Chapter 05 - The Cultures of Colonial North America

I.                    The Middle Colonies

a.       Location

                                                               i.      Along the lower Hudson River

                                                             ii.      Included New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania

b.      Religion

                                                               i.      Puritan, Baptist, Quaker, Catholic, and Jewish congregations

                                                             ii.      Lutherans or Calvinists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Baptists

                                                            iii.      Tolerance of religious practices and distinctions

c.       Politics and government

                                                               i.      Justices appointed by colonial officials

                                                             ii.      Landowning farmers chose local officials

d.      Economy

                                                               i.      Some of the best farmland in North America

                                                             ii.      Exported abundant produce

                                                            iii.      Booming port in Philadelphia

e.      Social and cultural aspects

                                                               i.      Ethnically diverse, including Dutch, Huguenots, Flemish,  German

                                                             ii.      Communities connected by kinship and neighborly bonds

                                                            iii.      Social stability and prosperity

                                                           iv.      Lots sold individually rather than in communal packages

f.        Physical characteristics

                                                               i.      Rich farmland

                                                             ii.      Ports

                                                            iii.      Human environment interaction

1.       Agriculture

g.       Historical context

                                                               i.      Quakers rented land to various ethnic and religious groups, creating “salad bowl”

 

 

Indian America

I.                    Relative location of regions

a.       Hundreds of Indian cultures ranged from foothills of Appalachians to western flank of Sierra Nevada in California

b.      Colonists forced Indians to relocate

                                                               i.      Moved from Atlantic coastal plain

                                                             ii.      Moved into or beyond Appalachian mountains

c.       Became active in the fur trade

II.                  Relations with colonists

a.       Dependency on colonists

                                                               i.      Began using firearms and metal tools

                                                             ii.      Built homes out of logs

                                                            iii.      Participated in commercial economy

                                                           iv.      Received clothing

b.      Colonial power conflicts

                                                               i.      Iroquois Five Nations vs. French and Indian allies (King William’s War)

                                                             ii.      1701: Treaty of neutrality with France

c.       Had better relations with French than English

                                                               i.      Sided with French in wars and occasionally traded

                                                             ii.      Traded with English

III.                Population decrease

a.       European disease

                                                               i.      7 to 10 million in 1500 dropped to 1 million in 1800

                                                             ii.      Natives with contact with colonists lost 50% or greater

                                                            iii.      Indian societies on the interior did not endure the epidemics

IV.                Indians of the Great Plains

a.       Migrated during the early eighteenth century

b.      Indians on the Southern fringe of the Plains stole horses from the Spanish colonists in New Mexico

                                                               i.      Enabled Indians to hunt buffalo herds more efficiently

                                                             ii.      More productive economy based on nomadic culture

 

New England

I)        Location of Region

A)     All of the New England Colonies except Rhode Island

II)      Human Characteristics

A)     Religion

1)      Every local community was free to run its own affairs under the guidance of the General Court

2)      Religious persecution

3)      After Toleration Act, religious persecution was stopped and many Anglican, Baptist,  and Presbyterian lived in New England

B)      Politics

1)      Mix of freedom and repression

C)      Government

1)      Governor and representatives elected by the towns

2)      Free men chose their minister, voted on his salary and support, and elected local men to offices ranging from town clerk to fence viewer

3)      Autonomy

D)     Economy

1)      Towns grew too large, reached limit of land and supply

E)      Social

1)      Each village was based around a Church, land was split on a basis of status and seniority

2)      Banded and pursued people of other faiths or people who questioned their faith

F)      Cultural

1)      Adult male members constituted freedom of the town

2)      Little distinction between secular and religious authority

III)    Physical Characteristics

A)     Communal land centered around a Church

Backcountry

Geography

A.      Region extend from Maryland to Virginia

B.      Included Appalachian Highlands

C.      Land West of established colonies

I.                    People

A.      Indians

1.       Cherokee

2.       Delaware

3.       Shawnees

B.      White Pioneers

1.       Claimed land that they had no legal title to

II.                  Lifestyle

A.      Strived to become commercial farmers

B.      Planted corn

C.      Hunted in the woods

D.      Built log cabins

E.       Great violence resulted from the westward expansion. Indians worried about the threat of new people taking their land

F.       Men

1.       Hunted

2.       Warriors

G.     Women

1.       Domestic workers

Southern North America (Chesapeake and Lower South)

I.                    Population

a.       Triracial society

                                                               i.      Made up of white colonists, black slaves, and substantial Indian communities

