APUSH Unit 3

European Immigrants 

people who migrated to the United States from various European countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries, seeking better economic opportunities and escaping political and religious persecution

Germans

1. Settled in farmlands west of Philadelphia. 

2. Maintained German language, customs and religions. 

3. Obeyed colonial laws but were not interested in English politics.

4. 6% of Colonial population in 1775

Scotts-Irish

1. Emigrated from northern Ireland. Ancestors had moved to Ireland from Scotland. 

2. Little respect of British government which had pressured them to leave Ireland. 

3. Many settled on the frontier in western parts of Penn, VA, Carolina and GA. 

4. 7% of Colonial population by 1775. 

Africans

1. Taken captive, forced into European ships, sold as enslaved laborers to southern plantation owners and other colonists. 

2. Some were granted freedom after years of forced labor. Those African Americans worked a broad range of laborers such as bricklayers and blacksmiths. 

3. Every colony passed laws that discriminated against African Americans and limited their rights and opportunities. 

Self-Government

1. Each colony had a representative assembly that was elected by eligible voters.

2. Limited to white-male property owners. 

3. Governor elected by people in only RI and CT (usually appointed by British crown).

Religious Toleration 

1. All colonies permitted practice of different religions, but with varying degree of toleration. 

   1. MA most conservative (excluding non Christians and Catholics);

   2. RI and PA most liberal 

Social Mobility 

Other than African Americans, all people in colonial society had an opportunity to improve standard of living and social status through their efforts. 

Men

1. Most men worked. 

2. Landowning primarily reserved to men.

3. Politics dominated by men. 

4. English law gave men nearly unlimited power in the home, including right to beat his wife. 

Women

1. Average of 8 children raised;

2. Household tasks: cooking, cleaning, making clothes, providing medical care, educating children. 

3. Women worked alongside husband in the shop, on plantation or on farm. 

4. Divorce was legal but rare.

5. Women had limited legal and political rights. 

6. Shared labors and mutual dependence with their husbands gave many women protection from abuse and an active role in decision-making.

The Economy 

1. British government limited colonial manufacturing to making flour and rum. Shipbuilding was major manufacturing industry as well. 

2. Mercantilism required delivery of raw materials for England’s industries such as textile manufacturing. 

3. As communities grew, increasing numbers of ministers, lawyers, doctors and teachers followed. 

4. Quickest route to wealth was through the land. 

New England 

1. Farming limited to subsistence levels that provided enough for farm family. 

2. Rocky soil and long winters. 

3. Most farms were small – under 100 acres.

4. Most work done by family members, perhaps one hired laborer. 

5. “Puritan Work Ethic”

   1. Some profited from logging, shipbuilding, fishing, trading, and rum-distilling. 

Middle Colonies 

1. “Bread Basket Colonies” Think “Quaker Oats” 

2. Rich soil produced abundance of wheat and corn for export. 

3. Farms up to 200 acres. 

4. Indentured servants and hired laborers worked with family members.

5. Small manufacturing – iron-making.

6. Trading led to growth of cities like Philadlephia and NY

Southern Colonies 

1. Diverse climate and geography 

2. Agriculture varied greatly

3. Most lived on small subsistence farms.

4. A few lived on large planatations over 2,000 acres and relied on slave labor.

5. Plantations were self-sufficient.

6. Tobacco in Chesapeake and NC

7. Timber and tar and pitch in the Carolinas 

8. Rice and indigo in SC and GA.

9. Most planataions located on rivers to ship directly to Europe. 

Monetary System 

1. England controlled colonial economy by limiting the use of money. 

2. Limited hard currency (gold and silver)

3. Forced to pay hard currency for imports from Britain that exceeded colonial exports. 

4. For domestic trade, many colonist issued paper money which led to inflation. 

5. England vetoed colonial laws that might harm British merchants. 

Transportation

1. Water transport

   1. Trading centers such as Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Charleston were located on good harbors and navigable rivers. 

2. Roads and bridges – difficult and expensive. Horse and stage coach travel common.

3. Taverns provided food and lodging for travelers and served as social centers where news was exchanged and politics discussed. 

4. Postal system – horses on overland routes and small ships on water ways was operating both within and between the colonies by the mid-18^th century. 

NY Religion

Reformed Church (dutch) and Anglican Church (merchants) which later turned into the Episcopalians. 

