5: The Cultures of Colonial North America, 1700-1780

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5 The Cultures of Colonial North America,
1700-1780
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• "The latent causes of faction are thus sown in
  the nature of man and we see them everywhere
  brought into different degrees of activity,
  according to the different circumstances of civil
  society." James Madison, Federalist 10

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Chapter Review Questions

• 1. What were the principal colonial regions of
  North America? Discuss their similarities and
  differences. Contrast the development of their
  political systems.
• 2. Why did the Spanish and the French close their
  colonies to immigration? Why did the British open
  theirs? How do you explain the ethnic homogeneity
  of New England and the ethnic pluralism of New
  York and Pennsylvania?
• 3. What were the principal trends in the history
  of Indian America in the eighteenth century?
• 4. Discuss the development of class differences
  in the Spanish, French, and British colonies in
  the eighteenth century.
• 5. Discuss the effects of the Great Awakening on
  the subsequent history of the British colonies.

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Annotated Bibliography

• Richard Hofstadter, America at 1750 A Social
  Portrait (1971). A well written description of
  Americas peoples and regions that suggests that
  the Great Awakening made a middle-class society
  even more so.
• Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia,
  1740-1790 (1982). A magnificent description of
  the different cultures of Virginias Elite and
  poor, showing religious revivals changed them
  forever.
• Gary B. Nash, The Urban Crucible Social Change,
  Political Consciousness, and the Origin of the
  American Revolution (1979). Detailed,
  comprehensive, and indispensable for
  understanding the social and political world of
  urban workingmen.

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Bibliography

• Frances Calderón de la Barca, Life in Mexico
  (1843)
• Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North
  America An Introduction (1986)
• David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed (1990)
• Ben Franklin, The Autobiography and Other
  Writings (1790)
• Maynard Geiger, O.F.M., Mission Santa Barbara
  1782-1965 (1965)
• Richard Hofstadter, America at 1750 (1971)
  consensus school of history
• James Kirby Martin, editor, Interpreting Colonial
  America (1973)
• Malachi Martin, The Jesuits The Society of Jesus
  and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church
  (1987)
• Gary Nash, The Urban Crucible (1979)
• Arthur Schlesinger, Sr., editor, A History of
  America Life (1948)
• Laurel T. Ulrich, Good Wives Image and Reality
  in the Lives of Women in Northern New England,
  1650-1750 (1982)
• David J. Weber, The Spanish Frontier in North
  America (1992)

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• Chronology
• 1636 Harvard College founded
• 1644 Roger Williams's Bloudy Tenent of
  Persecution
• 1662 Half-Way Covenant in New England
• 1674 Bishopric of Quebec established
• 1680s William Penn begins recruiting settlers
  from the European Continent
• 1682 Mary Rowlandson's Sovereignty Goodness of
  God
• 1689 Toleration Act passed by Parliament
• 1690s Beginnings of Jesuit missions in Arizona
• 1693 College of William and Mary founded
• 1700s Plains Indians domesticate the horse
• 1701 Yale College founded Iroquois sign treaty
  of neutrality with France
• 1704 Deerfield raid
• 1708 Saybrook Platform in Connecticut

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• 1716 Spanish begin Texas missions
• 1718 French found New Orleans
• 1730s French decimate the Natchez and defeat the
  Fox Indians
• 1732 Ben Franklin begins publishing Poor
  Richard's Almanac
• 1733 Georgia founded
• 1734 Great Awakening begins
• 1735 John Peter Zenger acquitted from libeling
  New Yorks governor
• 1738 George Whitefield first tours the colonies
• 1740s Great Awakening gets under way in the
  Northwest
• 1740 Parliament passes a naturalization law for
  the colonies
• 1746 College of New Jersey (Princeton) founded
• 1760s Great Awakening - full impact in South
• 1769 Spanish colonization of CA begins (Father
  Junípero Serra)
• 1773 Pope Clement XIV abolished Society of Jesus
  (resurrected Pope Pius VII, 1814)
• 1775 Indian revolt at San Diego
• 1776 San Francisco founded
• 1781 Los Angeles founded

