This chapter discusses the social and economic development of early America. It describes the early colonial settlers as predominantly young, poor males and examines the differing ecologies and relations with Native Americans in different regions. Population growth increased dramatically between 1750-1775. Gender roles were clearly defined, with women having few rights. The economies of the southern colonies were based around tobacco, rice and indigo plantations worked by African slaves, while New England developed shipbuilding, trade and small farms. The Enlightenment and Great Awakening religious revivals influenced colonial thought.
2. The Shape of Early America
Early American settlers
Under 25
Male
Poor
Seaboard ecology
Native Americans
Slash and Burn, Shared Resources
British Immigrants: Natural Resources as private commodity
By 1650 farm animals outnumbered colonists and roamed freely
Conflict with the Native Americans over farm animal roaming
Population growth
Between 1750 and 1775 the population of the New World grew to 2.5 million.
Franklin: Observation Concerning the Increase of Mankind (1751)
Colonies: Land plentiful and cheap
Colonies: Labor scarce and expensive
Average Age of Colonists: 16
3. The Shape of Early America
Birth and death rates
More births in Colonies
Women married younger and lived longer resulting in two more pregnancies per
woman on average.
Men lived to age 70 in colonies and women lived to late 60’s due to less contagion
Women in the colonies
Ratio to men 8:1
Married by age 21
Deeply rooted convictions that women were inferior to men
Role of women: obey husbands, bear children, maintain households
Social custom and legal codes: women prohibited from preaching; voting; holding
public office; attending public schools or colleges; bring lawsuits; make contracts; own
property
Women and religion
Quaker women could speak in church
Puritans: women as weak vessels who succumbed to original sin
Cotton Mather: Women more Godly than men due to childbirth
4. Women’s Work
Rising at 4 AM
Water live stock
Prepare breakfast
Wake Children by 5:30
Churned butter
Work garden
Prepared lunch
Schooled children
Worked garden
Prepared dinner
Milked Cows
Put children to bed
Cleaned Kitchen
Spare time: Combed, spun, spooled, wove, bleached wool, knit linen & cotton,
hemmed sheets, pierced quilts, made candles; washed floors, washed clothes,
hauled water
Bed at 9:00 PM
5. African American Women’s Lives
Significantly more difficult than white women’s lives
Religion:
In Africa many societies matrilineal
Priests & healers in addition to childbearing
Exposed to both Christianity & Islam in addition to traditional African religions
In America
Women attempted to sustain traditional African religious and cultural practices
Conflict between white colonial Christianity and slavery
Whites believed that Christians were equal spiritually but not physically in temporal
world
Many whites did not want to treat African slaves as spiritual equals and did not encourage
conversion to Christianity over concerns that Baptism might require temporal freedom.
Feared Christian religious piety among Africans might blur boundaries between slaves
and masters
Virginia ordinance in 1667: African children remained slaves regardless of whether or not
they had been baptised
Daily life
Majority worked in fields as field hands in the 17th century as well as
maintaining as best they could a matriarchal family life
6. Society and Economy in the
Southern Colonies
Crops in Virginia, Maryland and South Carolina
Tobacco
Indigo
Rice
Favorable balance of trade (1678-1717)
English middlemen
Freight payments; commissions; storage fees; interest payments;
customs duties; insurance premiums; cost of slaves and/or
indentured servants
Reduced Planters profits and restricted entry into more diverse
enterprises
North Carolina: Pine Tar (Origin of Tar Heels)
7. Land
1618 Virginia Company: only asset was land
Share right: 50 acre
Head Right: acres for paying own passage or bringing others
to Virginia
Large scale production
Tobacco quickly depleted the soil and required large acreage
to rotate crops
Riverfront property reduced charges by middlemen
Larger planters assumed roles of middlemen for smaller farms
As production increased, larger production = lower unit cost
Smaller farms sold to larger farms or produced products used by
large planters
8. Labor of Free Men and Women
Indentured servitude = 50% of white settlers in colonies
outside New England
Trade in Kids (kidnapped) and Spirits in London
1717: felons could escape hangman by agreeing to emigrate
Limited rights
Own property but not engage in trade
Marriage required permission of master
Masters could whip servants or extend servitude for bad behavior
Sexual abuse
Freedom dues
Money, tools, clothing, small tracts of land owed by Masters upon
completion of contract of servitude
9. African Slavery in 17th and early
18th Centuries
Enslaved Africans came from many areas in Africa, each with their own customs and beliefs and experiences
Difference between slavery in Africa and America
Chattel Slavery practiced in the New World;
Social death: the enslaved person’s soul is considered dead, but their body becomes the property of the owner
As property rather than person, the enslaved had no expectation of rights and could never acquire rights because property has no
rights;
Enslaved status was passed through the mother to the child (thus white men could father African American children who would
be born enslaved (as property) and never afforded the status of human being);
Status of enslaved person as property required continual reinforcement through brutality;
Institution of slavery was fundamental to the economy of the American South; British and French colonies in Caribbean and
Brazil
Slavery as practiced in Africa
Client Slavery or Patron Slavery more characteristic of African Slavery;
Client slavery = voluntary slavery for protection or from catastrophe or famine—client slavery was not perpetual and could end
upon the decision of either the client or the master
Patron Slavery: indenture or debt slavery—once the debt repaid the condition of enslavement ended.
