American Identity:

Colonial Period

American Identity before 1607?

Numerous native American nations

Powhatans, Algonquins, Iroquois, Pueblos, Sioux, Cherokee,

Monacan, Chinook, Inuit, etc.

Variety of economies: Agricultural, nomadic, hunter

gatherer, traders

Variety of governments

Variety of social structures

European-Native American Relations:

A review

Spanish, French, British—changing relations, ranging from

cooperation to violent attacks

Native Americans universally declined because of disease

Native Americans universally lost land to European settlers

and culture to Europeans who wished to Christianize them

Significant British/Native American Conflicts:

Pequot War (British) 1637

Bacon’s Rebellion (British) 1676—does this count??

King Phillip’s War (British) 1675-6

American Identity in Colonial Era

How did colonists identify themselves?

British citizens

By region: Virginians, New Englanders, etc.

By beliefs: Puritans, Quakers, etc.

By social class: what were the criteria?

What did “American” mean to them?

Virginia/Chesapeake

Motive for settlement was economic

Tobacco

Colonial Government--

Virginia Company of London, then royal colony

Appointed governor, justices of the peace

House of Burgesses (elected by landowning men)

Anglican Church

Conflicts between social classes

Religion--Puritans

Massachusetts Bay Colony, influence throughout New

England

Puritan Leader John Winthrop— “City Upon a Hill”

--America as an ideal

Education valued

--Colleges (e.g., Harvard 1636)

--elementary school in each town

--Massachusetts School of Law (1642)

Families

Patriarchal family structure

Early marriages

a. Pregnancies often precede marriages (no stigma attached) ,

especially in southern colonies

b. High mortality in childbirth -- leads to remarriage

Many children

Men

Head of family/property owner

In charge of "outside affairs"

a. Church

b. Politics

c. Law

Women Few legal rights, but in south could own property

Essential to well-being of family

In charge of "inside affairs" Child rearing Cultivation of garden Food production/preparation Responsible for manufacture of clothing Responsible for obtaining candles, soap, etc.

Women's "underground economy" Textile production Dressmaking/tailoring Sale/bartering of commodities (e.g., soap, candles, textiles, etc.) Midwifery

Slave women and women in indentured service lack rights of other women

Children

More valued than in Europe

Play major role in household economy

Treatment more humane than in Europe

Society

Standard of living, general health, diet superior to that of

comparable Europeans

Class structure evolving

Status based on wealth

Class lines more fluid than in England

Labor

Indentured Servants

Slavery

Puritans

Puritan Ethic-Democratic government of “visible saints” to enforce God’s laws

-Serious commitment to work and worldly pursuits

-Simplicity was valued

Intolerance-Dissenters from Puritanism punished

-Anne Hutchinson—challenged predestination with ; antinomianism; banished

-Roger Williams—separatist; challenged idea that civil government could

regulate religious behavior; banished

Salem Witch Trials—1692-3

Salem Witch Trials (1692-93) Teen girls accused people of causing seizures/other physical

ailments

Typically, the accused were women (some men); people who lived outside of the town (east side); typically they were lower class and older

Tests of witchcraft: water test, etc

Accused witches were executed (20 people killed—and 2 dogs)

More open-minded clergy helped to end the witch hunts by challenging the accusers

Earliest example of mass hysteria in America

Religious developments

Declining Puritan Piety

Jeremiad—new form of sermon in 17th c., scolding

parishioners for waning piety

Halfway Covenant—allowed baptism of unconverted

children of existing church members; congregations became

less exclusive, blurring lines between “elect” and others

Colonial Religious Diversity

Anglican Puritan/Congregationalist

Georgia, S. Carolina, N.

Carolina, Virginia,

Maryland, part of New

York

Supported by royal taxes

Less strict than puritanism

No bishop; ordination only

in England

Formally established in all New England colonies except Rhode Island

Democratically run churches led to democratic participation in politics

Churches became increasingly political, rebellious against royal authority

Varying degrees of toleration Middle Colonies exercised religious toleration unusual for the

time

Pennsylvania—no tax-supported state church; freedom of worship

guaranteed, but Catholics and Jews could not hold office or vote;

New Jersey and Delaware also influenced by Quakers

New York—no interest in religious toleration by Dutch West India

Company; later limited lawmaking bodies established locally

Maryland—initially Catholic; allowed religious tolerance; Act of

Toleration (1649)—religious tolerance to all Christians but death

penalty for those who denied divinity of Jesus (atheists, Jews)

Great Awakening Early 18th c., less passion for religion in all colonies; challenges to

Puritan theology of predestination Salvation by good deeds; Arminians—advocated power of free will

Great Awakening began in 1730s-40s, led by Jonathan Edwards (Northampton, MA)--“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

George Whitefield—English; passionate orator

Numerous conversions at revivals

Traditional clergy (“Old Lights”) were often skeptical of the passion/emotion evoked by “New Light” ministry

Many denominations divided permanently

“New light” universities established: Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, Dartmouth

Crossed sectional and denominational lines—new American identity

Impact of Enlightenment

Acceptance of the concepts of natural laws and natural rights

Interest in science

Americanization of Glorious Revolution/English Bill of

Rights

--Validation of self-government

--Limited powers of government

--Free expression of ideas (e.g., John Peter Zenger)

Demand for labor

Need for cheap labor, especially in southern colonies

--What didn’t work:

1. European immigrants

Have many opportunities for land ownership

Will not work on rice/tobacco plantations

2. Native Americans

Prone to disease

Can escape too easily

3. Indentured servants can only provide a temporary solution

Slave trade in America

First Africans arrive in Virginia, 1619

Initially treated as indentured servants

As numbers increase whites worry about control (e.g.,

Carolina)

Breakup of Royal African Company's monopoly

stimulates slave trade

Slaves easy to obtain/prices reasonable

Profits from slave trade high

Slave trade fits into established trade patterns

Institutionalization of slavery

Factors that made slavery easy to accept:

1. Southern planters gain a self-renewing labor force

2. In areas with large African population, control easier

3. Escape difficult

4. Belief that Africans are inferior to Caucasians

5. Lack of opposition (Puritan Cotton Mather, "What God will have to be, the thing appointed for you.")

Slave Codes established mid-17th century

1. Blacks and their children are property for life

2. Crime to teach slaves to read/write

Demographics of Slavery

By 1750, slavery legal in all colonies

Slave population in all colonies

Distribution of slaves as percent of population will vary

a. Largest slave population in north in New York (14.3 percent

of total)

b. Largest slave population in south in South Carolina (60.9

percent )

By 1775, 80 percent of slaves in colonies American born

Very few free blacks until after revolution

Progress?

Great Awakening stimulates Christianizing of slaves

Harsh treatment of 17th century softens somewhat during

the 18th

Enlightenment causes some to rethink the legitimacy of

slavery

Anglicization

Definition:

The condition of being “more English” or more like England

Examples:

Throughout colonies, the English culture became pretty

universally adopted, regardless of the origins of the settlers/

colonists.

Question for Discussion

Which contributed more significantly to American

identity—the Great Awakening or the

Enlightenment?