                                                             ii.      40% were African slaves

b.      Colonies of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia

II.                  Agriculture

a.       Southern colonies were overwhelmingly rural

b.      Specialized in commercial crops

                                                               i.      Rice

                                                             ii.      Tobacco

c.       Tobacco was more profitable than rice

                                                               i.      Farmers planted more tobacco in the Chesapeake region

                                                             ii.      Tobacco, however, drained the nutrients from the soil

III.                Religion

a.       Church of England the state religion

                                                               i.      Citizens required to attend services and pay taxes supporting the Church

b.      No other Church was supported

c.       Dissenters of the Church of England were shunned from the colony

d.      Anglican establishment was weak

IV.                Society

a.       Farms and plantations were spread across this region

b.      Few town or villages

c.       Dominant social institution was the large plantation

d.      Poor families lived in wooden cabins with poor conditions

e.      Richer families lived in better conditions and had slaves

                                                               i.      Not as substantial as other houses of New England

f.        Lower South had little community

g.       Chesapeake had well developed neighborhoods

h.      Growing sense of racial solidarity as African population increased

V.                  Government

a.       Lower South had little to no established government

b.      Chesapeake had developed a form of government

                                                               i.      Developed kinship networks and economic connections

                                                             ii.      Country court had executive and judicial power

                                                            iii.      The governor appoints gentlemen justices, who appoint the grand jury

VI.                Physical Characteristics

a.       Fertile land

b.      Wooden homes

c.       Swamps and marshes

d.      Bordered by water

 

The French Crescent

• Relative location
  • The “French Crescent” referred to a crescent of colonies, military posts, and settlements that extended from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River southwest through the Great Lakes, then down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico.
  • France established a thin colonial presence along the Mississippi River between Louisbourg on Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island, east end of Canada), which guarded the northern approach into New France, and New Orleans, which guarded the southern approach.
• Religion
  • In France, church and state were closely interwoven. Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin, prime ministers of France, established a Catholic imperial policy that led to the bishopric of Quebec, Catholic culture in New France, and Jesuit missionaries pushing Catholicism deep into the continent.
  • Quebec founded local seminaries, oversaw the appointment and review of priests, and laid the foundation for the Catholic culture of New France.
• Economics
  • The French planned to use the communities between Louisbourg and New Orleans to establish a commercial empire.
  • During the years of 1500 – 1650 the French Crescent had little effect on the Americas because it was not fully developed until the 1720s.
  • Communities of farmers or habitants along the St. Lawrence formed the core of the French empire, becoming the most profitable French enterprise in North America.
  • Farming communities in Illinois provided wheat to the booming sugar plantations of New Orleans.
• Culture
  • Communities were inclusive, combining both European and Native American elements. An ethnic group called metis (French for mestizo) grew out of this intermixing.
  • Towns looked French, but were built Indian-style with bark covering their walls. Frenchmen would dress in Native American attire.
  • The fur trade linked native peoples to Europeans and by the nature of beaver furs which built the French crescent.
• People and the physical characteristics of New France
  • “Long lots” that stretched back from the rivers provided families with a share of good bottomland for farming and frontage on the waterways to the Mississippi River.
  • The Mississippi and other rivers formed the “interstate highway system” of the French Crescent, which served as a basic transportation network between the dispersed French settlements. 

 The Spanish Borderlands 

1.       Relative location of region

a.       What is now known as the sunbelt of the United States

b.      Also, northern, present day, Florida

                                                               i.      Conflict with Indians and British reduced the Spanish Presence in Florida

2.        Human Characteristics

a.       Religion

                                                               i.      Franciscan missions constructed among the Indian peoples of Texas

                                                             ii.      Jesuit missions built among the desert Indians of the Indians of the lower Colorado River and Gala River Valleys

                                                            iii.      Established missions in Baja (lower) California

1.       Indians were not forced to join missions, but once they did they could not leave them.

a.       Franciscan missionaries resulted to cruel and violent means of controlling Indians

                                                                                                                                       i.      Shackles, solitary confinement, whipping posts

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Indians resisted and ran away

1.       Native population of coastal California dropped by 74%

                                                           iv.      Catholic Church played a dominant role in the community life of the borderlands

b.      Politics and Government

                                                               i.      Ruled by riceroyalty of New Spain

c.       Economy

                                                               i.      Colonial outposts founded west of New Mexico (today’s southern Arizona)

                                                             ii.      Cattle herding became the dominant economic activity for the next 200 years