Chattel slavery employed in Africa as a result of war between peoples
African Chattel Slavery could change as the enslaved person learned the language and customs of captors and became a junior
member of the family over time;
African slaves could get married and children were not considered slaves
Slavery was rarely perpetual
Africans sold people from groups with whom they were in conflict, rarely from their own peoples. African Muslims forbidden to
enslave another Muslim
Chiefs and Headmen who sold other Africans were frequently suspected of witchcraft which had an entirely different meaning than in
European culture and history
In Africa, witchcraft associated with spirit of malevolence which comes from acting selfishly.
Ubuntu: a person is a person through association and ties with other people
Muthi: bad magic associated with acting in one’s own best interests
Institution of slavery was not fundamental to economy of any territory or kingdom in Africa
17. The Enlightenment
Discovering the laws of nature
The Enlightenment in America
Franklin’s influence
Jefferson
Education in the colonies
18. The Great Awakening
First popular movement among the colonies
Jonathon Edwards
George Whitfield
Piety and reason
Hinweis der Redaktion
Early American settlers were usually under 25, male, and poor. Why else would they risk their lives on a months-long trip to a place where they had no one to help them? The vast majority of immigrants to the New World came from the British Isles. It is purely legend that when the first colonists arrived, they landed in virgin territory, never touched by human hand or ambition. Native Americans for centuries had hunted and cultivated the land. In many cases they were more destructive to nature than were the colonists. Between 1750 and 1775, the population of the New World grew to 2.5 million.
Because settlers tended to marry at a relatively young age, the birthrate in the English colonies was higher than it was in Europe. After the first decade of colonization, the death rate in America was dramatically lower than in Europe. The average life expectancy for men was 70. The liberty and freedom that existed in the colonies did not apply to women, who were still forced to abide by the European custom of deferring to their husbands. However, one area in which they were given more authority was in spiritual matters.
From the start, the south was an agricultural economy. The longer growing seasons and fertile land provided settlers a leg up on the north, which had neither in abundance. One major problem that southerners faced was obtaining laborers to cultivate and harvest the crops from their vast tracts of land. Slavery filled this need. Another factor in maintaining an agricultural economy is a market for the produce. England provided a ready and willing market. Originally, the importation of slaves to the colonies was hindered by the vast demand for them in the West Indies and the sugar plantations of Brazil. But the continued influx of white workers from Europe meant that slave labor was not in demand. But when Great Britain began to experience a period of rapid economic expansion, the number of immigrants tapered off, and slaves became necessary to produce goods to meet market demand.
Instead of creating the equivalent of English manors, as colonists in the south had done, New Englanders focused on the growth of towns, along the lines of traditional Old World villages. It was easier to catch fish than to cultivate the land and grow crops in New England, so that became a principal form of income. Crops were grown by families to meet their basic needs, not to make a profit. Thanks to the abundance of forests, New England soon became renowned for its shipbuilding industry. Because they were primarily involved in providing England with raw materials rather than finished goods, New Englanders had to import many items from Europe. By using their own ships, they were able to foster a burgeoning shipping industry into an economic juggernaut for their colonies.
Contrary to modern perceptions, the Puritans were not dour and intolerant. They were moderates, who believed that anything done to excess was bad. As the population of the New England colonies increased, so did the strain among the different immigrant groups. As merchants continued to import goods from England, materialism began to take effect, diluting the emphasis of the church. In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, a total of 30 citizens were executed as practitioners of witchcraft, and over 300 were so accused.
The economy of the middle colonies was affected by both New England and the south. Colonies there created their own mix of agriculture and trade, depending on their location and the quality and quantity of land. Whereas much of the south and north were settled primarily by British citizens, the middle colonies received a fair number of German immigrants as well.
The 17th century is known for the Enlightenment, when scientific thought and inquiry revolutionized society with new ideas and new concepts. The Enlightenment in the Americas is most closely associated with Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was an inventor, who used scientific principles to create such items as bifocals, the lightening rod, an efficient wood-burning stove, and the glass harmonica. During this period, educating children was the responsibility of the family and the church. In New England, the density of the settlements allowed for the creation of schools to teach children outside of the home and church.
The Great Awakening was the first popular movement among the colonies, before the Revolution that would span all 13 colonies. Jonathon Edwards traveled the colonies preaching against materialism and for the Enlightenment and a return to faith. George Whitfield, another preacher during the Great Awakening, encouraged his listeners to renounce their worldly goods. The Great Awakening taught that churches were not needed because individuals could commune with God on their own.