Kunal Bhagoji

Period 5

Growth and Crisis in Colonial Society, 1720-1765 Freehold Society in New England
The Puritans, when they arrived in America, had wanted to create a yeoman society, but now the rapidly growing population (which occupied all of the good farmland) threatened the future of the freehold ideal. Farm Families: Womens Place Womens role: Subordinate to their husbands Often prosecuted for fornication Had inferior wedding portions (they didnt receive land) Had and raised 6-7 children, though the shrinking amount of available farmland meant that women began having less children Farm Property: Inheritance Men wanted land and farms to provide their children with land and inheritance. Men who couldnt provide their children with inheritance sometimes moved their families to the frontier because, though life was initially difficult, cheap land was readily available. These farmers created communities of independent property owners. The Crisis of Freehold Society When parents began having less land to give to their children, they began to have less control over their childrens lives. The system of arranged marriages broke down as a result of premarital sex and the use of pregnancy to gain a fathers permission to marry. Families addressed the threat to the freehold ideal by: 1. The use of early birth control 2. Petitions to the government for frontier land grants for new farms 3. More effective use of land families replaced barley and wheat with potatoes and Indian corn. The corn leaves served as food for animals, and thus animals flourished. New England switched from a grain to a livestock economy. 4. The exchange of labor and goods between families, which allowed households and regions to maximize output, thus preserving the freehold ideal Section summary: Men and women were unequal in New England.

Families needed to provide inheritances, but they couldnt, and as a result parents had less control over their childrens lives. The parents diminishing control over their children threatened the freehold ideal, so New England was forced to make changes to preserve freehold society. As a result of the changes, New England switched to a livestock economy and became home to an economy of trade between households and

regions. The Middle Atlantic: Toward a New Society, 1720-1765

Economic Growth and Social Inequality 1720-1770: The demand for wheat goes up, the prices soar, and the Middle Colonies prospered and attracted more settlers. Tenancy in New York Though the Hudson River Valley was fertile, immigrants didnt want to live there because the Dutch landlords and wealthy British dominated the area. However, to attract tenants, the landlords gave them more rights. Many tenants hoped that they would eventually be able to buy their own farms, but their output wasnt big enough. Quaker Pennsylvania 1760s: Slave labor was used on farms to grow wheat. A class of agricultural capitalists developed in Pennsylvania. On the other hand, there were many poor colonists without land, as they couldnt afford to pay the high prices. Merchants and artists took advantage of these colonies to organize an outwork system. As a result, communities became as crowded and socially divided as those in rural England, and many smallholders feared that they would once again live as European peasants did. Cultural Diversity Because European immigrants held on to their traditions, communities were ethnically and religiously diverse. Immigrants preserved their cultural identity by marrying within their own ethnic group and maintaining the customs of their native lands (the exception was the Huguenots [French Calvinists] who intermarried and lost their French identity). In Pennsylvania and western New Jersey, the Quakers were the dominant group. They, unlike other colonists, were pacifists and therefore dealt peacefully with the Native Americans. 1737: Governor Penn used dubious tactics to gain land from the Native Americans. This created bitterness, and would lead to war in 1750. The Quakers were also opposed to African slaves, and slavery in general. German Immigration

The Quaker vision of peace attracted German immigrants, who first arrived in 1683. The Germans preserved their own culture in the colonies. The Scots-Irish Influx The Scots were unhappy in England and then in Ireland, so they immigrated to Boston and New Hampshire in 1710. By 1720, most Scots were immigrating to Pennsylvania. They, like the Germans, retained their culture. Religious Identity and Political Conflict The leaders in Western Europe hated religious diversity. However, in Pennsylvania, religious sects enforced moral behavior through self-discipline. The religious sects also regulated aspects of adult behavior, for example through marriage laws. These laws built a self-contained and prosperous Quaker community. In the 1740s, the Quakers became a minority in Pennsylvania as the amount of Scots-Irish and German immigrants increased. The Scots-Irish challenged the pacifist Quaker policy by demanding an aggressive Indian policy. The Quakers found allies in the Germans, who in return asked for fair representation. In the end, conflicts over Indian policy and representation caused political and social discord.

The Enlightenment and Great Awakening, 1720-1765

What it the Enlightenment and Pietism? The Enlightenment emphasized the power of human reason to understand the world. It appealed to urban artisans and to the well-educated. Pietism was an Evangelical Christian movement that stressed the relationship of the individual with G-d. It appealed to the urban laborers and to farmers. The Enlightenment in America Early settlers believed in folk wisdom or religion to explain the way the natural world works. The European Enlightenment A scientific revolution took place in Europe, evidenced by, for example, Copernicuss heliocentric theory and Newtons theories about how motion and gravity cause planets to move around the sun. These new explanations undermined Christian beliefs. Philosophers studied: 1. Natural world 2. Power of human reason 3. Natural rights of individuals (like the right to self-government). One influential philosopher who studied this was John Locke. 4. Progressive improvement of society