PA Religion

Quakers, Lutherans, Mennonites

Virginia Religion

Anglicans

Maryland

refuge for Catholics

suffered the most from serious discrimination and some persecution. 

Jews, Catholics and Quakers

was viewed as a symbol of English control in the colonies

Anglican Church

Established Church (churches financed through the government) was the Church of England

Virgina

Immigration

Immigration gradually grew diversity and reduced support for Churches

 all tax support for the Anglican Church ended after the Revolution

Virginia

The Great Awakening 1730s

a movement characterized by fervent expressions of religious feeling among masses of people. Strongest in 1730s and 1740s. 

Johnathan Edwards

1. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741)

   1. Congregationalist sermon in Massachusetts 

   2. Invoked the Old Testament scriptures.

   3. Argued God was rightfully angry with human sinfulness

   4. Argued each individual could be ‘saved’ by God’s grace through penitence. But souls who paid no heed to God’s commandments would suffer eternal damnation. 

George Whitefield 

1. Spread Great Awakening throughout the colonies. Attracting audiences of 10,000 people in barns, tents, and fields.

2. Taught that ordinary people with faith and sincerity could understand the gospels without depending on ministers to lead them. 

Denomination

a religious group within a faith, often differing in beliefs and practices from other groups

1. competed for followers, they called for separation of church and state.

New Lights

those supporting Great Awakening teachings; 

Old Lights

traditionalists resisting the Great Awakening, valuing established religious practices and authority

Democratizing Effect

the impact of the Great Awakening that encouraged individual interpretation of faith and challenged established religious and social hierarchies

John Adams

Second President of the United States and a key figure in the American Revolution, who was a strong advocate for independence and a prominent Founding Father.

emphasized learning/reading the Bible. 

Puritans

Massachusetts law (1647)

required tows with more than 50 families to establish primary schools for boys. Towns with more than 100 families to establish grammar schools to prepare boys for college. 

Middle colonies edu

church-sponsored or private schools. Teachers often lived with families of the students.

Southern colonies edu

parents gave children whatever education they needed. Plantation tutors provided instruction frequently. 

Harvard

Puritans founded in Cambridge, MA (1636) – give candidates ministry training and scholarly education. 

William and Mary College (1694)

Anglicans provided this in Virginia

Yale

Congregationalists. 

Great Awakening prompted five new colleges (1746-1769)

1. Princeton (1746) – Presbyterian

2. Columbia (1754) – Anglican

3. Brown (1764) – Baptist 

4. Rutgers (1766) – Reformed 

5. Dartmouth (1769) – Congregationalist 

Physicians

1. Problems – smallpox 

2. “cures” – made things worse. Leaches or bleeding the sick.

3. College of Philadelphia – U Penn first medical college

Lawyers

1. Formed a bar (committee or board) to set standards for aspiring young lawyers. 

2. Gained further respect in 1760s and 1770s when they argued for colonial rights. 

3. John Adams, James Otis and Patrick Henry 

   1. These legal arguments would ultimately provide the intellectual underpinnings of the American Revolution 

The Zenger Case 

1.  Zenger was imprisoned for libelously criticizing NY’s royal governor. Zenger’s attorney argued that he had printed the truth. Despite English common law which said truth was no defense to injuring a governor’s reputation, the jury ignored English law and voted to acquit Zenger. 

2. Case did not guarantee complete freedom of the press, but it did encourage newspapers to take greater risks in criticizing a colony’s government. 

1. Rural Folkways 

1. Farmers worked dawn until dusk.

2. Majority of colonists didn’t read any book or newspaper. Just the Bible. 

3. Food was plentiful but light and head were limited to kitchen fireplace and candles. 

4. Entertainment – card-playing and, for the rich, horse racing (in southern colonies) theater-going (in middle colonies), and attending religious lectures (in Puritan NE)

The Enlightenment 

A philosophical movement in the 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority. It influenced revolutionary thought and inspired ideas of democracy, liberty, and scientific inquiry.

John Locke

1. Reasoned that the state is supreme, it is bound to follow ‘natural laws’ based on the rights that people have simply because they are human. 

2. Sovereignty ultimately reside in the people rather than with the state. 

3. Citizens had a right and obligation to revolt against whatever government failed to protect their rights. 

Town Meeting

people of the town would regularly come together often in a church, to vote directly on public issues. 

Those barred from voting

white women, poor white men, slaves of both sexes, and most free black men