Chapter 4: Growth, Diversity & Conflict, 1720-1763

The Great Wagon Road

by the mid-18th century, this had become a major highway for the settlers in the Virginia and Carolina backcountry

Economic Transformation

• lax enforcement of British trade laws ➔ import taxes

• by mid-18th century balance of trade turned dramatically against colonists ➔ increased consumer society and British goods: imports>exports in colonies, increased credit = debt

• shifting patterns of trade affected American culture:

  • Flood of British imports eroded regional & cultural identities (“Anglicized”)

  • Expanded coastal & overland trade brought colonists of different backgrounds into more frequent contact

The Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)

• during mid-18th century a sudden, spontaneous series of religious revivals swept through the colonies

• centered in RURAL areas (many felt left out) not established urban areas

• caused men & women of all backgrounds to rethink basic assumptions about church & state, institutions and society

• Powerful evangelical preachers traveled from town to town, stressed personal religious experience was important in seeking God’s salvation (NOT good works)

• still a conservative message: covert or go to hell

• only way to save yourself from eternal damnation is CONVERSION

• pietism

• evangelical

• emotional

• “New Lights” and “Old Lights”

• anti-establishment

• divisions within congregations

• scattered colonists brought together

• Christian Liberalism

• new preachers & messages

• connection to POLITICS: if you could change your way of worship, you could change your government

• African Americans really embraced this message

Jonathan Edwards

• grace, not good works, for salvation

Whitefield

• a “brilliant entrepreneur”

• welcomed all Protestants and his audiences came from all groups of American society

Great Awakening Effects

• colonists formed new churches with revivals shattering Congregational churches

• religious tolerance rose

• many colonists began to believe that if they could choose their method of worship, they could decide on their form of government

• scattered colonists brought into contact with one another for the first time (one of several forces)

Baptist Insurgency in the Chesapeake, 18th Century

• called each other “brother and sister” = repudiation of social distinctions

• condemned planter’s affluent/decadent lifestyles

• slaves welcomed at revivals = threatening system of slavery

• threatens gentry authority = class warfare

• not all Southerners had a lot of land and slaves

Salutary Neglect in British Colonies from 1690s-1763

• unofficial British policy of loosely enforcing trade laws and internal colonial affairs in the American colonies

• led the colonies to develop own forms of self-government

• believed leaving the colonies alone kept them loyal, happy, and economically productive while Britain focused on European power

1750-1763 THREE significant events/developments

1. French and Indian War (big war debt for British)

2. Surge in trade (Great Britain biggest exporter & US biggest importer of British goods = mutual dependency) boosted colonial consumption & increased colonial debt to Britain

3. Western Migration sparked war with Native Americans & backcountry (frontier) rebellions against eastern-controlled governments

WAR: European Competitions and the Colonies

• 1689-1748: British & French fought a series of wars, mostly in Europe, that spilled over to North America

• Balance of Power: support from most Natives was a French advantage in North America, and Natives benefited from the middle ground

  • Iroquois favored the British

  • Algonquin favored the French

• Balance Shifts: by 1754 British colonies (1.5 million) greatly exceeded French (70,000)

French and Indian War: Bad Start for the British

• 1755: DISASTROUS defeat at Fort Duquesne

• nearly 70% of Braddock’ troops killed or wounded

• Braddock killed

• Washington led skillful retreat

• British learned valuable lessons

William Pitt

• British prime minister and military strategist

• known as the "Organizer of Victory" during the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War)

• really pushed the French and Indian war (via funding) to gain land from France

French and Indian War: 1758-59 British strategic victories

• British cut off French shipping to the Americas

  • many Natives switched to better-supplied British who had seemingly inexhaustible supply of manufactured goods to trade with

• British seized Louisbourg at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River (“Gibraltar of the New World”)

• British took Quebec (1759), then Montreal (1760), forcing surrender of Canada and Great Lakes forts

French and Indian War: 1763 Treaty of Paris

• ended triumphantly for British

• Great Britain gained title to Canada, Florida, and all the land east of the Mississippi River (including Great Lakes country and Ohio River Valley)

• France was driven from mainland North America

• Fort Duquesne eventually becomes Pittsburgh

Albany Plan of Union

• problems between the Iroquois and British led Benjamin Franklin to propose the Albany Plan

• plan envisioned the formation of a Grand Council of elected delegates from various colonies to oversee:

  • matters of common defense

  • western expansion

  • Native affairs

  • taxation to cover military expenditures

• did NOT pass ➔ colonies didn’t want to give up power

• assemblies were jealous of their fiscal authority

• English thought the scheme undermined the crown’s power over American affairs