Chapter 3 – Life in the Colonies

I. What made an American?

a. How related to each other

b. How related to England

c. Wars in Europe

II. Population explosion

a. High birthrate

b. Immigration

i. Came by choice

ii. Forced

III. Nationalities of Colonists

a. 60% English led to shared

i. Language

ii. Customs

iii. Law

iv. Government

b. Africans

i. Against their will

ii. Half total on plantations Maryland/Virginia

c. Scots, Irish, Scots-Irish

i. “back country”

ii. hardened/intelligent

d. Germans

i. Pennsylvania – huge numbers

ii. Ingenious – rifle, wagon, stove

e. French Protestants

i. Small, but influential

ii. Persecuted in France

iii. Left France illegally

IV. Empty Land

a. Male landowners – vote

b. Indentured servants – 7 years slavery

i. When finished clothes, tools, cash, or land

c. Need for labor

i. Slavery – African/European tradition

1. Before U.S. slavery in Caribbean and South America

ii. England kidnappings

iii. Indians – run away easily

V. Ocean Ties

a. Southern colonies – plantations

i. Virginia/Maryland – tobacco

ii. Carolinas/Georgia – rice/indigo

iii. All southern colonies had small farmers

b. “Tidewater” Virginia

i. Many riverways

ii. Carry traffic to ocean

iii. World comes right to plantation/dock – shopped London

iv. Ships drop off London wares/pick up tobacco

1. Buy anything – furniture, news, books, women

2. To Boston via London

v. Created English gentry – Southern hospitality

c. Carolinas/Georgia

i. Shallow waterways – big harbor

1. Charleston – Richest/active

d. New England

i. Downhill rivers

ii. Big bays/docks = huge ships

iii. Fishing huge – dry, salt, ship

1. Mass. State emblem

iv. Began building own ships

v. Triangular Trade

1. sugar, rum, slaves

vi. Activity illegal – Navigation Acts

1. Independence = smugglers > honest

e. Middle Colonies

i. Balanced between two – a little of everything

VI. Family Life

a. Women

i. 10-11 children

ii. Farmer, chef, tailor, teacher, doctor

1. Margaret Brent – fought rebellion, ran governor’s estate, attorney, couldn’t vote

b. Doctor’s bad

c. Children

i. Arranged marriages

ii. Chose occupations

VII. Education

a. Well-educated in comparison

b. Mass. had compulsory school laws/read the Bible

c. 1636 Harvard – college in the wilderness

i. ministers, lawyers, judges, governors

d. Outside New England – less schooling

e. Large plantations – educated in England – ties

VIII. Journalism/Arts

a. 1704 1^st Newspaper

b. John Peter Zenger

i. Freedom of the press

c. Traveling painters

d. Fine craftsmen

IX. Salutary Neglect

a. Colonies grew/England didn’t pay attention

b. Wars between France and England

i. 1689-1764 Four wars

c. War ends they want control again

i. Start enforcing mercantilism

1. All done for prosperity of homeland

a. Buy only English

b. Sell to English

c. Use English boats

d. Ship to only English

e. Grow what England needed

2. Navigation Acts – 1650-1770

a. Difficult to enforce

d. Smugglers/Pirates/Privateers

i. France/England fighting – can’t enforce

ii. Cabot, Hancock, Livingston – smugglers

1. Later worried about honesty of new Americans

iii. Privateer – licensed through “letter of marque”

1. Get percentage of loot

2. Legalized theft?

e. Difficulty in governing – distance

i. Mail – no regular service – wait for boat

1. Boats depended on wind/weather

2. Boats could be captured

3. Lost on floor

4. Boston bay frozen in winter

5. Could take 1-3 year to send message get response

f. New England annoyed England

i. Useless crops due to soil/smugglers

ii. “obey God rather than man”

1. Hmmm…God told you to smuggle?

iii. Puritans believed their way right – “City on a Hill”

1. Made money, took king’s name off of forms

2. Gave vote only to church members

3. Hanged Quakers

iv. 1684- became royal colony – lost charter