                                                            iii.      Limited by a restrictive colonial economic policy

1.       Required colonists to exchange wool, pottery, and buffalo hides for imported goods at unfavorable rates

d.      Social and Cultural Aspects

1.       Approximately 1 million Spanish colonists and mezitos

2.       At least 2 million Indians

e.      Military

                                                               i.      Military posts, presidios, established on the fringes of Louisiana because Spanish were worried about the French activity in the Mississippi

3.       Physical Characteristics of Region

a.       The northern borders of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and California were considered as buffer zones (to protect New Spain from rivaling New World colonies)

b.      How it affected the people living there

                                                               i.      Cattle ranching was the dominant way of life

                                                             ii.      Human Environment Interaction

4.       Significant historical context important to region

a.       Was the largest and most prosperous European colony on the North American Continent

b.      In Florida, the oldest colonies in North America, war reduced colonial presence to mere forts surrounded by colonized territories for families

                                                               i.      Because  of size and weakness, Spain’s forts had no choice but to establish relations with Creek and Seminole Indians and hundreds of runaway African Americans

                                                             ii.      Florida consisted of a growing mezito population and a considerable number of free African American and Hispanicized Indians

c.       New Mexico borders expanded as people headed North along valleys and streams

5.       Mexico City

a.       Administrative capital of New Spain

b.      Most sophisticated city in the Western Hemisphere

c.       Site of one of the world’s greatest universities

d.      Great architecture

e.      Broad avenues

 

Traditional Culture in the New World

·         Oral cultures

o   Some cultures passed on traditions orally through story and song as opposed to printing

o   Rhythms of life were regulated by sunlight and seasons of the year

o   Farmed with simple tools and were subject to drought, flood, or pestilence

o   Demands of the season determined working routines

·         Communal cultures

o   Quebec- villagers worked side by side to repair the roads

o   New Mexico- collectively maintained the irrigation canals

o   New England- gathered in town meetings to decide the dates when common fields were to be tended to

o   Very little privacy within homes

o   Majority of 18^th century North American farmers grew crops and raised livestock for their own needs or local barter

o   The primary goal of farmers was ownership of land and the assurance that children and descendants would have nearby lands to settle upon

·         Colonial cities

o   Places of commerce

o   Artisans and craftsmen work full time

o   Young men pursuing a trade (job) served several years as apprentices in exchange for learning the skills and secrets of the trade

o   Some men had to migrate and became known as “journeymen”

o   Ultimate goal of journeymen was independence

·         Few opportunities for women outside of the household

o   Men held managerial rights over family property; widows received 1/3 lifetime interest in a deceased husband’s real estate (dower)

o   Some colonial women played active roles in 18^th century journalism

The Frontier Heritage

·         Distinction between North America and Europe: land was cheap and abundant in North America

·         Labor was the key to prosperity; labor was in short supply in the colonies

·         Because free men and women could work for themselves on their own land; there was little incentive to work

·         Landowners could secure an agricultural workforce through forced labor

·         More than half the immigrants to 18^th century British America were indentured servants

·         Agents paid their way to America through several years of service in America

·         Property ownership led to rising demands in colonial regions that land be taken from the Indians and opened to colonial settlement

·         Tried to justify their war actions against Indians by saying the Indians failed to maximize the potential of the property  and saying the Indians were savages

 

Population Growth and Immigration

·         High fertility and low mortality rates

·         Colonies in the 18^th century grew about 3% per year

·         Women typically gave birth to seven kids  or more

·         Abundance in food allowed for good health and low mortality

·         British sent families, Spanish limited the migration of their subjects, and French sent Catholic engages as opposed to Protestant Huguenots

·         British were the imperial power to encourage the immigration of foreign nationals to the colonies

·         “Trade in strangers”- Carrying migrants provided English and Dutch merchants with a way of making a profit on the voyage of vessels sent to bring back tobacco, rice, indigo, timber, and flour

·         British colonies enacted liberal naturalization laws  that allowed Protestant immigrants who swore allegiance to the British crown to become free “denizens” with all the privileges of natural-born subjects

·         Parliament  passed the Plantation act of 1740, which allowed prohibited naturalization for Catholic and Jewish immigrants, but allowed it for others

·         Majority of European immigrants were bonded servants or slaves

·         In 1750, Pennsylvania passed a law to prevent the overcrowding of ships filled with indentured passengers

·         Backcountry majorly populated by Scots-Irish

Social Class

·         North American society was not aristocratic like Europe, but was not without social hierarchy

·         In New Spain, Espanoles (Spaniards) were the highest in social class while mestizos, mulattoes, and other ethnicities were on lower levels

·         African slaves and Indians were at the bottom of the social classes

·         In British colonies, upper class was made up of large landowners, merchants, and prosperous professionals

