1. Colonial Cultures & Communities
Chapter 5
Colonial Cultures & Communities
© 2015 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

2. The Shape of Early America
Spanish & French Influence Declining
English Population Growth
Birth rate increases
Death rate decreases
Why?
Early American settlers were usually under twenty-five, male, and poor. Why else would they risk their lives on a several-month-long trip to a place where they had no one to help them?
The vast majority of immigrants to the New World came from the British Isles.
It is purely legend that when the first colonists arrived, they landed in virgin territory, never touched by human hand or ambition. Native Americans for centuries had hunted, cultivated, and in many cases destroyed the territory in ways worse than the colonists could imagine.
Between 1750 and 1775, the population of the New World would grow to 2.5 million.
Due to earlier marriages, the birthrate in the English colonies was higher than it was in the rest of Europe. After the first decade of colonization, the death rate in America was dramatically lower than in Europe and the average life expectancy for men could reach seventy.

3. Society and Economy in the Colonies
The Southern Colonies
An agricultural society: Staple crops consisted of cotton, rice, tobacco, indigo
Farms & large plantations spread out while towns were few in number
Education was a privilege of the wealthy
From the start, the South was an agricultural economy. The longer growing seasons and fertile land provided them a leg up on the North, which had neither in abundance.
One major problem that southerners faced was providing the laborers to cultivate and harvest the crops from their vast tracts of land. Slavery would fill this need. Another factor in maintaining an agricultural economy is that there must be a market for the produce. England provided a ready and willing market.
Originally, the importation of slaves to the colonies was hindered by the vast demand for them in the West Indies and the sugar plantations of Brazil. Also, the continued influx of white workers from Europe helped keep the number down. But when Great Britain began to experience a period of rapid economic expansion, the number of immigrants tapered off and slaves became necessary to get products to market.
Virginia plantation wharf Southern colonial plantations were constructed with easy access to oceangoing vessels,

4. New England
Economy
Two major industries: fishing & ship building
Farming consisted of items such as corn, pumpkins, & beans
Education
Religion
Puritanism
Salem Witch Trials
While it is often assumed that the majority of new colonists were very pious, it was not often the case, especially in the South. In many parts of the British colonies, the official religion was that of the Church of England. But in the colonies, the form and practices of that church evolved along a different path. In the seventeenth century, the strictness of the Puritan and Quaker faith gave way to an emphasis on the “reasonableness” of Christianity.
The Puritans wanted to purify the Anglican Church of any Catholic remnants. They believed they had entered into a covenant with God based on John Calvin’s teachings.
Although many teachings of Calvin promoted the concept of democracy, it did not invade Puritan politics.
As the population of the colonies increased in New England, so did strains between the differing immigrant groups. As the merchants continued to import goods from England, materialism began to take effect and weaken the emphasis on the church that had existed previously.
In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, 30 citizens had been executed from witchcraft and over 300 accused of having practiced it.
Instead of creating the equivalent of English manors in the New World as those in the south had done, in New England, the focus of society would be the growth of towns along the lines of the traditional English village.
The houses built by New Englanders were practical. They had steep roofs to allow snow to slide off and not accumulate, and they were usually dark, lit only by gas lamps or candles. What glass they had in their windows had to be imported from England.
It was easier to catch fish than to cultivate the land and grow crops in New England, so that became the principle means of income. The crops that existed were grown by families to meet their basic needs, not to make a profit.
Thanks to the abundance of wood in the surrounding forests, New England soon became renowned for its shipbuilding industry.
As they were primarily involved in providing England with raw materials, and not the manufacture of finished goods, New Englanders had to import these items from the mother country. By using their own ships, they were able to transform a burgeoning shipping industry into an economic juggernaut for the colonies.

5. The Middle Colonies
Centers of manufacturing: glass, stoneware, paper, blacksmiths, carpenters, iron makers
The "Bread Colonies"
Ethnic Diversity (NY & PA)
In the same way the middle colonies existed between New England and the South, they were in the middle of their economic makeup as well. They created their own mix of agriculture and trade, depending on their location and the quality and quantity of land.
Whereas much of the South and North were settled by British citizens, the middle colonies received immigrants from Germany as well.

6. Atlantic Trade Routes
How was overseas trade in the South different from that in New England and the middle colonies? What was the “triangular trade”? What were North America’s most important exports?
© 2015 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

7. The Marginalized……. Women Native Americans Slaves
Slavery existed on a much smaller scale in the northern colonies, centering in the farming regions and in port cities such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia
It was not until the American Revolution that anti-slavery attitudes became widespread
As tobacco production grew so did the size of the slave labor force, which eventually led to it becoming a self-sustaining institution
As the slave population grew, Virginia wrote slavery into law, creating a slave code that served as a model for other colonies

8. A Common Colonial Culture Develops
Cities
Luxury Items
Class System
Schools
Taverns
Postal System
Newspapers
3 Pillars of Society
The social elite in the cities was dominated by the merchants and ship owners who controlled the trade. After that came the middle class of retailers, innkeepers, and artisans. Finally came sailors and unskilled workers.
In order for trade to flow, roads had to be built and maintained. The first roads were no more than improved Indian trails. Along with the construction of roads came the tavern as wayside points for travelers.

9. The Enlightenment A Revolution in Human Thought
Trigger: The Scientific Revolution
Deism
The Age of Reason in America
Education
The seventeenth century was marked for the time period known as the Enlightenment, when scientific thought and inquiry revolutionized society with new ideas and new concepts.
The Enlightenment led to the creation of many new concepts in the Americas, and perhaps the man most epitomized by this era was Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin was an inventor who used the scientific process to create such items as bifocals, the lightening rod, the Franklin stove, and the glass harmonica.
During this time period, educating children was the responsibility of the church and their families. In New England, the closeness of the settlements allowed for the creation of schools to teach children outside of the home and church.

10. The Great Awakening A widespread colonial revival of religion
Backlash
Who did it attract?
Traveling Evangelists: The First Stirrings
Jonathan Edwards
George Whitfield
The Great Awakening was the first popular movement among the colonies before the Revolution that would span all thirteen colonies.
Jonathon Edwards would travel the colonies preaching sermons on renouncing materialism, the Enlightenment, and the need to return to the faith.
Whitfield was also a preacher during the Great Awakening and encouraged his listeners to renounce their worldly goods.
The Great Awakening undermined many churches with the teachings that they were not needed, that the individual could commune with God on his or her own.

11. The Results…….
Individualism
Resistance to Authority
Colonial Culture