FONER

Chapter 4

The Colonies on the Eve of Revolt

AMERICAN COLONIES during the Eighteenth-Century Enlightenment

• British Constitution• notion of liberty

– voting• political culture

– assemblies• exchange of ideas

– press– Zenger

• Benjamin Franklin• economics

– cash crops– consumer goods

• education• women• religion

Colonial Culture in the Eighteenth Century

• American enlightenment – intellectual movement stressing reasoned investigation of beliefs

and institutions, scientific method– optimistic view of human nature– view cosmos as orderly result of natural laws (Newton)– belief in the perfectibility of the world—Deism– religious belief should rest on scientific evidence– search for practical ways of improving life– mixed reception in America

• Urban culture– Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Charles town– geared to commerce, rising demand for goods – new fashions, luxuries = birth of a consumer society– emulated British architecture– attract colonists from rural areas, overseas

Exchange of ideas• Magna Carta (1215)

– King John and Barons• Mayflower Compact

– first written form of government in US• Locke

– mutual agreement among peers– social contract– natural rights– consent of the governed– right of rebellion against unjust or

oppressive government• Montesquieu

– Constitution has political liberty as its purpose

• pamphlets– Gutenberg press meant rapid spread of

information, ideas, and language of freedom

• press– By 1730s political commentary was

common in American press– Zenger libel trial

LIBERTY AND VOTING• British constitution universally admired

– not a written document– believed to balance monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy– balance believed to guarantee liberties

• Less than 20% of English males could vote• Parliament notorious for corruption and liberty• Concept of voting in the colonies-white men• Land was the basis of liberty• Office holders-more land and slaves• VOTING became more identified with a general right

to resist arbitrary government

Representative Government• Magna Carta• Mayflower Compact• House of Burgess

– unicameral– established colonial precedent

• covenants– Fundamental Order of 1639

• Colonists attempted to emulate British political institutions

• Corrupt colonial governments– No man is above the law

Effort led to discovery of how DIFFERENT colonists were from the English people

Education• By 1647, each New England town had its

own church and had to establish a school

• 1636-HARVARD was established to train an educated ministry

• books

• education in the South

Women• Property ownership varied• Most women could not conduct business in her

own name• Family was the center of economic life• High birthrate• Male domination enshrined in law, religion, and

property• primogeniture

• Slav became slave• Culture in Africa• West Indies-sugar

• More Africans relocated to the New World than Europeans (7.7m)

Slavery

• Triangular Trade– slaves– crops produced by slaves– goods destined for slave societies

• By 1770-1 of 5 (2.3) living in North American English colonies were slaves

• natural increase• THREE distinct slave systems

developed1. TOBACCO based-family centered,

poor white influenced2. RICE based-harsh, low broth rate,

mulattos3. NON-PLANTATION slavery in New

England and Middle Colonies-most mobile

– common link for slaves-religion

Slavery, con’t (Foner 4)

Great AwakeningReligion remained central to colonist life

• Revival-to bolster religious devotion• Edwards, Whitefield• Impact

– people of modest means– circulation of printed materials– government must not restrict religious freedom– independent judgments, frame of mind

"The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow...“ • "SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD" was the most famous of the fire-and-brimstone sermons, first preached in 1741 by Jonathan Edwards, a prominent Calvinist minister, in Enfield, Connecticut. It was a powerful expression of the Calvinist theology of the First Great Awakening. It extended the reach of religion to the poor, native Indians and blacks, all of whom had been spurned by other sects. After the initial wave of religious fervor, enthusiasm peaked in Virginia in the 1760s. IT IS NEW BIRTH THAT MAKES SINNERS FREE. •The Revolutionary War displaced religious evangelism.

•What did being British mean?

British-common culture-common language-common law-consumer goods-evangelism-military victories-affectionate ties

1763

By 1783, the Thirteen Colonies = the USA

WHY?