·         As opposed from Spanish and French , British celebrated social mobility

·         Large and impoverished lower class in the British colonies- slaves, bonded servants, and poor laboring family make up 40% or more of the population

·         British contained a large and influential middle class; Spanish and French did not have a middle class

·         About 70% of Pennsylvanian colonists were middle class

·         Most were moderate landowning farmers

·         Enjoyed better living in America than “mother country”- due to many reasons such as the enclosure movement

 

Economic Growth and Increasing Equality

·         Heavy regulation leads to stagnation in New Spain and New France while impressive economic growth takes place in the British colonies

·         Middle and upper class British people began enjoying improved living conditions

·         Growth resulted in increasing social inequality

·         Rich were getting richer and poor were getting poorer

·         Greatest amount of wealth occurred in commercial farming cities

Contrasts in Colonial Politics

·         French Canada was ruled by a superior council, and intendant, and a bishop

·         New Spain was governed by the Council of the Indies- direct executive authorities

·         British Prime Minister Robert Walpole established a decentralized administration; felt this would best accomplish  the nation’s economic goals

·         With the exception of Connecticut and Rhode Island (who elected their own governors by charter), colonies were administered by royally appointed governors

·         Taxation and spending were controlled by elected assemblies

·         Only men with property could vote; adult white males who qualified was 50% or higher in the colonies

·         Those who could vote elected wealthy landowners, planters, or merchants to serve as their leaders

The Enlightenment Challenge

·         Enlightenment thinkers in Britain and Europe argued that the universe was governed by natural laws that people  could understand and apply to their own advantage

·         John Locke proposed that the state existed to provide for the happiness and securities of individuals,

·         Locke also believed the state existed to provide for those with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property

·         Enlightenment writers emphasized rationality, harmony, and order

·         Enlightenment thinking appealed to those whose ordered lives improved their lot

·         Cotton Mather wrote about the existence of witches

·         About ½ of adult men and ¼ of adult women could read

·         Boston News-Letter was the first continuously published Newspaper in North America

·         The almanac, a combination calendar, astrological guide, and sourcebook of medical advice and farming tips, was another popular literary work

A Decline in Religious Devotion

·         Anglican and Puritan churches suffered declining memberships and falling attendance at services

·         Once Puritanism became an established church, attendance was expected of all townspeople

·         The Half-Way Covenant of 1662 allowed children who had not experienced conversion to join the church as half-way members who could do everything except participate in communion

·         In 1708, the churches of Connecticut agreed to the Saybrook Platform, which enacted a system of governance by councils of ministers and rather than by congregations; this weakened the passion and commitment of church members

·         Congregationalists began to question the Calvinist theology of predestination—the belief that God had predetermined the few men and women who would be saved in the Second Coming

·         Puritans believed that God had given people the freedom to choose salvation by developing their faith and by doing good works—known as Arminianism

The Great Awakening- George Whitefield

·         The colonial widespread colonial revival of religion in the New England colonies became known as the Great Awakening

·         Religious leaders condemned the laxity, corruption, and officialism of Protestantism and reenergized it with calls for piety and purity

·         Religious factions known as the Old and New Lights accused each other of heresy

·         New Lights fought against a rationalist heresy and called for a revival of Calvinism

·         Old Lights condemned emotional enthusiasm as part of the heresy of believing in a personal and direct relationship with God outside the order of the church

·         Many “unchurched” colonists were brought back to Protestantism by 18^th century revivalism

 

 

AP Question

 

1. Eighteenth-century America was: E. made up of a wide variety of Indian groups and settlers from a wide number of European nations.

All of Western Europe, and parts of the rest of Europe, was in on colonization. Individual communities, however, had their own little quirks. Indian America, though battered by epidemics brought on by European diseases, continued to assert their independence, though many tribes in close contact with the Europeans adopted European goods and became reliant on them. The Spanish Borderlands, which served as a buffer zone for sophisticated New Spain (Mexico), isolated from the prosperous inland colonies, grew slowly, and often became centers to convert natives to Catholicism for a monarchy that was reluctant to deplete its fields in Spain proper. The French Crescent established a French trading empire in North America, stretching from Quebec at the mouth of the St. Lawrence to New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi, with a strong Catholic character mixed with heavy native intermingling. New England colonies exhibited a highly repressive and ethnically homogenous Puritan ideology based on a close integration of church and state, though this was slowly chipped away at after the English Civil War and the Toleration Act. The ethnically diverse Middle colonies had many cultures, but they remained distinct from one another, forming a salad bowl rather than a melting pot, with a large amount of free settlement and social mobility for the landowning white settlers. The Backcountry represented the frontier and the settlers hostile to natives in it. The South was a triracial society of whites, African slaves, and Indians with an economy based on plantation labor.

