Comprehensive Notes: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution (1700–1775)

Population Growth and Immigration (1700–1775)

• Part of the broader question of why some British colonies rebelled while others did not; key to the answer are distinctive social, economic, and political structures of the Atlantic seaboard colonies and the gradual emergence of an American way of life.
• Conquest by the Cradle: two-thirds of the answer lies in population dynamics and social structure.
• Population figures
  • In 1700, the thirteen Atlantic seaboard colonies had a population of fewer than $3 imes 10^5$ people, of whom about 20,000 were Black enslaved people.
  • By 1775, the population had grown to about $2.5 imes 10^6$, with roughly $5 imes 10^5$ Black people. White immigrants numbered about $4 imes 10^5$, and Black “forced immigrants” accounted for almost as many again.
  • The spurt in population came largely from natural increase (doubling roughly every $25 ext{ years}$) rather than only from immigration.
  • The colonists were a young people: the average age in 1775 was about 16.
• Implications for power and politics
  • In 1700 there were roughly 20 English subjects for each American colonist; by 1775 that English advantage had fallen to about 3 to 1, shifting the balance of power and setting the stage for rising colonial assertiveness.
  • Britain ruled 32 colonies in North America by 1775 (including Canada, the Floridas, and Caribbean islands), but only thirteen joined the rebellion.
• Demographic diversity ahead of the Revolution
  • The Atlantic colonies were a melting pot with substantial foreign groups in addition to English stock: Germans, Scots-Irish, Irish, Dutch, French Huguenots, Jews, Swedes, and others contributed to a diverse society.
  • By 1775, mainstream American stock was still Anglo-Saxon, but the colonies were culturally and linguistically mixed, laying the groundwork for a distinct American identity.

Immigrant Groups and Ethnic Mosaic (1775)

• Germans (about 6% of the population, ca. 150,000 people): settled mainly in Pennsylvania; many were Lutherans and other Protestants. Known popularly as the Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch). Signs in both German and English reflected their presence.
• Scots-Irish (ca. 175,000 people, about 7%): not actually Irish; originally from the Scottish Lowlands, transplanted to Northern Ireland, then pushed into the American frontier, especially along the backcountry from Pennsylvania to Georgia. They were notable for frontier vigor, log cabins, whiskey distilling, and restlessness; associated with the Paxton Boys and the Regulator movement.
• Other European groups (roughly 5% overall): French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss, and Scots Highlanders. Except for the Scots-Irish, these groups often felt less loyalty to Britain.
• Africans: the largest single non-English group, accounting for roughly 20% of the colonial population in 1775 and heavily concentrated in the South. Slavery’s presence and racial mixing deeply shaped American society.
• Indigenous peoples: polyglot Native American communities in Europe-encountered towns and Great Lakes villages, reflecting a mosaic of tribal identities.
• The Crèvecoeur observation (circa 1770) captured the essence of American diversity: “They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes… a race now called Americans.”
• Visual representation (conceptual): by 1790 in Figure 5.1, ethnic/racial composition was roughly
  • ext{English} o 49 ext{ ext%}
  • ext{African} o 19 ext{ ext%}
  • ext{Scottish} o 7 ext{ ext%}
  • ext{German} o 7 ext{ ext%}
  • ext{Scots-Irish} o 5 ext{ ext%}
  • ext{Irish} o 3 ext{ ext%}
  • ext{Dutch} o 3 ext{ ext%}
  • ext{Other European} o 9 ext{ ext%}
• The Declaration of Independence signers in 1776: 56 signers total, of which 18 were non-English, and 8 had not been born in the colonies.

