Anglicization, Americanization, and the Road to Revolution

Introduction: Counterintuitive Trends

• The Anglicization process refers to the colonists becoming "more English."
• The Americanization process refers to the colonists becoming "more American."
• These two trends, despite seeming contradictory, both contributed to motivating revolution and rebellion against Great Britain (formerly England).

Anglicization: Becoming More English

• Increasing Trend: Anglicization significantly increased in the late $\text{1600s}$ and especially with the ascension of William and Mary.
• William and Mary: They took control of the English monarchy after the Glorious Revolution in the $\text{1680s}$.
  • Context of Glorious Revolution: King James II, a Catholic monarch, had a Catholic son, causing fear among Protestant English people of a Catholic dynasty. They revolted, forcing him out.
  • Colonial Support: American colonists, largely Protestant, supported this coup against King James II. They favored Queen Mary (James II's Protestant daughter) and William of Orange, a Dutch Protestant prince (despite his Dutch origin, his Protestantism was paramount).
• Shifting Colonial Loyalty: Previously, American colonists were generally ambivalent or disliked the English king (e.g., Puritans and Pilgrims). However, with William and Mary, colonists began to identify as "Englishmen," liking the king and queen.
  • Cultural Manifestations: This loyalty was seen in popular consumer goods, such as imported China plates bearing the faces of William and Mary, and Delft from the Netherlands.
  • Asserting Rights: This identification led colonists to claim "the rights of Englishmen," demanding to be treated as subjects with specific rights and privileges, not mere colonists.

The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights

• Legacy of Glorious Revolution: A key outcome was the development of the English Bill of Rights (BOR).
  • Constitutional Monarchy: The BOR solidified England's transition into a constitutional monarchy, restricting the monarch's power and binding him to laws. This trend began much earlier with the Magna Carta.
  • Opposition to Absolutism: The English disliked James II not only for his Catholicism but also for his desire to rule as an absolute monarch, like France's Louis XIV, and his friendly ties with the French. They preferred a limited, constitutional monarchy.
• Key Provisions of the English Bill of Rights:
  • Protection Against Quartering: Prohibited the quartering of soldiers on private property, safeguarding property rights and preventing a large standing army, which was historically viewed with suspicion by the English.
  • Inspiration for US BOR: This provision, in particular, and the English BOR as a whole, served as a direct inspiration for the US Bill of Rights. Comparing the two documents reveals numerous matched rights.

Americanization: Becoming More American

• Simultaneous Trend: Americanization occurred concurrently with Anglicization.
• Individualism and Anti-Authoritarianism: A rising desire for self-determination and a weakening of deference to traditional authorities (religious, monarchical) contributed to this trend.

Tensions from the French and Indian War

• Initial Unity: The French and Indian War (mid $\text{1750s}$ to mid $\text{1760s}$), the last major conflict, initially fostered unity between the British Empire and the $\text{13}$ colonies against the French and Native Americans.
• Growing Divisions: However, the war's aftermath also drove a wedge between Britain and the colonies:
  • Proclamation Line of 1763: Britain's decree preventing settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains angered western colonists who felt they had earned the land and prioritized Native American interests over theirs.
  • Expense of War: The war was incredibly costly, doubling the English national debt to over $\text{\textsterling 50,000,000}$. The British government felt colonists, who partly caused the war, should bear their "fair share" of the costs, leading to new taxes that infuriated Anglo-American colonists.
  • Cultural Discrepancies: Colonial troops observed British officers' authoritarian treatment of their men and noted cultural differences (e.g., British soldiers' perceived lack of religiosity and excessive drinking), reinforcing a sense of distinct identity.

The First Great Awakening and Anti-Authoritarianism

• Democratization of Christianity: The First Great Awakening democratized Christianity, fostering increased religious tolerance and weakening older, established English churches (e.g., Church of England, old Puritan churches).
• Challenge to Authority: This weakening of traditional religious power structures led colonists to question other forms of authority: "If God won't tell us what to do, and the preacher won't tell us what to do, what right does the king in Parliament have to tell us what to do?"
• Anti-Authoritarian Tradition: The Awakening contributed to an anti-authoritarian tradition in America, which had been developing since the $\text{1600s}$.

