Topic 2.7 Colonial Society and Culture

immigrants

• during the 18th century there were many immigrants from Europe, many who were Protestants escaping religious persecution & also others were seeking economic opportunities

Pennsylvania Dutch country

• the farmlands west of Philadelphia where many Germans settled, maintaining their German language, customs, and religious beliefs

Scotch-Irish

• Protestants who came from northern Ireland — their ancestors moved to Ireland from Scotland, hence “Scotch-Irish”

Huguenots

• French Protestants

Africans

• largest single group of people entering the English colonies who were forced there

• sold as enslaved laborers, working various occupations such as a laborer, bricklayer, or blacksmith, but most commonly as field laborers on plantations

subsistence farming

• when farmers grow crops and raise livestock primarily to feed themselves or family

religious toleration

• all colonies permitted the practice of different religions but had varying degrees of freedom

• Massachusetts was the most restrictive; Pennsylvania & Rhode Island were the most oepn

hereditary aristocracy

• present in Europe, with very wealthy nobility and masses of hungry poor

established church

• a specific Protestant denomination supported by colonial governments who taxed the people

Great Awakening

• a movement of intense expressions of religious feeling among the masses

• a period of religious revivalism

• resulted in the growth of Baptists and Methodists, a call for stricter separation of church and state, & also introduced revolutionary ideas

Jonathan Edwards

• a Congregational minister from Massachusetts, one of the best known leaders during the Great Awakening

• wrote the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

• presented a God that was angry with human sinfulness - those who repented would be saved

George Whitefield

• spread the Great Awakening throughout the colonies, stressing that God was all-powerful and saved those who professed their belief in Jesus Christ

architecture

• the Georgian style of London was widely imitated in houses, churches, and public buildings

Benjamin West & John Copley

• two American artists who went to England, establishing themselves as prominent artists

literature

Cotton Mather & Jonathan Edwards - wrote abt religion

John Adams, James Otis, John Dickinson, Thomas Paine, & Thomas Jefferson — created political writings highlighting the conflict between American rights and English authority

Benjamin Franklin

• the most popular writer during the 18th century

• wrote “Poor Richard’s Almanack" — a best-selling book, annually revised from 1732-1757

• also a scientist who won fame for his work w/ electricity and developments of bifocal eyeglasses and the Franklin stove

Phillis Wheatley

• born in West Africa, enslaved, and lived in Boston when she published a collection of her poems in 1773
  

• wrote about her triumph over slavery

John Bartram

• a self-taught (most scientists were in the 18th century) botanist of Philadelphia

elementary education

• New England — Puritans’ emphasis on reading the Bible led to the creation of the first tax-supported schools

  • a Massachusetts law in 1647 required towns to establish primary schools for boys

• Middle colonies — Schools were either church sponsored or private

• Southern colonies — parents gave their children whatever education they could

sectarian

• promoted the doctrines of a particular religious group

• first colonial colonies were sectarian

nonsectarian

• not involving or related to a specific religious/political group

• the only nonsectarian college founded was the College of Philadelphia — later became University of Pennsylvania

ministry

• saw widespread respect among the common people; often the only well-educated people in a small community

lawyers

• demand increased as trade expanded and legal problems became more complex

• many lawyers gained respect in 1760-1770 when arguing for colonial rights

• John Adams, James Otis, and Patrick Henry were lawyers ultimately providing the underpinnings of the American Revolution

John Peter Zenger

• a New York publisher who was tried on a charge for libelously criticizing New York’s Governor — known as the Zenger Case: encouraged newspapers to criticize the government

• Zenger was acquitted by the jury

Andrew Hamilton

• the lawyer for John Peter Zenger who defended him by stating he printed the truth

Enlightenment

• a movement in literature and philosophy

• leaders of the movement believed the recent past was a “dark” era in which people relied too much on tradition and God’s intervention in human life

• believed the “light” of reason could solve most of humanity’s problems

John Locke

• a 17th-century philosopher who was a major influence on the Enlightenment and American thinking

• argued that sovereignty ultimately resides with the people rather than with the state

Two Treaties of Government

• written by John Locke, where he reasoned that while the government (the state) is supreme, it is bound to follow “natural laws'“ based on the rights that people have simply because they are human

governor