The Structure of Colonial Society

• Social openness and mobility
  • Unlike much of Europe, eighteenth-century America appeared relatively open to advancement: an ambitious colonist, even an indentured servant, could rise to higher social ranks.
  • By the mid-1700s, however, signs of stratification emerged: elites and wealthier classes gained greater influence, and barriers to mobility increased.
• Wealth and elites
  • By mid-century, the richest 10% of residents in Boston and Philadelphia owned roughly two-thirds of the taxable wealth in their cities.
  • War-related profits enriched merchant princes, enabling the growth of a wealthy upper class that signaled status with imported clothes, English china, and silverware.
• Welfare and poverty
  • War also created a class of widows and orphans dependent on charity; Philadelphia and New York built alms houses in the 1730s to care for the destitute.
  • Despite pockets of poverty, overall, relative to Europe, poverty levels were lower in the colonies.
• Rural/urban divergence
  • In New England, the countryside saw subdivided landholdings over time; many young people faced reduced prospects as farms shrank, forcing some to hire out as wage laborers or move westward beyond the Alleghenies.
  • The South’s wealth rested on slaveholding plantation elites; wealth was unevenly distributed, with “poor whites” increasingly likely to become tenant farmers.
• Indentured servants and bound labor
  • Large numbers of indentured servants contributed to mobility, and some rose to positions of prominence (including two future Declaration signers).
• Slavery and race-based hierarchy
  • Slavery was the system that most sharply distinguished colonial society from Europe; it created a permanent, hereditary underclass and shaped social and political life across the colonies.
  • This paradox—economic and political opportunity for whites alongside rigid racial hierarchy—became a defining tension in the pre-Revolutionary era.
• The category of “paupers” and “convicts”
  • About 50,000 “jayle birds” were shipped to the colonies; many convicts eventually became respectable citizens, while enslaved Africans faced the most severe oppression.
• Civic life and notable figures
  • John Adams and other leaders emerged from a context that combined legal, political, and religious discourse in a colonial setting that valued self-government.

Religion, Great Awakening, and Culture

• Dominant denominations in 1775
  • Two established (tax-supported) churches: Anglican (Church of England) and Congregational (New England Puritans). Rhode Island was disestablished earlier and had significant religious diversity.
  • The Anglican Church served as the official faith in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and part of New York; Congregationalism dominated New England.
• Religious census and debates
  • Table 5.1: Established churches by colony; Table 5.2: Religious census (1775)
  • Estimated membership: $1{,}857{,}000$; Estimated population: $2{,}493{,}000$; Church membership as a percentage: 74 ext{%}
• The Great Awakening (1730s–1740s)
  • Key figures: Jonathan Edwards (Massachusetts) and George Whitefield (England).
  • Edwards emphasized predestination and the need for God’s grace, warning of hell in sermons such as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
  • Whitefield’s emotive, mass-assembly preaching drew thousands of listeners and helped popularize revivalist religious fervor.
  • Effects:
  • Undermined the authority of older clergy and encouraged emotional religious experience.
  • Led to denominations splitting into “old lights” (skepticism toward revivalism) and “new lights” (embracing revivalism).
  • Fueled the growth of new churches and missionary work among Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans.
  • Promoted the founding of new colleges (Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, Dartmouth) and contributed to the emergence of higher education as a broader American enterprise.
  • The Awakening is often viewed as a mass movement that helped foster a pan-colonial sense of unity and shared American identity.
• Education in the colonial era
  • Puritan New England valued education for religious purposes; focus on Bible reading, with colleges often training ministers.
  • Nine colonial colleges were established (listed below) to support education beyond religious instruction:
  • Harvard – Cambridge, MA (1636) – Congregational
  • College of William and Mary – Williamsburg, VA (1693) – Anglican
  • Yale College – New Haven, CT (1701) – Congregational
  • Princeton (College of New Jersey) – Princeton, NJ (1746) – Presbyterian
  • Pennsylvania College (The Academy) – Philadelphia, PA (1751) – Nonsectarian
  • Columbia (King’s College) – New York, NY (1754) – Anglican
  • Brown University (Rhode Island College) – Providence, RI (1764) – Baptist
  • Rutgers (Queen’s College) – New Brunswick, NJ (1766) – Dutch Reformed
  • Dartmouth – Hanover, NH (1769) – Congregational
  • Franklin’s influence: helped launch the University of Pennsylvania, the first American college free from denominational control.
  • Education was uneven by region: the South faced geographic challenges; wealthy families often relied on private tutors; smaller, local institutions existed across the colonies.
• Culture and the arts
  • European influence persisted; most colonists pursued practical crafts and trades, rather than high culture.
  • Prominent colonial artists and writers included John Trumbull, Charles Willson Peale, Benjamin West, and John Singleton Copley; many trained in Europe.
  • Colonial literature and science featured Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard’s Almanack), biographical works, and early scientific experimentation (kite experiment, bifocal glasses, Franklin stove, lightning rod).
  • The American identity began to take shape in arts and letters, though much of the culture remained Eurocentric.