Social Changes: Modernization and Individualism

• Early Colonial Life: Early English colonists (e.g., Jamestown, Plymouth in the early $\text{1600s}$) lived much like medieval peasants: single-room "wattle and daub" houses, communal sleeping, shared food from large cauldrons, and few consumer goods.
• Rising Standard of Living: This changed rapidly. Colonists' standard of living improved faster than that of European peasants. They built larger, multi-room houses, ate better (more meat), and adopted individual plates, spoons, and forks (a European novelty becoming common in America).
• Labor Systems & Privacy:
  • Indentured Servitude to Slavery: Early indentured servitude (temporary, unfree labor) resembled medieval serfdom. Masters, even early slave owners, lived in close proximity to their laborers.
  • Impact of Bacon's Rebellion (1670s): After this rebellion, indentured servitude was largely phased out in favor of permanent chattel slavery for black people. This led white slave owners to desire more distance from enslaved people, building separate houses and distinct slave quarters.
  • Increased Privacy: The desire for privacy grew, partly due to more land and resources in America, and partly linked to the rise of slavery.
• Noblesse Oblige & Convivial Community:
  • Definition: An older, medieval system where the wealthy (gentry) felt an obligation to control and make decisions for the poor, while also taking care of them.
  • Practices: The gentry would host festivals, provide food and alcohol, and organize sporting events (e.g., ball games, horse races, wrestling, bowling, billiards).
  • Political and Social Control: This was intended to keep the poor happy, content, and obedient, securing their votes, militia service, and loyalty (e.g., for slave patrols).
  • Convivial Community: This system was also called the "convivial community," implying communal eating and happiness fostered obligation and loyalty from the poor to the rich. This persisted, in modified forms, even after American independence.

Technological and Consumer Goods Changes

• Demand for British Goods: As Anglicization increased, American colonists desired more British manufactured goods.
• Industrial Revolution: England's nascent Industrial Revolution (early factories) produced more consumer goods, especially glassware and ceramics.
• Mercantilist Ideals: These goods served two purposes:
  • Colonial Identity: Colonists used them to signal their English identity (e.g., a cup with the King's face).
  • British Economy: Provided a market for British manufacturers.
• Colonial Role: Colonies were expected to supply raw materials (wood, fur, animal products, tobacco) to England. These were then manufactured (e.g., glassware, fur hats, snuff from tobacco) and sold back to the colonies. (Note: Snuff, for snorting, was a popular tobacco form then).
• "Addiction" to Goods: By the $\text{1700s}$, colonists became increasingly "addicted" to these goods, viewing them as status symbols (silver snuff boxes, nice tea sets, playing cards).
• Anglicization vs. Americanization in Goods:
  • Anglicization: The desire for these British Empire goods.
  • Americanization: The desire for these goods at the lowest prices, best quality, and in massive quantities (evidenced by the refusal to pay taxes).

The Rise of Consumable Goods and Their Impact

• Key Consumables: Sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate, and rum became increasingly popular.
  • Sugar: Primarily from British Caribbean colonies (Jamaica) or French/Dutch empires. Limited growth in the $\text{13}$ colonies until much later (e.g., Florida in the $\text{19th}$ century).
  • Tea: From India (eventually a British colony).
  • Rum: Made from sugar or molasses, either in Jamaica or the colonies (from British products).
  • Chocolate: From Spanish colonies (e.g., Mexico).
  • Coffee: Originally from Africa or the Arabian Peninsula, imported via British trade networks.
• Addictive Nature: All these goods, particularly sugar, chocolate, tea, and coffee (due to caffeine), were addictive.
• Health Impact (Sugar): Food historians and physical anthropologists argue sugar was detrimental to society and health.
  • Skeletal remains show that before the $\text{1500s}$, tooth decay was rare among medieval Europeans.
  • With sugar's rise ($\text{1500s-1700s}$), cavities, missing teeth, and gum disease became rampant.
  • Diseases stemming from poor dental health were a leading cause of death for adults before modern dentistry.