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Crossing Cultural Boundaries

• In 1704, Indians attacked the town of Deerfield,
  Massachusetts.
• Dozens of captives were delivered to the French
  allies of the Indians, including Eunice Williams,
  the daughter of John and Eunice Williams.
• Eunice refused to return to her family and stayed
  at Kahnawake, a Catholic Indian community near
  Montreal, becoming part of that community.
• Only 36 years later did Eunice, under her
  Iroquois name A'ongonte, return to Deerfield with
  her Iroquois family.

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C North American Regions
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• From Deerfield to Kahnawake
• Crossing Cultural Boundaries

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Indian America

• Participation in the fur trade showed the
  remarkable ability of Indians to change and adapt
  to new conditions by
• participating in the commercial economy
• using metal tools and
• building homes of logs as frontier settlers did.
• Indians became dependent on European trade
  goods.
• Diplomatically, Indians played colonial powers
  off against each other.
• The major concern of Indians was the phenomenal
  growth of the colonial population in the British
  coastal communities.
• Simultaneously, Indian populations continued to
  decline.

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The Introduction of the Horse

• The introduction of the horse stimulated the rise
  of nomadic Plains culture.

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The Spanish Borderlands

• The viceroyalty of New Spain was the largest and
  most prosperous European colony in North America.
• The northern borderlands of New Spain were
  considered a buffer zone of protection from other
  European colonies.
• In Florida, the colonial presence was weak
  causing the Spanish to form alliances with
  Indians and runaway slaves to create a
  multiracial society.
• In New Mexico, the population expanded by
  developing ranches and farms along the Rio Grande
  River.

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The Mission System

• In California, the mission system guided
  development in the 1770s.
• As shown by the mission system, the Catholic
  Church played a dominant role in community life.
• 1834 Desecularization

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The French Crescent

• The French empire in North America was founded on
  a series of alliances and trade relations that
  linked a large crescent of colonies and
  settlements from the mouth of the St. Lawrence
  River down through the Great Lakes and along the
  Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

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The French Colonies

• The Catholic Church played a strong role in the
  French colonies.
• For defensive reasons, the French allied with
  Indian trading partners set up a line of military
  posts and settlements.
• Throughout Quebec, the French establish farming
  communities that ship wheat to Louisiana
  plantations.
• French communities combine French and Indian
  elements in architecture, dress, and family
  patterns.

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New England

• Puritan congregations governed local communities.
• Attempts to introduce religious toleration failed
  as other denominations practiced their faith
  openly by 1700.
• New England towns grew rapidly and the expanding
  population pressed against available land.

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The Middle Colonies

• New York had one of the most ethnically diverse
  populations in North America.
• New York City grew tremendously but immigration
  to rural areas was lower than surrounding areas.
• Pennsylvania Quakers accept a more diverse
  population.
• Government institutions were pillars of community
  organization.
• Middle Colony communities were more
  individualistic than the tightly controlled New
  England communities.

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The Backcountry

• Backcountry was a distinctive region where rank
  was often of little concern.
• Conflicts between settlers and Indians made the
  backcountry a violent region.

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The South

• The South was a tri-racial society of Europeans,
  Africans, and Indians.
• Large plantation house dominate Upper and Lower
  South.
• Small tobacco farms were widely found in the
  Upper South.
• White males dominated southern society.
• The Anglican Church was present in the South but
  had little power.
• In the Upper South, well-developed neighborhoods
  created a sense of community and white solidarity.

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Traditional Culture in the New World

• In the colonies, everyday life revolved around
  the family and kinship, the church, and the local
  community.
• Americans were attached to their regional
  cultures that were based on oral transmission.
• Community needs outweighed those of the
  individual.
• The majority of rural Americans were
  self-sufficient farmers who practiced diverse
  agriculture and engaged in crafts as sidelines.

