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Society and Culture in Provincial America

AP THEMES

. American Identity: Contradictory trends were taking place in the American colonies to themid-eighteenth century. Colonists had come to America for a variety of reasons, but manyhad been forced out of their countries because of economic hardship and political and re-ligious persecution. These migrants harbored antiauthoritarian characteristics and oftensettled in regions with others of like-minds. The grasp.of both English culture and author-ity over the colonies was strengthening; the Crown attempted to increase its control as Eng-Iish goods and fashions came into the colonies. Both autonomy and integration were takingplace simultaneously.

o Culture: Continued immigration injected various cultural streams into the Americancolonies; this is particularly the case with religiory where European sects joined colonialdissenters to form new denominations. Puritan New England placed a stronger emphasison education than the southern colonies. The hubs of leaming and scienffic inquiry werethe cities such as Cambridge, whictr hosted the first college in America. The MassachusettsSchoolAct, passed irrl647, provided for public education for white Americans only.Demographic Changes: An increasing stream of immigrants flowed to the Americancolonies by the end of the seventeenth century. Deteriorating conditions in mainland Eu-rope pushed German and French Protestants to the colonies, and Scot-Irish began to re-place the English as economic conditions in England improved. Most significant was theincreasing stream of black laborers from Africa.and the Caribbean who replaced the de-dining number of indentured servants. Mortality rates decreased more so in the northerncolonies than in the south, and by the mid-seventeenth century New England's populationwas increasing naturally. The southern colonies depended on immigration to grow untilthe eighteenth century. The American non-L:tdian population doubled nearly everytwenty-five years.Economic Tlansfonrrations: After the early years when suryival was the first ordeq, a thriv-ing colonial economy developed accompanied by a growing consruner culture. Through-out EnglishAmerica agriculture was the dominant economic activity, and in the Carolinasrice and later indigo became imp-ortaat crops. The Navigation Acts were a boon to ship-building in New England, and other manufacturing ventures using the region's abundantwater Pourer developed there. Commercial farming in the middle colonies provided food-sfuffs for New England, the Caribbean, and Europe, and the slave trade between Africa,the Caribbean, and America flourished. This all ociurred in the context of a complex trad-ing network labeled the "triangular trade." As Americans searched for marketrthrough-out the Atlantic a more apt label would be the 'Atlantic polygon."R_eligion: Religion and reiigious intensity affected the various regions differently. The An-glican Church was most cornmon in Virginia, but was not a commanding presence. Chesa-peake Maryland's conflict between Catholics and Protestants diminished in the lateseventeenth century. In New England religious declension worried many and reactions to

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CHAPTER SUMMARY

The Colonial P opulation

Innmigrants, coming from various areas of the Atlantic world, contributed to heterogeneousand divergent societies in distinct American regions, urrt a"p"raed on England for goods, lit-eratute, and culture, and were probably *olu Enqrisrr at the u"ffig-";',il" eighteenth cen-tury than at fust settlement. fftfu corrrmon Englisi heritage plajred uo"irr,p-ortuot role even asthe regional differences caused tension and eveln conflict ir, ttr" colonial period.

By the late seventeenth:"itury natural increase and immigration made the European andAlrican population a majority in the colonies. a rru""t reuture of the population was inden-fured servitude, and the malority of immigrants came from the lower oi #o1619 classes. Con-victs' olphans, vagrant:, *d Paupers were sent to the colonies, and the p"p"rru"^ containedan unstable mix of singte men and landless families. nra"nt r"a servitude dechned by the lateseventeenth cenfury and African slavery grew in its place.

Hi-gh mortalify diminished by 1700 and New England saw a natura] increase as early as the1650s because of exceptional iongevity. Chesap""f," ;;rtilty rates remained high for another100 yeIl, and populition there-increased oiy uy i*"rig*tion. Throughout the colonies thesex ratio improved.

The scarcity of southern labor created demand for black servants, but they were scarce until theDutch and French joined the slave trade. Most slaves carne to English America from theCaribbean islands, and the direct African trade grew after 1690 wheri the English monopolylapsed; the middle P1:sage was deadly fo. starreslig."rr"a".r."" ,i-Ii"r}jr,"d slave pop-ulation growth initially, but this changed by the elghtelnah century. The assumption of black

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Chapter 3: Society and Culture in proztincial America

inferiority pushed Africans from the status of servant to slave for life, and slave codes wereenacted, ensuring white supremacy.

