Colonial Society

1
Colonial Society

• Chapter 4
• Section 2

2
The Family in Colonial Times

• Many people lived with their extended families
• Extended family- a family that includes
• Parents and children
• Grandparents
• Aunts
• Uncles
• Cousinsand others
• Living on a farm
• Living in the city

SLIDE 2/13
3
On a Farm

• Most colonists lived on farms
• Many responsibilities
• Plant
• Cultivate (foster the growth of)
• Harvest crops
• Fences to mend
• Animals to tend
• Wood to chop
• Farmhouses made of wood/few rooms
• Sitting stools and benches
• Sleeping on planks
• Winter time was very cold

SLIDE 3/13
4
In a Town

• If you were single, it was easier to live in a
  town.
• Families were still important

SLIDE 4/13
5
Men

• Controlled familys income
• Controlled familys property
• Others expected to accept his authority
• Voters
• Office holders

SLIDE 5/13
6
Women

• Marriage chosen by parents
• Usually had many children
• Many domestic responsibilities (household)
• Worked outside as well
• Little or no role in public life
• Could not hold office or vote

SLIDE 6/13
7
Young People

• Required to work at age 7
• Games- marbles, hopscotch, leapfrog, jump rope
• Toys- handmade at home
• Boys work fields
• Girls labored beside mothers- learning to run a
  house
• If family was poor went to work as servant for
  another family
• Some boys worked as apprentices- someone who
  learns a trade by working for someone in that
  trade for a certain period of time

SLDIE 7/13
8
BATTLE TIME

• Families that include parents, children, aunts,
  uncles, cousins, and grandparents is known as
  __________________.
• In colonial families, who handled child care and
  domestic duties?
• At what age were children expected to begin
  working?
• Someone who learns a trade by working for someone
  in that trade for a certain period of time

Slide 8/13
9
Social Classes

• Gentry- upper class of colonial society
• Wealthy planters
• merchants
• ministers
• royal officials
• successful lawyers
• prosperous artisans (goldsmiths)
• Felt that serving the community was their duty
  and right

Slide 9/13
10

• The Middle Class
• Also called the middling sort
• Neither rich nor extremely poor
• Small planters
• Independent farmers
• Artisans
• Could vote
• A few held office
• Mostly white but some African

Slide 10/13
11

• Indentured Servants
• Lower on colonial scale, just above enslaved
  Africans
• Signed a contract to work from 4 to 10 years in
  the colonies for anyone who would pay for his or
  her ocean passage to the Americas
• Few if any rights
• Bound to obey their masters
• At end of term received clothes, tools, 50 acres
  of land
• About 1 in 10 became prosperous landowners
• 1 in 10 became artisans

Slide 11/13
12
Free African Americans

• Never a large portion of colonial society
• Allowed to own property
• Most not allowed to vote or sit on juries

Slide 12/13
13
BATTLE TIME

• Made up of small planters, independent farmers,
  and artisans
• The upper class of colonial society
• Signed a contract to work from 4 to 10 years for
  anyone who would pay for his or her ocean passage
  to the Americas

Slide 13/13