 

2.  One of the first Americans to advocate religious toleration was: C. Roger Williams

For his trouble, Roger Williams was excommunicated by the Puritan congregations and went on to form the colony of Rhode Island.

 

3. The development of Pennsylvania was strongly influenced by the: A. Society of Friends

Though the Quakers quickly became a minority in Pennsylvania, due to its large immigrant populations attracted by the low prices for land, they continued to exert a strong influence, establishing a loose government and preventing religious persecution.

 

4. The Chesapeake settlements and the colonies of the Lower South were: C. Ethnically diverse because of the presence of Africans, Europeans, and Indians.

See 1. While Africans made up a substantial part of the population (40%), they were not the majority.

 

5. In colonial America: E. Women were generally denied careers or opportunities outside of the household.

Women had some social rights, though not many. In employment, women were limited, though some inherited printing presses from their husbands and became prominent journalists.

 

6. The presence of the frontier and the availability of land in the colonies: D. helped create social assumptions and practices that were not especially democratic

The frontier economy was based on the idea of forced labor, strongly stratified class structures and subordination, and a “might makes right” mentality towards natives and each other.

 

7. During the eighteenth century: C. for a variety of reasons  the British colonies began to differ socially and politically from New France and New Spain.

These reasons are: influxes of immigrants (contrasted to French and Spanish reluctance to send settlers) from English immigration and liberal naturalization laws, high growth rates, African slavery, and a locally based government in contrast to the centrally managed governments of New Spain and New France that encouraged upwards mobility for the upwardly mobile.

 

8. One striking thing about British North America in the 1700s was: B. the presence of a dynamic middle class.

The middle-class often came to join the colonial elite as rising profits increased their social status—often at the expense of the poor becoming poorer.

 

9. In North America during the eighteenth century: E. the English colonies began to develop the institutions of representative government.

British Prime Minister Robert Wadpole encouraged decentralized government and salutary neglect in the economy. Though royal governors controlled the colonies, elected assemblies were the ones who decided on taxation and spending, with the white landowners as the voters. This created a self-perpetuating elite of white landowners who would vote in other white landowners. This elite viewed democracy negatively, inferring mob rule. These “representative” governments slowly began to take more and more power away from the royal governors, who often could do nothing to the money-controlling assemblies.

 

10. The intellectual movement that led to a significant transformation in British North America was: b. the Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment, which started in Europe, was a time of scientific discovery and rationalism. John Locke, a political theorist, would propose that people had unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property and that the state existed to protect such rights. The Enlightenment led to a burst of literature, both the practical (Poor Richard’s Almanack) and the satirical.

 

11. By early in the 1700s: D. America was experience an apparent decline in religious devotion.

At about the same time as the Enlightenment, religious devotion began to drop off, with about maybe only one in fifteen adults a member of a congregation. The Puritan Church, which had become an official religion, established the Half-Way Covenant to receive members who had not formally converted, and struggled with lessening piety when councils of ministers became the main governing body instead of congregations. Many Congregationalists (Calvinists) began to question the theology of predestination (that God had predetermined who exactly would be saved in the Second Coming) and began to turn to Arminianism, which taught that people could be saved by having faith and doing good works, in line with humanist Enlightenment ideas.

 

12. The Anglican minister who helped spread the Great Awakening throughout the English colonies was: D. George Whitefield

Whitefield toured the colonies giving sermons and oratories, ignoring sectarian differences and proselytizing all denominations equally.

 

13. The Great Awakening: B. provided many Americans with their first opportunity to engage in public debate and action.

The Great Awakening inspired two groups—the Old Lights, who represented the old guard and the wealthy elite, and the New Lights, who represented revivalism and the poorer classes. The Old Lights supported the religious rationalism of the Enlightenment while the New Lights condemned it a heresy and lobbied for a return to Calvinism. The new supporters of the New Lights would engage in heavy debate against the entrenched Old Lights. Some credence should be given to answer D, however; religion provided an out for the poor, who saw religion as a way to sidestep pressing social problems and giving the rich a reprieve.

 

14. The expansionism of colonies in British North America during the eighteenth century: A. created the potential for competition with the French and with the Indians.

Frontier planters in the Middle Colonies and the Backcountry pushed to grab more land from the Indians, provoking them and attracting the ire of the expansionist French. This would set the stage for the French and Indian War, a precursor to the Revolution.