I{ith English prosperity increasing and conditions in other parts of Europe deterioratin& theTft of immigrants to America changed Religious pe.secrtion drove frencn Huguenotf andGerman Protestants to the colonies. M*y GJrmans settled in Perursylvuniu-t1,e"p;".ryl";:nia Dutch (Deutsch)-withothers going io North Carolina. Disdaining authorifi Scotch-irishPresbyterians migrated to the frontier and hepea establish Presbyteianism as Em importaatreligion. The non-Indian American population-doubled nearly

"lrury twenty-fiv" y"rrr.

The Colonial Economies

Commerce was the PlT"ry goal of most colonies, and after their early problems they quicklyestablished trade with Indiaas, the French, and Spanish colonies,

^rra ifr" expanding i"a i"-

qreasing complexAtlantil economy. Howevel, agriculture dominated in alt sectio*. b*r"rpro-ductionof Chesapeake tobacco caused serious prlce fluctuations and economic instability. iUceproduction in South Carolina and Georgiu rsed slaves who came from African cultures withknowledge about its cultivation and were better adapted to this work. During the 1740s indigo,the source of blue dye, was introduced and compleiented rice cultivation. Focus on these sta-ples limited the growth of commerce and industryin the southern economy.

Areas in southern New England and the middle colonies were better suited for commercialfarming. Home industries and craft enterprises grew, and larger enterprises harnessing waterPower gror.:nd gru:, cut timber, and pro&sse{ igtfr ShipbrJlaing p.orp"r"d. Arr early lron-lrorks at Saugus, Massachusetts, was a tecturological.succ-ess as weie others in NewJersey andP_ennsylvania; Navigation Acts including the Iion Act restricted this and other induskies.NollSucultural commerce dependent onextractingnafuralresowces such as minerals, timber,and fuh thrived.

Throughout the colonies many households were too isolated or poor to afford many basic goodsand tools, but few households were self-sufficient and they naa to buy what they couft notmake' The colonial economy was unable to provide sufficient manufactured good"s and com-merce expanded to fill this demand. DespitJdisorder and the lack of ."-""d in the Atlanticeconomy/ a vibrant coastal trade, extensive trade with the Westlndies and En$#d, and the com-plex triangular trade involved the American colonies, England, Africa, ,rri Errrope. Seaports

[':':i.:g:yg -merchant class whose cornmerce was protecred from foreign competition byrne Navlgation Acts, but American merchants developed markets in the f.""".f., Sp'anish, aniDutch West rrdies in violati-on o{tnglisf l-air. Gr-owid ffierity and the increasing supply ofconsumer goods because of the Industrial Revolutioi i"rrrtt"a ir,.or,rr-erism, and materialgoods were considered virtuous and refined and raised a family's social stafus.

Patterns of Societyi.t

lir Circumstances in America-abr:ndant 1T1*9 a small population-reflected a reality oppo-#ti**::}i-: tl Elqr ;1 T;"t "1"""r,

the American iristocrary rested on controt of tabor.There *ur r"U"i"rtiL social mobiliry

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There were few large southem plantations; most were modest with few or no slaves, where themaster and his family worke'd'alongside ttr" r"**tr. profits ";;;rry widely from year toyear' and dispersed settlement ted"plantati";Jr-r;"" ro. ,ur-o#;J".y. slavery had pro_found social consequences in all householdr- M*;es of large plantations relied on servantsfor domestic choresand devoted m11e time t" fr-ilt;iowever, sexuar rerations between whitemen and black women caused resentment anaanxi-ety among an women. Disproportionaterv

:ffl#:"*oers, the ptantation d"y;fud;*##poweq and the smarr_fffi;ililft;i

By mid-eighteenlh century, slaves f^T"bq"* a ltrong independent culture based on Africantraditiory family'language'and religion, and also Eurofean custom. Extended kinship networksemerged to support families trrut i.ight hr;il;;Iok., ,p at any rime. Mura*o childrenwere seldom recognized by their fatlie* ,oa."*uiriJ ,urur. r,terictior., with white societywas constant' and treatment of sraves varied from kind to bruta,. srurr" ."r"tions ranged fromrare but bloody uprisings such as the south curorirru stono Rebellion to the more corrunon ac-tion of runnins i:1lg i*q:r prr',tutio*

'h";;;;i-,t r"r*;;;; ,ril"ra be hired out. Afew boughr their freedom, ,idil;; the sma, free btlck popularion.

