Conquest by the Cradle

• Great Britain ruled 31 North American colonies by 1775, with only 13 of them having revolted

• The population of the colonies was at 2.5 million

• About 90% of the population lived in rural areas and lived as farmers

A Mingling of the Races

• Germans made up about 6% of the population (150,000 people) by 1775

• Most Germans were protestant and were called “Pennsylvania Dutch”

• Scots-Irish made up about 7% of the population (175,000 people)

• Scots-Irsish had relocated to Northern Ireland but came to America instead as they had not found a home in Northern Ireland

  • Most Scots-Irish lived in Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas and led the armed march of the Paxton Boys in 1764

  • Many Scots-Irish eventually came to be known as American revolutionists

• About 5% of the multicolored population was made up of other European groups such as  the French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Irish, Jews, Scots-Highlanders, and Swiss

The Structure of the Colonial Society

• America was a land of opportunity as anyone willing to work could possibly go from rags to riches

• There was an emergence of class differences with a small group of aristocrats consisting of rich farmers, merchants, clergymen, and officials holding most of the power

• Armed conflicts in the 1690s and 1700s enriched merchants in the New England and middle colonies

• A social pyramid consisting of rich plantation owners, small farmers, landless whites, indentured servants, and black slaves emerged in the South

• Slavery became an issues as some colonies didn’t want slaves while others needed them

Clerics, Physicians, and Jurists

• The clergy (priests) was the most honored profession in colonial times

• Physicians were not held in high esteem as several were terrible at their jobs due to medical practices being archaic

• Bleeding was a deadly solution to illnesses

• Lawyers weren’t liked at first, with criminals often representing themselves in court

  • Lawyers were recognized as useful by 1750

• Many lawyers defended high-profile cases and playing integral roles in America’s history

Workday America

• Agriculture was the leading industry as it seemed that farmers could grow anything

• Tobacco was the staple crop in Maryland and Virginia

• New York was exporting 80,000 barrels of flour a year by 1759

• Fishing, while rewarding, wasn’t as profitable as farming with it benign pursued in all the American colonies (especially the New England colony)

• Trading was quite popular and known as a prevalent industry since commerce played a big role in all the colonies (“triangular trade”

• The single most important manufacturing activity was lumbering

• Parliament passed the Molasses Act in 1733, which would would have been crippling to America’s international trade

  • Had it been successful and it would have inhibited trade with the French West Indies

Horsepower and Sailpower

• American roads in the 1700s were quite poor and only connected large cities with them being quite dangerous

• People who ventured the roads often signed wills and prayed with family members before leaving and due to this, towns relied on slow, easy-to-navigate water sources such as oceans and rivers

• Taverns and bars were great places of gossip and news

• In the mid-1700s, an intercolonial mailing system was set up

Dominant Denominations

• The two tax-supported, “established churches” by 1775 were the Anglican and Congregational Church

• The Congregational Church had grown from the Puritan Church and was established in all the New England colonies except Rhode Island

• Worry arose in the late 1600s, concerning the topic that people weren’t devout enough

The Great Awakening

• The stage of the First Great Awakening was set due to the less religious fervor compared to before and worry that many people wouldn’t be saved

• The Great Awakening led to the founding of “new light” centers such as Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth

  • Great Awakening was the first religious experience shared by all Americans as a group

Schools and Colleges

• Education was most significant in New England

  • Used to train young, future clergyman

• In other parts of America, farm labor took up most of the time that would have been spent in school

• While there were good primary and secondary schools in places other than New England, not all could afford to attend

• Colonial schools placed an emphasis on religion and on the classical languages alongside doctrine and orthodoxy

  • Discipline was severe in schools

• In New England, college education was seen as more important than the ABC’s

A Provincial Culture

• There wasn’t a lot of time for recreation, with the little time was there being used on religion

• Painting was seen as a worthless pastime

• Architecture was mostly imported from the Old World and then altered to meet American needs

• Colonial literature was generally undistinguished

• Franklin’s experiments with science helped in advancing the field of science

Pioneer Presses

• There weren’t many libraries in early America with very few Americans being rich enough to purchase books

• There was a famous case in which a New York newspaper printer (John Peter Zenger) was taken to court and charged with writing in a malicious manner against someone (Zenger won the case)

The Great Game of Politics

• 8 of the colonies had royal governors appointed by the King by 1775

  • Basically every colony used a two-house legislative body: the upper house was appointed by royal officials or proprietors and the lower house was elected by the people

• Self-taxation with representation became a privilege that Americans valued above the majority of the other rights

Colonial Folkways

• Americans faced many hardships such as churches not being heated at all, running water or plumbing being nonexistent, and garbage disposal being practically primitive

• In the South, card playing, fox hunting, and horse racing were fun with lotteries being universally approved

• Stage plays were also popular in the South, but not in the North

• Holidays were celebrated all over the colonies with New England not liking Christmas

Makers of America: The Scots-Irish

• Scots lived a miserable life in England as many were extremely poor with Britain still taxing them

• When the Scots migrated to Ireland, they felt unwelcome and eventually immigrated to America and when they came to the colonies, they constantly tried to further themselves from Britain

  • Most Scots-Irish moved to Virginia

• The Scots’ hatred of England made them great allies and supporters of the U.S. during the Revolutionary War