Mercantilism, Salutary Neglect, and Smuggling

• Mercantilism: The British Empire became more centralized and mercantilistic. In this system:
  • Economies are closely controlled by the mother country (Britain).
  • Colonies exist for the benefit of the mother country, providing raw materials.
  • The mother country manufactures goods from these materials and sells them back to the colonies at a profit.
  • Colonies are discouraged from buying from other empires or developing their own industries, keeping them dependent.
• British Laws: Britain passed laws (e.g., Navigation Acts) prohibiting colonies from buying goods from Spain, France, or the Netherlands. Other empires did the same.
• Smuggling: Despite these laws, extensive illegal smuggling occurred. Empires struggled to enforce bans, and Britain often practiced "salutary neglect," rarely enforcing laws due to limited resources (British Navy spread globally).
• Benefits of Mercantilism/Neglect for Colonists: Colonists enjoyed the benefits of the British Empire (e.g., transporting raw materials for profit, Pax Britannica protecting sea lanes from pirates, Spanish, and French) without all the responsibilities.
• Colonial Rationale for Smuggling: Smugglers supplied cheaper, often better-quality goods (e.g., French sugar was cheaper and better than British sugar) and avoided taxes.
• Smugglers as Community Pillars: Smugglers like John Hancock were respected community figures.
• Enforcement Challenges: When Britain attempted to enforce anti-smuggling laws more vigorously (e.g., Navigation Acts in the $\text{1760s}$), trials often occurred in colonial courts where local juries, friendly with smugglers, would acquit them.

British Political Landscape and Colonial Taxation

• French and Indian War Debt: The war's $\text{\textsterling 50,000,000}$ debt led Britain to seek colonial contributions.
• Two-Party System: Britain had a two-party system (Tories and Whigs).
  • Tories (Conservative):
    • Linked to military officers, nobility, and the Church of England (or covert Catholics).
    • Favored making colonists pay their "fair share" through taxes and be more subservient.
    • Supported a large standing army in the colonies (as quartering was banned in Britain) for security, tax enforcement, and to provide posts for military officers (a "military-industrial complex").
  • Whigs (Business-Minded):
    • An old Scottish term for outlaw/itinerant trader.
    • Business and commerce-oriented, often having self-made wealth (bourgeoisie).
    • Friendlier to colonists and concerned that taxes would hinder business, thus opposing them.
• Types of Taxes: Excise taxes (on goods) and indirect taxes (on purchases/persons) were introduced.
• Enforcement: Implementation of Navigation Acts meant more British troops in colonies and more naval patrols focused on apprehending smugglers, aiming to force colonists to buy British goods and pay taxes on them.

Frontier Dynamics: Americanization vs. Anglicization

• Lesser Anglicization: Frontier colonists had less access to imported consumer goods and were less interested in tea, coffee, or fine China tea sets.
• Stronger Americanization: They prioritized firearms, iron tools, and acquiring land (often by seizing it).
  • Rebellion Motivation: The Proclamation Line of 1763 particularly angered them. Although Britain later partially rescinded it, it wasn't enough. Western colonists desired more land, even if it meant conflict with Native Americans.
  • Cultural Distinction: Frontier colonists viewed urban, tea-drinking, wig-wearing colonists as "effete" or "effeminate." A "true American frontiersman" drank whiskey for breakfast, not "British tea."
  • Alcohol Consumption: Alcohol consumption (whiskey, rum, hard cider) was much higher across society, with hard cider being almost universally consumed, even by children.
• Summary: The frontier was characterized by significantly more Americanization (self-reliance, individualism, expansionism) and less Anglicization (desire for British goods and cultural norms).

Religious Diversity and Its Role in Revolution

• Denominational Presence:
  • Anglican Church: Popular in most colonies.
  • Congregational Church (Puritans): Predominantly in New England.
  • Lutherans: Strong in German-populated areas.
  • Presbyterians (Scots-Irish): Pockets in the Appalachian Mountains, frontier settlers known for clan feuds.
  • Baptist Church: Rising in the South and Mid-Atlantic, noted for its egalitarianism compared to the Church of England and Congregational Church.
  • Catholics: Communities in Maryland.
  • Jews: Small communities in New York City and Georgia (due to Georgia's initial religious tolerance, which later decreased with the introduction of slavery).
  • Quakers: Numerous in Pennsylvania.
  • French Huguenots: Pockets in the South, arriving after losing their own colonies.
• Preachers as Revolutionary Leaders: Preachers played a significant role in galvanizing American resistance. Reverend Peter Muhlenberg, for example, was both a preacher and a Continental Army officer.
• British Perspective: British political cartoons mocked colonists as undisciplined, drunken, and religiously fanatic, influenced by "Presbyterian Parsons" (a reference to Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan rule).