When these ideas came to America, ministers defended Christianity. Benjamin Franklin and the American Enlightenment Benjamin Franklin became deist. The deist doctrine preached that G-d created the world but allows it to operate in accordance with the laws of nature. During this process, G-d merely watches over the world, not directly intervening. Printers inspired by Franklins inventions (bifocal lenses, the Franklin stove, the lightning rod) printed secular magazines and newspapers. In this way, the Enlightenment added secular material to colonial intellectual life. American Pietism and the Great Awakening Pietism was a movement that emphasized pious behavior. In the 1720s, German migrants brought Pietism to America. This sparked a religious revival. Jonathan Edwards: Preacher and Philosopher Religious zeal had faded in Puritan New England. In the 1730s, Jonathan Edwards restored zeal to Congregational churches. He believed in ideas similar to those of Calvinism. He used Lockes arguments to justify his preaching. He preached and restored religious zeal to the Connecticut River Valley. George Whitefield ant the Great Awakening George Whitefield had his own awakening after reading German Pietist tracts. He became a follower of English Methodism, founded by Wesley. In 1739, Whitefield preached the message of Wesley across America. He told people that the sinned and must seek salvation. People who listened to Whitefields preaching said that they had found a new light inside them. His followers were then called New Lights. Religious Upheaval in the North The conservative ministers, called Old Lights, condemned the teachings of the New Lights. The New Lights then formed their own churches. In this way, the Great Awakening challenged the authority of all established ministers. Other effects of Revivalism: 1. Reinforced the communal values of family farms 2. Churches founded colleges to educate and train Religious and Social Conflicts in the South The Great Awakening challenged the Church of England and the Anglican Church. It also challenged the gentry. The Presbyterian Revival Presbyterian revivals in the backcountry and the Virginia Tidewater regions were an example of the challenges to the Church of England and the Anglican Church. Though

Virginia governor Gooch denounced New Light ideas and closed meetinghouses, he wasnt successful in putting down the Presbyterian revival. The Baptist Insurgency Baptists threatened the gentry, the class system, and race-based slavery by preaching that all people are equal. This message of equality attracted slaves to the Baptist church. Despite attacks, Baptist congregations multiplied. The Baptist insurgency changed the form of worship, but though it challenged the social order, it didnt significantly change it. Summary: The Enlightenment affected America in that it challenged Christian beliefs and led to deism and new inventions, which in turn led to the addition of secular writing to colonial intellectual life. The Enlightenment and Great Awakening also challenged authority Christian beliefs, and the gentry and Anglican Church respectively. The Presbyterian revival challenged the Church of England and the Anglican Church. The Baptist insurgency in Virginia challenged notions of race, gender, and class because it taught that all people were equal in G-ds eyes, even women and black slaves. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750-1765 The French and Indian War Becomes a War For Empire The End of the Play-Off System In the 1740s, the Iroquois strategy of exploiting the fur trade between the British and the French stopped working. The Iroquois didnt allow settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.At the Albany Congress of 1754, Benjamin Franklin proposed the Plan of Union to unite colonists with the goal of increasing British influence in the West. French authorities were alarmed by the Ohio Companys land grants. The French then built military forts. Expansionism Triumphant At the beginning of the war, the English had success expanding and taking over French military forts, but they were then beaten by the French. The Great War for Empire By 1756, the colonial conflict had reached Europe, and now involved other countries. When the British launched offensives in India and West Africa in addition to North America, the conflict turned into the Great War for Empire. Britain knew that it needed to beat France to keep expanding and making profit. Pitt was in charge of the British war effort. He planned to cripple France by seizing all its colonies. Pitt also paid to support the British military.

The Conquest of Canada The British army captured the French forts, Quebec, and Montreal, taking completely taking Canada. Britain also beat France on other continents. The 1763 Treaty of Paris declared that Britain won the war and got control over half of North America, which included French Canada, Spanish Florida, and all territory (French) east of the Mississippi River. Pontiacs Rebellion The Indians feared the influx of British settlers and wanted the French to return as a counterweight power. Ottowa chief Pontiac led loosely confederated tribes in a rebellion. The rebellion was crushed. After the war, the Proclamation of 1763 stated that there would be no white settlements west of the Appalachians. In return for this treaty, the Indians accepted the British as their new political fathers. British Industrial Growth and the Consumer Revolution Mechanical power and machinery increased the production of goods. Colonists bought a lot of British goods, and to pay for them, the colonists increased their exports. The standard of living rose, but many colonists were in debt. They relied on overseas credit and markets. Land Conflicts As the population grew in the colonies, colonists were forced to move west; however, by doing so, they came into conflict with the Indians. One example is when the Paxton Boys massacred Indians of the Conestoga tribe when their demands that the Indians be expelled were denied. The South Carolina Regulators tried to win rights for western districts, but failed. A more radical Regulator movement developed in North Carolina.