Lr New England the basic social unit was the town based upon a religious and social covenant.A town meeting of adult males tro-ur" affairs J th;";*"runity uria rr]] *embership in thechurch depende? "po,, "Ja"itu Jigrr.". compact

""i1"3r"i1provided each family a homelot in the village wiih outlying f; Iots. A f;nfilu,i.,i distribution depended upon its size,wealth' and social standing' rltnurr ai"-ilJ f#iy ffiI u-or,g ar sons iather than fororvingthe English practice of priirogeniture. As land #ti,ilio* 6'""u,,," ,.*u with populationtr[;*-ffiil?n:*.- areas o"f more plehtifr:I rr.J. n i, tended to

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I{ith comm*t',"-o.l:sion eroding, tensions arose in the late seventeenth century; an extremecase was the 7692 witchcraft hystJria in salem, M;;;;*efts. Adolescent girrs began actingstrangelv and initiallv blamed wesrtaian r;;;;.-wit.h#;;;;;'r'ro.""d and nine_teen salem residents were executea. cenerally, ,il.;.d were abrasive women of low so-cial status who were accused of other crimes'or tr,o* ir}ro orur,"ar,rlrtl,'ual properfy andviolated gender norms and inheritance pattems. Although the girls i"r;;;";ted their stories,the evidence of witchcraft in sJ;;;5;rh;;;;r'Ii,ijou*", the highJy rerigious nature ofthis culture.

Colonial cities' small by modern staad.ards, served as markets for fanrr goods and for intema_tional corftnerce' The inequality "r

*"rr*, ** fJJJry evident in cites, and cities hostedwhat indushy thele was' docial iu, s,rrr"""a i" ti"* JJI"ry populated areas, but they becamecosmopolitan inteilectual centers with scho"h ;6;tli,.

Aus akenings and Enti ghtenment s

Traditional emphasis orr God vied with the E$ightenment's emphasis on science and reason asa force in individuals'lives, u,,d tt ete .ruated tJnsio, tt-,ror-r-.gt olrt.the eighteenth cenfury. Reli_sous toleration existedinA",#;;;be"ause co.,alu"*;"de itimp;srilr" to impose a sin-gle religion' Religio us declension ;;r gr;fi";";ffi #of puritans during the sevenreenthcenturv, and leaders hoped feremiads *Jua b"e p";pilfro* ri. to renewed piery.

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Chapter 3: Society and Culture in Prooincial America

The Great Awakenin& a religious revival, sought to stem religious dedine in the 1730s andl74}s.Itinerant evangelists preached that grace was available to all who renewed their rela-

tionship with God. Englishmen John and Charles Wesley, and George Whitefiel4 visited thecolonie^s and spread the revival. Massachusetts preacher ]onathan Edwards preached the ab-

solute sovereignty of God and resisted the idea of easy salvation, The Great Awakming dral-lenged traditional authority and divided many congregations between lgvivalist new lightsand tuaditional old lights, and led to the fonnation of new churches.

The Enlightenment argued that reason and scientific inquiry led to Progress; this undenninedtraditional authorities and encouraged education. The colonists valued education from the be'ghning, and Massachusetts required every town tosupplrt a public school tnL647. Some reli-gio"s sects sudr as Quakers operated sdrools. AlthoughJew received more than a primaryEducatioru and slaves and Indiarrs were teft largely outside ihis iystem,literacy was high among

both sexes inAmerica. Earlycolleges, Harrard founded in 1535 and William and Mary ir.'l-693,

primarily hained preadrers, although more secular schools and curricula appe3red by the mid-eighteo,-th cmtury. Benjamin Franklin published a widely read Almanac and was America'smost famous scientist for his experimerrts with lightening and electricity. Puritan minister CottonMather encouraged smallpox inoculation in Boston. Other eighteenth-century American En-

lightenment ihinkers indude Thomas ]efferson, Thomas Paine, and James Madison.

The Enlightenment influenced the English political and legal systems hansplanted to thecolonies. Labor-scarce America avoided execution and imprisonment as ptrnishments, and

|ohn Peter Zenger's trial for libel redefined that concept in America. America's isolation fromcenters of authority instilted the concept of self-govemment in America, and colonial assem-

blies began to assume the powers of Parliamenf limiting the power of the governor. Because

England did not govem actively, provincial governments began to act independently.