Enlightenment Thought vs. Religious Revivalism

• Class Distinction:
  • Working/Middle Class: Heavily influenced by the egalitarianism of the First Great Awakening.
  • Upper Class: Viewed the Great Awakening with skepticism, considering it too "hoi polloi."
• Upper Class and Enlightenment:
  • Philosophical Influences: Drew heavily from Enlightenment thinkers like Montesquieu (power from consent of the governed) and John Locke (further explored consent and natural rights), and Rousseau.
  • Religious Views (Deism): Many founding fathers were deists, believing God created the world and then withdrew from it (the "clockmaker God"). They appreciated Christian morality but rejected supernatural elements (e.g., Jesus's resurrection, God's direct involvement in daily life).
  • Examples:
    • Benjamin Franklin: A secular founder, deist, known for his common-law marriage and illegitimate children. Still donated to his local church to ensure good seating for his wife, though he found sermons often plagiarized but acceptable if "interesting." Became more spiritual with age.
    • Thomas Jefferson: Another secular founder, a deist. Created the "Jefferson Bible," removing supernatural stories. Became less spiritual with age.
  • Unitarianism: Deism evolved into Unitarianism, further denying supernatural aspects of Christianity.
• Everyday People's Religion: Most families, if they owned any books, usually had a Bible and a hymn book. Printed books remained largely unaffordable for personal libraries until the $\text{1850s}$ with steam-powered printing.
• Denominations Among Elite: Even among the elite, various denominations were represented: Anglicans (George Washington), Congregationalists (John Adams), Catholics (Daniel Carroll), Quakers, Baptists, and outspoken deists like Franklin and Jefferson.

Dietary and Lifestyle Shifts

• Improved Diet: Colonial American working and middle classes generally ate better than European peasants, consuming more meat and protein.
  • Height Increase: This led to Euro-Americans growing taller. (Conversely, Native Americans were becoming shorter due to land loss, hunting depletion, and increased alcohol consumption).
• Shift from Communal Eating to Individualism:
  • Pottage: Early colonists, like Europeans, ate communal "pottage" (porridge with vegetables and some meat), though colonists added more meat.
  • Multi-Course Meals: By the $\text{18th}$ century, colonial Americans desired multi-course meals: meat, vegetable, dessert courses, all with individual plates, bowls, cups, forks, knives, and spoons.
  • Individual Seating: They also favored individual chairs over common benches, especially a more decorated chair for the family patriarch.
• Sources of Knowledge:
  • Cookbooks: Surviving family-made recipe books provide insights.
  • Middens (Trash Piles): Archaeological digs of trash pits reveal animal bones and plant remains, reconstructing diets.
  • Privies (Outhouses): Analysis of human waste provides data on diet and diseases.
• Conclusion: This rise in individualistic eating culture reflected a higher standard of living, more resources, and increasingly individualistic tendencies, which contributed to the spirit of rebellion.

Changes in Housing and Privacy

• Evolution of Homes: From early medieval "wattle and daub" single-room houses, colonists moved to larger, multi-room houses due to more resources.
• Drivers for Privacy:
  • Slavery: Slave owners desired more separation from their enslaved people.
  • Quakers: Advocated for individual privacy to foster personal exploration of their "inward light" (a bit of God within each person). They innovated separate bedrooms for children for prayer and contemplation.
• Specialized Rooms: Homes developed specialized rooms:
  • Bedrooms: For sleeping.
  • Parlors: For socializing.
  • Dining Rooms: For eating.
  • Kitchens: Often detached structures (due to smoke, heat, and less pleasant activities like butchering) to maintain privacy and clean living spaces. This contrasted with modern "open concept" homes.
• Imported Materials: Larger homes required imported British materials: window glass, paint, lead for sealing. Thus, Americanization (desire for bigger homes) simultaneously fueled Anglicization (need for British goods).
• Innovations in Privacy and Status:
  • Individual Chairs: Replacing benches, with ornate chairs for patriarchs.
  • Chests of Drawers: A major innovation for organizing and hiding personal items, replacing boxes or hanging clothes.
  • Chamber Pots: Allowed discreet nighttime relief, discretely emptied in the morning.
  • Clocks: Popular for compartmentalizing the day.
• Decorative Utilitarian Items: These items (chests, chairs, clocks, chamber pots) were often decorated to signal wealth and status. Colonists could buy European originals or American-made "knockoffs," which are valuable antiques today.