The Press, Politics, and the Public Sphere

• The press as a vehicle for reform and political debate
  • Newspapers (about forty colonies’ papers by 1775) circulated sermons, essays, and opinions; many used pseudonyms (Cicero, Philosophicus, Pro Bono Publico).
  • The press played a crucial role in airing grievances against British rule and in shaping public opinion across diverse communities.
• The Zenger case (1734–1735)
  • John Peter Zenger, printer in New York, attacked the royal governor with seditious libel charges.
  • Defense: Andrew Hamilton argued that truth should be a defense against libel; the jury acquitted Zenger, a landmark for freedom of the press.
  • The case helped establish the doctrine that truthful statements about public officials could not be prosecuted as libel, even though full press freedom would take longer to realize.
• Colonial governance and self-rule
  • By 1775, colonial governments varied: eight royal colonies with governors appointed by the king; three proprietary colonies where governors were chosen by proprietors; two self-governing colonies (Connecticut and Rhode Island) with elected governors.
  • Most legislatures were two-house bodies (upper council and lower house) with the lower house elected by property-holding voters. The upper house was often appointed (crown in royal colonies; proprietor in proprietary colonies; elected in self-governing colonies).
  • The power of the purse (funding approval) gave colonial legislatures leverage over governors and influenced governance dynamics.
• Local governance and civic culture
  • Local government varied: county government in the plantation South; town meetings in New England; modified forms in the middle colonies.
  • The town meeting became a democratizing institution that fostered direct participation and debate, contributing to a shared political culture across the colonies.
• The electorate and democracy
  • Voting and officeholding were restricted by religious and property qualifications; roughly half of adult white males were disenfranchised by those standards.
  • Yet property ownership and flexible land acquisition allowed many industrious colonists the potential to participate in governance.
• Summary in historical context
  • The colonial political system combined representative government, self-government, and evolving political culture with a strong emphasis on local control and independence from imperial authority. All of these factors laid groundwork for the upcoming American Revolution and the later American political system.

The Colonial Economy and Trade Networks

• Primary industries
  • Agriculture: about 90% of the people worked in farming; tobacco remained a staple in Maryland and Virginia; wheat became important in the Chesapeake and the Middle Colonies.
  • The Middle Colonies produced large quantities of grain; New York, by 1759, exported about 80,000 barrels of flour per year.
  • Fishing and shipbuilding: abundant cod on the Grand Banks; New England exported dried cod to Europe and the Caribbean; shipbuilding and naval stores (tar, pitch, rosin, turpentine) were vital for Britain’s navy.
  • Lumber and timber: major industry; colonial shipbuilding increasingly contributed to the British merchant marine (about one-third of British ships built in America by 1770).
• Manufacturing and crafts
  • Manufacturing existed but was secondary to agriculture; common crafts included beaver hats, iron production, textiles (spinning/weaving), and other small industries.
  • The “kill-devil” rum business flourished in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; alcohol consumption was widespread and tied to social life.
• The colonial economy as a whole
  • A bustling coastwise and overseas trade network enriched the colonies, particularly New England, New York, and Pennsylvania (Map 5.3 illustrates major trade routes).
  • The triangular trade was highly profitable: a typical voyage might involve rum to Africa for slaves, slaves to the West Indies for molasses, molasses back to New England to be distilled into rum, which would then be sold again for profit.
  • By the eve of the Revolution, the Atlantic economy had created dependencies and specialized regional identities (northern grain and livestock; Chesapeake tobacco; southern rice and indigo).
• Imperial constraints and colonial responses
  • Parliament’s Molasses Act of 1733 aimed to curb trade with the French West Indies by forcing colonial trade to pass through Britain; merchants responded with bribery and smuggling, foreshadowing resistance and reformist momentum that culminated in the Revolution.
• Atlantic trade imbalances and market strategies
  • The colonies depended on British manufacturing and markets, yet grew increasingly eager for foreign markets to sustain demand for colonial goods (tobacco, timber, flour) and to finance imports.
  • West Indian and European markets were crucial for maintaining colonial prosperity; the Molasses Act highlighted tensions between colonial economies and imperial regulation.
• Transportation infrastructure and mobility
  • Transportation was expensive and unreliable; roads were poor; Franklin’s anecdote about a Boston–Philadelphia journey illustrates the challenges (months of travel time by water, land, and weather).
  • Coastal navigation, river transport, and stages of travel shaped daily life and commerce, while taverns along travel routes acted as social and political hubs.

