Life in the Colonies

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Life in the Colonies
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Slavery

• Began in the Colonies in 1619.
• Many worked along side as Indentured Servants.
• Many of the original 20 worked their way out of
  slavery earned their freedom 50 acres of
  land. Also, many had slaves Indentured
  servants of their own.
• But as the need for free labor grew in the New
  World, so would the role of the slave.

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• The American Colonies still lagged behind Spain,
  Portugal France with the number of slaves in
  the colonies. Only the English Sugar Cane
  Plantations of the Caribbean had massive numbers
  of slaves.
• Slavery in the American Colonies were varied
  according to region, work, etc. But the main
  concentration was in the Southern Colonies for
  the massive amounts of land that needed tending.
• This also causes a mixing of cultures, African
  influences on traditional English ways, vise
  versa.

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• Slaves developed their own Caste
• Free-Black
• Slave Overseer
• House Slave
• Skilled Slave
• Field Slave
• Slave labor was vital to the success of the early
  colonial period. It was the only labor force
  that could support the agrarian economy.
• It would also have a lasting effect on the growth
  of the US, after the Revolution.

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Religion

• As the colonies were forming, each region
  maintained the religious beliefs of the group
  that settled it.
• In some areas an official church was
  established. The Anglican Church was the
  official church for the Southern Colonies. All
  others had to convert or leave. What happened to
  freedom from religious persecution.
• Quakers, Puritans, Amish, Salzburgs, etc., were
  forced to leave the areas that originally granted
  them freedom.

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• Religious practice morals varied from colony
  denomination. Not as strict as many would think,
  in some areas.
• Alcohol was fine, but to drink too much is evil.
  The Puritans would have to wear the letter D.
• Pre-marital sex would get the man set to jail,
  whipped in public, fined, disenfranchised,
  forced to marry the woman. Women were jailed,
  whipped forced to wear the letter A.
• Moderation was the key to the Puritan life.

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Salem Witch Trials

• 1692 Massachusetts, now a Royal Colony, was in
  the middle of witch hysteria. New England had
  just over 300 women accused as witches over 30
  were hanged.
• The craze made its way into Salem Village with an
  intensity not seen since the Inquisition.
• Started in the kitchen of the village minister,
  Rev. Samuel Parris. His slave, Tituba, told
  stories to many of the teen-aged girls of the
  village. (Including Rev. Parris 9 yr. old
  daughter, Betty).

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• Tituba supposedly entranced the girls they
  began to bark, hallucinate, be attacked by
  demons. The girls named 3 people as witches,
  Tituba, Sarah Good Sarah Osborne.
• By the end of the hysteria, over 100 people would
  be executed /or jailed. Possibly the strangest
  execution of the trials was the Pressing of Giles
  Corey the curse that has fallen on every
  sheriff of Salem Village since.
• Those that were later absolved of the crimes,
  never regained the land or possessions that their
  accusers took from them.

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Enlightenment

• The Scientific Revolution became very fashionable
  in Europe the Colonies.
• Ideas changed from religious based to scientific
  proof. The Laws of Nature over the Laws of God.
  How would this affect the Colonies?
• Most of these theories directly challenged those
  of the church reduced God to the role of clock
  makerwho planned the Universe set it in
  motion

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• Deism God is the Creator, sets the world in
  motion, then leaves it to fend for itself. No
  Divine Intervention, no supernatural revelations,
  etc.
• Very popular religion at the time, Thomas
  Jefferson Ben Franklin are possibly the most
  famous Deists. Still exists today.
• The Enlightenment caused people to question
  everything, do not take it on Faith any more.
  Science is the most laudable endeavor.

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Great Awakening

• As a pendulum swings, so does culture. What the
  Enlightenment did to religion, the Great
  Awakening will do to Enlightenment. The
  Awakening of the Spirit of God in a person.
• Most Calvinists began to worry about the impact
  on it was having on the church. This led to a
  great revival of religious fervor.
• Evangelism, Congregationalism, new churches,
  larger congregations, etc. All marked the Great
  Awakening.

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• George Whitefield, the Catalyst of the Awakening.
  A young English minister, who had earned the
  reputation as an enthralling evangelist. His
  goal was to rekindle the fires of religious
  fervor in the American Colonies. This fire
  swept up from the Southern Colonies northward as
  he preached the need for new birth, a sudden,
  emotional moment of conversion salvation.
• Jonathan Edwards fell in line started spreading
  the gospel throughout New England. Made famous
  by his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
  God

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• This sermon focused squarely on repentance. That
  Hell was real as was Gods power judgment.
• Many imitators followed taking advantage of the
  movement. Charlatans greedy fire-breathers
  emptied the pockets of many. Also, the advent of
  catching the Spirit became popular within the
  movement. This will not really catch on until
  the 2nd Great Awakening.
• The Great Awakening also caused congregations to
  split.

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• These splits were caused by those who maintained
  the Old ways those who wanted to keep the
  doctrine, but follow the New more charismatic
  path.
• Denominational colleges were built to educate the
  new preachers in the doctrine of their church.
  Harvard Puritan (liberal), Yale Puritan
  (orthodox), William Mary Anglican, Princeton
  Presbyterian, Brown Univ. Baptist, Rutgers
  Dutch Reformed, Dartmouth Congregationalist.

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• The Enlightenment Awakening debate is still
  strong in the US today, i.e. the 1830s, 1920s,
  1950s, 1990s, etc.
• But they did increase the colleges, the role of
  the church right of people to make up their own
  minds.