlantic and construction of new networks of roads; transportation networks carried people, merchandise, information, and printed matter.
2. Print revolution – In 1695, British government surrendered the power to censor all printed materials; printers in England responded with a flood of newspapers, pamphlets, handbills, advertisements, scientific treatises, novels, and other printed matter; publications crossed the Atlantic and colonies began to create their own new publications, which facilitated the development of colonial identity and solidarity.

10. III. Commerce, Culture, and Identity
B. The Enlightenment in America
1. The European Enlightenment – Emphasized the power of human reason
Philosophers used empirical research and scientific reasoning to study social institutions and human behavior
four fundamental principles: law-like order of the natural world, power of human reason, natural rights of individuals (self-government), and improvement of society through progress.
2. John Locke – English philosopher; wrote Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), stressing the importance of environment and experience on human beliefs and behavior
Two Treatises on Government (1690) argued that political authority did not come from divine right but from social compacts with the people who have the power to change their government. I

11. III. Commerce, Culture, and Identity
3. Franklin’s Contributions – Born in Boston in 1706, Franklin was the exemplar of the American Enlightenment
shaped by Enlightenment literature and not the Bible. Franklin became a “deist” and believed that a Supreme Being (or Grand Architect) created the world and then allowed it to operate by natural laws but did not intervene in people’s lives
relied on “natural reason,” or the innate moral sense to define right and wrong.
III.

12. III. Commerce, Culture, and Identity
C. American Pietism and the Great Awakening
1. Pietism – evangelical Christian movement = personal relationship with God
appealed to “believers hearts rather than their minds.”
2. New England Revivalism– 1730s, Jonathan Edwards preached the helplessness of men and women
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741), successfully incited religious fervor in the region.
3. Whitefield’s Great Awakening – Spoke from memory about the power of God and the need to seek salvation; followers were called “New Lights” for their claim that they felt a new light in them after hearing Whitefield 12

13. III. Commerce, Culture, and Identity
D. Religious Upheaval in the North
1. Old Lights and New Lights – Old Lights (conservative ministers) condemned the crying and fainting of New Lights in revival meetings and the New Light practice of women speaking in public
new enthusiasm for religion led to the founding of schools for ministers (Princeton, Columbia, Brown, and Rutgers)
2. Challenges to authority – Great Awakening challenged authority of all ministers
new sense of authority to the many who felt justified in expressing religious and political opinions.
III. Commerce, Culture, and Identity
D. Religious Upheaval in the North
1. Old Lights and New Lights – Old Lights (conservative ministers) condemned the crying and fainting of New Lights in revival meetings and the New Light practice of women speaking in public; New Lights withheld tax payments from Old Light churches; new enthusiasm for religion led to the founding of schools for ministers (Princeton, Columbia, Brown, and Rutgers); people felt new power to be part of the religious experience.
2. Challenges to authority – Great Awakening challenged authority of all ministers; gave new sense of authority to the many who felt more justified in expressing religious and political opinions.

14. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763
A. The French and Indian War
1. Conflict in the Ohio Valley – In the 1750s, French authorities, build a string of defensive forts
military expedition led by George Washington to reassert British claims
international incident that prompted Virginian and British expansionists to demand war
IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763 (Key events: British war against French in America, surge in trade increased American debt to British, and an increase in westward migration led to violence and rebellion.)
A. The French and Indian War
1. Conflict in the Ohio Valley – In the 1750s, French authorities, alarmed by British inroads into Ohio, build a string of defensive forts; British Governor Dinwiddie dispatched military expedition led by George Washington to reassert British claims; result was an international incident that prompted Virginian and British expansionists to demand war.
2. The Albany Congress – In June 1754, delegates from British colonies met in Albany to discuss relations with the Iroquois and French expansion; Franklin proposed a “Plan of Union” with a continental assembly to manage trade, Indian policy, and defense in the western territories to counter French expansion; Franklin’s effort failed; war between France and England seemed imminent.
3. The War Hawks Win – Rising British statesman William Pitt and Lord Halifax in England wanted a war in North America with the French; fighting began June 1755; expanded to Europe by 1756 with Britain vowing to destroy France’s ability to compete economically.

15. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763
2. The Albany Congress – In June 1754, delegates from British colonies met to discuss the Iroquois and French expansion
Franklin proposed a “Plan of Union” with a continental assembly to manage trade, Indian policy, and defense in the western territories to counter French expansion
Franklin’s effort failed; war between France and England imminent.
3. The War Hawks Win – British statesman William Pitt and Lord Halifax in England wanted war in North America with French
expanded to Europe by 1756 with Britain vowing to destroy France’s ability to compete economically.
IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763 (Key events: British war against French in America, surge in trade increased American debt to British, and an increase in westward migration led to violence and rebellion.)
A. The French and Indian War
1. Conflict in the Ohio Valley – In the 1750s, French authorities, alarmed by British inroads into Ohio, build a string of defensive forts; British Governor Dinwiddie dispatched military expedition led by George Washington to reassert British claims; result was an international incident that prompted Virginian and British expansionists to demand war.
2. The Albany Congress – In June 1754, delegates from British colonies met in Albany to discuss relations with the Iroquois and French expansion; Franklin proposed a “Plan of Union” with a continental assembly to manage trade, Indian policy, and defense in the western territories to counter French expansion; Franklin’s effort failed; war between France and England seemed imminent.
3. The War Hawks Win – Rising British statesman William Pitt and Lord Halifax in England wanted a war in North America with the French; fighting began June 1755; expanded to Europe by 1756 with Britain vowing to destroy France’s ability to compete economically.

16. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763
B. The Great War for Empire
1. The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763)
British had stunning successes and acquired Cuba and the Philippines from Spain, French Senegal, Martinique and Guadeloupe
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ending the war gave Britain control of over half of North America, including French Canada. 16

17. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763
2. Pontiac’s Rebellion – British acquisitions in North America frightened Native American population - believed that they would lose more territory to American migrants
Ottawa chief Pontiac, with a group of loosely affiliated tribes, launched an uprising against the British.
Pontiac’s rebellion was put down, the Proclamation of 1763 prohibited white settlement west of the Appalachians
IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763 (Key events: British war against French in America, surge in trade increases American debt to British, and an increase in westward migration leads to violence and rebellion.)
B. The Great War for Empire
1. The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) – Pitt directed the war successfully from England, controlling both the commercial and military strategies; British had stunning successes and acquired Cuba and the Philippines from Spain, French Senegal, Martinique and Guadeloupe (eventually returned to France). The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ending the war gave Britain control of over half of North America, including French Canada.
2. Pontiac’s Rebellion – British acquisitions in North America frightened the Native American population, who believed that they would lose more territory to Anglo-American migrants; inspired by a Delaware prophet (Neolin), the Ottawa chief Pontiac, with a group of loosely affiliated tribes, launched an uprising against the British. Though Pontiac’s rebellion was put down, the Proclamation of 1763 prohibited white settlement west of the Appalachians; this edict was largely ignored by colonists. 17

18. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750–1763
C. British Industrial Growth and the Consumer Revolution
1. Resources – Britain had become dominant commercial power in the Atlantic and Indian oceans
1750, it was also becoming the first nation to use manufacturing technology and work discipline to expand output
Mechanical power was key to Britain’s Industrial Revolution; artisans designed and built water mills and steam engines that powered a wide array of machines
2. American consumers – Americans were purchasing 30 percent of all British exports
mainland colonists exported tobacco, rice, indigo, and wheat
profits from exports enabled colonists to buy goods from England