Colonial Society Notes

Eighteenth-century American culture: closer ties with Britain and rise of a American identity.
Diverse population (European, Native American, African) engaged in trade and cultural exchange, connecting to the Atlantic World.
Transatlantic trade boosted Britain and colonial living standards; tensions in the 1760s sparked questions about imperial ties.
“Consumer revolution”: improved manufacturing, transport, and credit made goods more accessible, shifting them from luxuries to common items symbolizing respectability.

Colonists used commodity money, notes, bills of exchange; lacked widespread hard currency.
Virginia used tobacco as money; Massachusetts issued first paper money in 1690; Currency Acts (1751, 1763) restricted paper money.
Paper money depreciated and was counterfeited; Britain restricted its use, favoring coins and credit; lack of standardized money hurt intercolonial trade.
Colonial commerce linked to the Caribbean (sugar monoculture); Barbadian sugar exports surpassed all continental colonies by 1680.
Carib–North American exchange fostered consumer access and urban growth.
British Navigation Acts taxed trade, leading to pre-1763 smuggling and piracy (estimated £700{,}000 illicit goods annually).
Consumer revolution drove urban growth; by 1775, major cities were diverse crossroads for people and goods, with about 1/20 of colonists living in them.

Slavery in VA began 1619; primogeniture and entail concentrated wealth among planters.
By 1750, Virginia had about 100{,}000 enslaved people, roughly 40\% of the colony’s population, working under overseers.
Slave codes (e.g., 1705) protected enslavers: children of enslaved women inherited enslavement; enslavers easily excused from murder charges against enslaved, while enslaved faced harsh punishment for harming whites.
In SC and GA, slavery was central: GA initially banned it but legalized by 1750; SC had a majority enslaved population.
Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (1669) legalized slavery from the start; brutal slave codes (beating, branding, mutilation, castration).
Rice plantations led to harsh conditions; West Africans’ malaria immunity reinforced racist views.
Carolina’s enslaved used task system, allowing some autonomy; underground markets and cultural retention (Gullah/Geechee) persisted.
Resistance: Stono Rebellion (Sept. 1739) aimed for Spanish Florida.
Urban slavery: NYC had over 40\% enslaved by 1700; Philadelphia about 8\% by 1770; Massachusetts ≈ 2\% by late 1760s.
Northern/mid-Atlantic slavery varied (patroonships, port-city); central to Atlantic economy, though anti-slavery sentiments grew (Quakers by 1758).
Slavery contributed to distinct Atlantic culture (Gullah, crafts, community networks).

Colonial governments: provincial (Crown-appointed governors), proprietary (lord proprietor-appointed), charter (elected assemblies, local control).
Assemblies taxed and set budgets; governors had power, but assemblies developed checks.
Equality was limited: women, enslaved people, Native Americans lacked full political rights.
Anglo-American families benefited from land; companionate marriage emerged; coverture restricted married women; divorce/elopement increased.
Print culture grew: Boston early, Philadelphia dominant by 1770 (Franklin, libraries, German presses); Common Sense (1776) ignited revolution.
Great Awakening (1730s–1750s): Edwards (predestination); Whitefield (emotion-driven revival); "New Lights" vs. "Old Lights" spurred questioning authority and individual conscience, contributing to republican ideas.
Religion and politics intertwined: churches were social centers; dissenters (Baptists, Quakers) challenged established orders; print spread revival ideas.

French and Indian War began in NA (1754) with colonists/Natives vs. French (Washington’s actions).
Global conflict: Britain, France, allies fought; NA campaigns included Braddock’s defeat, Quebec’s fall.
Albany Plan of Union (1754) for colonial defense; Franklin’s "Join or Die" symbolized unity.
War ended 1760 (Montreal captured); Treaties of Paris and Hubertusburg (1763) reshaped empires; Britain gained Canada and vast NA territory.
Costly (over £140{,}000{,}000); Parliament imposed taxes for costs and direct regulation; heightened colonial political awareness and collective American identity.
Consequences: Royal Proclamation of 1763 restricted western settlement (Appalachians); new trade controls, anti-smuggling measures; anti-Catholic sentiment intensified.
Early American identity: Crèvecoeur’s "American Farmer" question (1782); shared wartime experience fostered distinct consciousness.

Neolin’s prophecy and Pontiac led pan-tribal resistance against British expansion post-war.
1763 siege of Detroit and attacks on forts (Sandusky, St. Joseph, Miami, Michilimackinac) showed Native resistance.
War exposed limits of British imperial rule; disease and supply issues hurt British.
Peace talks (1766, Fort Ontario) led to settlement; Britain reconsidered native lands/trade protections.
Outcome: Royal Proclamation of 1763 defined a boundary and protected Native lands, limiting colonial westward settlement; this fueled colonial dissatisfaction and a broader American identity.
War reinforced Crèvecoeur’s