Ch 3: Society
-Difference/sameness caused tension
-colonies existed for 100-150 years before actual US but were so far off from england’s ideals
already
-Similarities: commercial, political, cultural ties to england
-Differences: geography, size of colonies, population, diversity of population
-No super accurate count of population/no census until much later as of 1775
-most dense population was coastal between chesapeake through massachusetts, southern
pennsylvania/virginia, carolinas are pretty sparse
-rapid widespread population growth fed by natural reproduction (where life expectancy was longest
in places like new england but immigration was down bc of closed cultures, poor weather + poor
economics) + large numbers of immigrants coming as free people, refugees, slaves/servants, people
moving off of other newer colonies ended up there too (chesapeake area: life expectancy/natural
birth rates low, but was attractive to immigrants/slave spots)
-5-8 children were common in many places, even though many didn’t actually live very long
-caribbean plantations as 17-18th centuries bring in slaves and slaves n slaves that overall
-slaves were heavily concentrated in southern colonies but were much less common in northern
colonies
-race-based slavery became more n more important, so so did racist attitudes/beliefs put in place
to govern those systems
-colonial economies were diverse
-1790 census (first to happen in US) shows that 3.9 million people were in the whole US and caps
off the colonial era basically (which is actually LA population currently)
-South had cash crops: tobacco, rice (lil different but still counts because it’s being traded
-north focused on agricultural/surplus sale produce, fishing, printing, small scale
manufacturing+mining, metal goods, furniture
-Colonists traded mostly with themselves + neighbors trading material for material minecraft
villager style
-merchants connected to shipping (lived in port cities, import/export trades) could obtain and sell
to different various colonies
-Basic goods directly from England were rarely but sometimes available
-Colonists were running on basics of life bc most were poor + there wasn’t really any
opportunity/reason to want luxury because they literally needed the human basics, other than like
tobacco + alcohol (ales, small beer, rum which was sugar based so they had access to it)
-paint, basic clothes, lead, iron, metal, lumber, food, tools
-bound books were rare other than like the bible
-large panes of glass didn’t really exist either because of how hard they were to get
-early stages of industrial revolution in england + colonial economies expanding meant more n more
goods became available/cheaper as the colonies moved into the 18th century, leading to the rise of
consumerism (other than like the frontier people)
-Prosperous colonial households have fine china, grandfather clock, spinning wheels, cooking devices
-As colonists got further along economically, they felt more “cosmopolitan European” which is dumb
Daily life:
-countrysides: agriculture, farming
-south was dominated by plantation system, small group of rich people owning large large large
pieces of land w slaves/servants living on plantation/trying to avoid living on plantation and taking
whatever land was left
-plantations had buildings, mills to process crop, big house where family lives that owns the
plantation
-Regular people who needed cheap land would go into mountains, swampland, frontier//work on
plantations owned by other people
-Northern agriculture: independent, small owned family farmer bc there wasn’t cash crop
agriculture, owners typically worked their own farm, super self-dependent and idealistic but did
happen for some people (not super realistic for everyone)
-colonial cities (boston, nyc, richmond, baltimore): population could be 10k-30k, centers for
import/export of goods, built on coasts/rivers
-urban life was super super diverse, ranging from poverty on the street-middle class clerks whatevs
idk-wealthy people all in one spot
-Goods are cheaper/easier access, wider access to different belief systems, more culture, more
economic opportunities, social issues (crime, assault, prostitution, gambling, gang activities but it's
all very small scale)
Religion:
-colonial america was actually pretty religiously diverse/tolerant in some areas
-protestantism dominated
-smaller religious areas still existed and did well despite the established churches tho
-established churches in colonies: official church recognized/protected by law n government,
sometimes even mandatory
-colonial america was like obnoxiously religious, church attendance was super super high, religious
revivals were happening in the 1730s-40s leading to methodist/baptist churches, puritans evolved
into congregational denominations, official anglican churches evolved into basically christian
denominations like it was taught at st johns
-first great awakening: historians see as a prelude to american independence, bc it shows historians
that colonizers were willing to break off from tradition/old culture/established institution and
change it to their own set of beliefs
French Indian War
-1689-1763 british went to war with france (7 years war) 4 times for dominance in colonies, oceans,
europe
-colonies were kinda a sideshow
-north americans became centerpiece in the later war bc of england's determination to kick france
out of na
-new france st florence river valley eastern great lakes region was really close to colonies so it
caused geographic tensions
-fighting before declaration of war bc france was really hard on britain by 1760 british empire had
taken over areas in canada
-pontiacs rebellion sequence of events in 1763 has relevance to future american history
-British victory eliminated France as a significant power in North America
-Opened the way for British colonists to expand into the interior
-Two immediate consequences: the
-Proclamation of 1763, and extraordinary cos
-Natives helped the french + settled in
-waterways are important
-france gave up canada east of the mississippi as part of the treaty of paris
-pontiac is an important leader of the war indians are gonna launch against british “after” the
french indian war 1763