The Great Awakening, Education, and Culture (Detailed)

• The Great Awakening: roots, figures, and impact
  • Edwards’s Northampton sermons (1734) and Whitefield’s revival meetings (beginning 1738) sparked a widespread religious revival across the colonies.
  • Old lights opposed revivalism; new lights embraced it, leading to denominational splits and the diversification of Protestant life.
  • Cultural effects included a broader sense of national belonging that crossed regional lines and a challenge to established religious authority.
  • Educational impacts included the founding of Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth as “new light” centers of learning inspired by revivalism.
  • The Awakening contributed to the expansion of missionary work among Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans.
• Education and culture (expanded)
  • Puritan emphasis on bible literacy and church leadership persisted, but a secular trend slowly emerged as colleges broadened curricula beyond theology.
  • The arts remained heavily European in influence; American painters and writers often pursued opportunities in Europe before returning to the colonies.
  • Benjamin Franklin’s intellectual footprint extended beyond science and printing to education reform and civic institutions (e.g., the University of Pennsylvania).
  • Classical education and Latin/Greek formed the core of collegiate curricula in many institutions; later shifts introduced practical and modern subjects.
• The press as a public-school of politics
  • Private libraries and circulating libraries proliferated, with Franklin’s philanthropic library in Philadelphia as a key example.
  • The proliferation of pamphlets, newspapers, and essays contributed to a culture of public discourse and political engagement.

Education, Culture, and Public Life: Nine Colonial Colleges

• Nine colonial colleges established (Table 5.3):
  • Harvard – Cambridge, MA (1636) – Congregational
  • College of William and Mary – Williamsburg, VA (1693) – Anglican
  • Yale College – New Haven, CT (1701) – Congregational
  • Princeton (College of New Jersey) – Princeton, NJ (1746) – Presbyterian; later opened to all denominations
  • Pennsylvania College (The Academy) – Philadelphia, PA (1751) – Nonsectarian
  • Columbia (King’s College) – New York, NY (1754) – Anglican
  • Brown University (Rhode Island College) – Providence, RI (1764) – Baptist
  • Rutgers (Queen’s College) – New Brunswick, NJ (1766) – Dutch Reformed
  • Dartmouth – Hanover, NH (1769) – Congregational
• The Princeton note: moved from Elizabeth/Newark to Princeton in 1756 after a land endowment; Nassau Hall was the main building; the Congress met there for three months in 1783, briefly making Princeton the nation’s capital.
• Role of Franklin in higher education: helped launch the University of Pennsylvania as a relatively secular, public-minded institution.

