The People of the Thirteen ColoniesThe Expected Roles of the People: Examples of People Who Went Above and Beyond those Roles.

Map of the Thirteen Colonies

Why Did Europeans Come to North America?

Colonial settlers came to America for many reasons. Some came for religious freedom. Some came to make money. They settled into 13 colonies, areas that are now the states known as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Georgia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware.

In the early days of the colonial period, the settlers did not know how to live in the wilderness, and they faced many hardships. In Massachusetts, for example, the Plymouth settlers, spent most of their first winter (1620-21) on board the Mayflower. The following winter, the Pilgrims lived on land but in wigwams and sailcloth tents. Many were sick and all were hungry.

Male Roles

To have social power - As Colonial society was intensely patriarchal, men enjoyed power in both private and public life.

 To be educated – Boys were able to attend grammar schools and attain a college education if their families could afford it.

To contribute to the community – In general, the products of men’s labor were enjoyed by the whole community.

To participate in government – Men could serve as public officials, or simply participate in government by voting.

Prominent Men• Benjamin Franklin

• b.1706-1790

• Organized the United States’ first lending library and volunteer fire department. His scientific pursuits included investigations into electricity, mathematics and mapmaking. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution, and negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which marked the end of the Revolutionary War.

• “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

• John Adams

• b. 1735-1826

• He studied law at Harvard University, and in 1758 was admitted to the bar. In 1774, he served on the First Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. Adams became the first vice president of the United States and the second president.

• “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”

Female Roles

To maintain household order – Women took care of young children, bought and prepared food, directed the activities of indentured servants or slaves, and performed all manner of other household chores.

    To encourage faith and moral development - Mothers were often the primary spiritual instructors in the home, especially in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century.

To be subordinate to men – A woman’s identity and property were always connected with the men in her life. As a child, she would have been subordinate to her father. Upon marriage, she would have become a feme covert; her identity and property then transferred to her husband.

Extraordinary Women• Phillis Wheatley

• b. 1753/55-1784

• Brought to Boston on a slave ship in 1761 and purchased by John Wheatley as a personal servant to his wife. The Wheatleys educated Phillis, and she was soon mastering Latin and Greek, and writing poetry. In 1773 “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” brought her fame, both in England, and the Thirteen Colonies; figures such as George Washington praised her work.

• "In every human Beast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance."

Abigail Adams

b. 1744-1818

Adams served as an unofficial adviser to John Adams, and their letters show him seeking her counsel on many issues, including his presidential aspirations. She remained a supportive spouse and confidante after her husband became the president in 1797.

“Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

African-AmericansBy the early 1600s, England was eager to gain a colonial foothold on the North American continent. The first enduring settlement was founded at Jamestown in Virginia in 1607. Colonies in Massachusetts and elsewhere up and down the eastern seaboard were settled as the century progressed. The English settlers had occasionally friendly relations with the native "Indians" of these lands, but for the most part, the interaction between the two turned hostile. Labor to clear the forests, tend the plantations and farms, and work in the developing seafaring industry became a crucial concern.

From 1619 on, not long after the first settlement, the need for colonial labor was bolstered by the importation of African captives. At first, like their poor English counterparts, the Africans were treated as indentured servants, who would be freed of their obligations to their owners after serving for several years. However, over the course of the century, a new race-based slavery system developed, and by the dawn of the new century, the majority of Africans and African Americans were slaves for life.

Notable African-Americans• James Forten

• b. 1759-1817

• A free African-American, he joined the Continental navy at age 15. After service, Forten apprenticed as a sail-maker and eventually became a wealthy businessman and a leader of the black community in pre-Civil War Philadelphia. He devoted much of his time and money to the abolitionist cause and he refused to supply rigging to slave-trade vessels.

• "Has the God who made the white man and the black left any record declaring us a different species? Are we not sustained by the same power, supported by the same food. . . . And should we not then enjoy the same liberty. . .?"

• Crispus Attucks

• b. ~1723-1770

• His father was likely a slave and his mother a Natick Indian. His life up until he was 27 years old is a mystery. A 1750 ad in the Boston Gazette sought the recovery of a runaway slave named “Crispas.” He spent two decades on trading ships and whaling vessels coming in and out of Boston. Attucks also found work as a ropemaker. He is most noted as the first casualty of the American Revolution when he was shot and killed in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Attucks has been credited as the leader or instigator of the event.

Native-Americans

North American Indians lived in small tribes and subsisted by both agriculture and by hunting and gathering. In the western part of North America nomadic tribes roamed over the Great Plains in search of buffalo and other game and often came into conflict with other tribes over the use of their hunting grounds.When game became more scarce, perhaps due to over-hunting or from other causes, many American Indian groups turned to agriculture as a means of subsistence.

In so doing American Indians became perhaps the best farmers in history, developing new crops and refining farming methods that they later shared with the colonists from Europe. Dozens of foodstuffs consumed in the world today, including corn, potatoes, various beans, squash, and so on, were developed by Native American farmers. When the European colonists first arrived, their survival often depended on their adoption of Indian hunting and farming practices.The Native American cultures in the Western Hemisphere found their societies disrupted or even destroyed by the impact of the Europeans, some of which was deliberate, and some of which was a result of the transmission of diseases to which the American Indians were not immune.

Native-Americans in the American Revolution

• Joseph Brant• b. ~1742-1807• Converted to the Anglican church

after two years at Moor's Charity School for Indians. He led four of the six Iroquois nations on the British side in the American Revolution. After the war, he discouraged further Indian warfare on the frontier and aided the U.S. commissioners in securing peace treaties with the Miamis and other western tribes.

• “The Mohawks have on all occasions shown their zeal and loyalty to the Great king; yet they have been very badly treated by his people.”

• John Montour• b. 1744-1788• Commanded a company of

Delaware Indians on the side of the Americans in the Revolution.  I found that John also served under Colonel Brodhead as an Interpreter and warrior on other excursions. Without trustful and respected interpreters treaties could not be made nor could land be purchased legally from the Indians. Montour knew French, English as well as various languages among the diverse Indian tribes and clans.