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Work and trades

• In cities, artisans were organized according to
  the European craft system.
• Women had few career opportunities.

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Land and Opportunity

• Land in America was abundant and cheap but did
  not lead to a democratic society.
• Forced labor was common and few indentured
  servants won freedom and prosperity.
• The demand for land caused wars with Indians.

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D Diverging Social and Political Patterns
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Population Growth and Immigration

• In 1700, 290,000 colonists lived north of Mexico.
• In 1750, the colonial population had grown to
  almost 1.3 million.

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The Ancestry of the British Colonial Population

• Only the British colonies encouraged immigration.
• The Spanish feared depleting their population at
  home.
• The French blocked Protestant Huguenot
  immigration.

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Social Class

• Colonial America was more egalitarian than
  Europe.
• In New Spain and New France, hereditary elites
  held privileges more in theory than practice.
• In the British colonies, the elite was open and
  based on wealth.
• The British colonies included a large middle and
  poor and unfree classes.

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Economic Growth and Increasing Inequality

• French and Spanish colonies were economically
  stagnant compared to the booming British
  colonies.
• Over time in the British colonies, the gap
  between rich and poor increased, especially in
  cities and commercial farming regions.
• In older regions, land shortage created a
  population of "strolling poor."

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Contrasts in Colonial Politics

• Unlike the French and Spanish, the British used a
  decentralized form of government.
• Royal governors and locally elected assemblies
  governed.
• Most adult white males could vote.
• Colonial politics were characterized by deference
  rather than democracy.
• Leadership was entrusted to men of high rank and
  wealth.
• Most colonial assemblies had considerable power
  over local affairs because they controlled
  finances.

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E The Cultural Transformation of British North
America
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The Enlightenment Challenge

• The British colonies were more open to
  intellectual and religious challenges than the
  French and Spanish.
• Enlightenment ideas emphasizing that scientific
  principle should be applies to create more human
  happiness took hold in the growing number of
  American colleges.
• Widespread literacy helped spread Enlightenment
  ideas.
• Traditional views also had strong popular appeal.

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A Decline in Religious Devotion

• The spread of new ideas occurred during a period
  of religious decline.
• The Puritan Church experienced falling membership
  and attendance at services.
• The change from a congregational to an
  established church contributed to the Puritan
  decline.
• The belief in predestination was weakening as
  Arminianism became more popular.

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The Great Awakening

• In the 1630s, the Great Awakening began with
  Jonathan Edwards calling for a return to Puritan
  traditions that appealed to dissatisfied young
  people.
• The movement spread as thousands of people
  experienced emotional conversions.
• In 1738, George Whitefield toured America,
  further fueling the movement.
• Conflicts developed between Old and New Lights.
• In the South, the Great Awakening introduced
  Christianity to slaves.
• The Great Awakening
• greatly increased church membership
• led to the growth of the Methodist and Baptist
  churches and
• laid the way for future political change.

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• Acrostic, by Benjamin Franklin
• B-e to thy parents an obedient son,
• E-ach day let duty constantly be done.
• N-ever give way to sloth or lust or pride,
• I-f free you'd be from thousand ills beside
• A-bove all ills, be sure avoid the shelf'
• M-an's danger lies in Satan, sin, and self.
• I-n virtue, learning, wisdom progress make,
• N-e'er shrink at surrendering for thy Saviour's
  sake.
• F-raud and all falsehood in thy dealings flee,
• R-eligious always in thy station be,
• A-dore the maker of thy inward part.
• N-ow's the accepted time give God thy heart
• K-eep a good conscience, 'tis a constant friend
• L-ike a judge and witness this thy act attend.
• I-n heart, with bended knee, alone, adore
• N-one but the Three-in-One forevermore.