Everyday Life, Religion, and Public Morals

• Everyday life in the colonies
  • Life was drab and demanding for many; housing was basic; heating was primitive; indoor plumbing was rare; lighting relied on candles or whale-oil lamps.
  • Social life revolved around taverns, church gatherings, weddings, funerals, and community events; taverns served as discussion forums and informal political arenas (Green Dragon Tavern in Boston as a noted example).
  • Holidays and feasts varied by region; Christmas was frowned upon in Puritan New England; Thanksgiving emerged as a distinctly American festival combining gratitude with communal celebration.
• Gender, work, and family
  • Most work was manual labor; women contributed through spinning and weaving and managed household economies; education for girls lagged behind that of boys but some women contributed to letters and literacy through reading and writing.
• The role of science and innovation
  • Benjamin Franklin stands out as a rare public intellectual and scientist; his experiments and inventions (bifocals, Franklin stove, lightning rod) contributed to American scientific culture.
• The press and public opinion
  • Newspapers and pamphleteering helped shape political debate and colonial resistance to British policies.
• Key cultural notes
  • The transatlantic exchange of ideas and people helped lay the groundwork for a shared sense of American identity, even as regional differences persisted.

Chronology and Key Terms (Selected)

• Chronology highlights
  • 1693: College of William and Mary founded
  • 1701: Yale College founded
  • 1721: Smallpox inoculation introduced
  • 1734: Jonathan Edwards begins Great Awakening
  • 1734–1735: Zenger free-press trial in New York
  • 1738–1760s: George Whitefield spreads Great Awakening
  • 1746: Princeton College founded
  • 1760: Britain vetoes South Carolina anti-slave trade measures
  • 1764: Paxton Boys march on Philadelphia; Brown College founded
  • 1766: Rutgers College founded
  • 1768–1771: Regulator movement
  • 1769: Dartmouth College founded
• Key terms
  • Paxton Boys, Regulator movement, triangular trade, Molasses Act, Arminianism, Great Awakening, old lights, new lights, Poor Richard’s Almanack, Zenger trial, royal colonies, proprietary colonies
• People to Know
  • Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, Jacobus Arminius, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Trumbull, John Singleton Copley, Phillis Wheatley, John Peter Zenger

Chronological and Thematic Connections to Later History

• The Great Awakening helped forge a common American religious and public sphere that crossed colonial boundaries, contributing to a sense of shared identity that would color revolutionary thought.
• The mix of economic opportunity and social stratification in the colonies set up enduring tensions between wealth, class, and race that would shape American politics and society well into the 19th century.
• The Zenger case foreshadowed arguments for free expression and an independent press, foundational to later constitutional protections for civil liberties.
• The economic pattern of Atlantic trade and the imperial acts (Molasses Act, Townshend Acts) gradually moved colonial grievances toward organized resistance, eventually fueling the American Revolution.

Connections to Foundational Principles and Real-World Relevance

• The colonial era showcases the development of self-government, liberty of speech and assembly, and limited (though imperfect) social mobility—principles that would underpin American political culture.
• The coexistence of diverse ethnic and religious communities in colonial America laid important groundwork for American pluralism, tolerance, and the ongoing negotiation of national identity.
• The paradox of democratic political life with racialized slavery provides a long-running tension that has influenced American political discourse and policy across centuries.

Selected References and Further Reading (from the transcript)

• Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America (1986)
• Richard L. Bushman, From Puritan to Yankee: Character and Social Order in Connecticut, 1690–1765 (1967)
• Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom (1975) [interpretive framework]
• Rhys Isaac, Landon Carter’s Uneasy Kingdom (2004)
• Jill Lepore, New York Burning (2005)
• Marcus Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1987)
• Gordon Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (2004)
• A complete annotated bibliography for this chapter is available at www.cengage.com/history/kennedy/ampageant14e

Review Questions (Representative Glance)

• See the end-of-chapter review questions (12–14 items) for checks on political, economic, religious, and social themes; key topics include population growth effects on power, Molasses Act implications, triangular trade, Enlightenment and Great Awakening impacts, Zenger trial significance, and colonial governance structures.

Quick Reference: Major Terms and Concepts (at a Glance)

• Paxton Boys, Regulator movement, triangular trade, Molasses Act, Arminianism, Great Awakening, old lights, new lights, Poor Richard’s Almanack, Zenger trial, royal colonies, proprietary colonies, Crèvecoeur, Jacobus Arminius, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Trumbull, John Singleton Copley, Phillis Wheatley, John Peter Zenger