More cultural diversity (variety) than New England
Life in the Southern Colonies
Rich soil and warm climate
Large harvests of cash crops
Little commerce or industry
Large plantations in the Tidewater (flat, low-lying plains along the coast)
Built on rivers so crops could be shipped by boat
Like small villages (fields, a cluster of buildings, shops, storerooms, kitchens, chapel, school)
Small plantations would have fewer than 50 slaves, large plantations had 200 or more
Backcountry- region of hills and forests between the Tidewater and the Appalachian Mountains
Settlers included newcomers to the colonies
Small family farms- corn and tobacco
Some had one or two slaves
Many more backcountry farmers than plantation owners
Plantation owners were wealthier and more powerful
Tobacco and Rice
Tobacco- main cash crop in Maryland and Virginia
Planters used indentured servants at first and then slaves
Main cash crop of Maryland and Virginia
Most tobacco sold in Europe
Too much tobacco on the market would bring down prices
Rice- main cash crop of South Carolina and Georgia
Dams built to create paddies (rice fields)
Some slaves had lived in the rice growing regions of West Africa
More difficult and more dangerous to grow than other crops
Land was covered in swamps
Snakes, alligators, insects
Profitable- popular in Europe
Prices rose steadily
South Carolina and Georgia had fast-growing economies
The Growth of Slavery
Slavery was widely practiced in West Africa
Huge demand for slaves in the Americas
Major part of the colonial economy
Africans captured and sold to Europeans and loaded onto ships
The Middle Passage
The trip across the Atlantic Ocean
Second leg of the triangular trade (trade route between three destinations, such as Britain, West Africa, and the West Indies)
Slaves chained together
Little food or water
Dead and sick- thrown overboard
Whippings
Sold to plantation owners when they reached American ports
The Life of the Slave
Most worked in the fields
Overseers forced slaves to work hard
Slave codes- rules governing the behavior and punishment of slaves
Slaves not allowed to leave the plantation without written permission
Illegal to teach slaves to read or write
Not allowed to gather in large groups
Runaways were punished severely
Families often torn apart
Slaves developed their own culture from their African languages, customs, and religion
Some slaves learned carpentry, blacksmithing, or weaving
Skilled workers set up shops and shared profits with slaveholders
Some bought their freedom
Critics of Slavery
Mainly religious- Puritans, Quakers, and Mennonites opposed slavery
Lesson 2- Colonial Government English Principles of Government
Colonists brought English ideas about government
English people had political liberties that were not known elsewhere
Protected Rights
Government must respect civil liberties (rights)
Magna Carta (1215)- gave English people protection against unjust treatment or punishment
Representative Government
People elect delegates to make laws and conduct government
Parliament- England’s representative assembly; had the power to legislate (make laws)
Two chambers- House of Lords (aristocracy) and the House of Commons (mostly merchants and property owners)
Used as a model for American legislatures
Struggle for power between Parliament and King James II
Parliament replaced James II with William and Mary (Glorious Revolution)
No ruler would have more power than the legislature
The English Bill of Rights
Parliament drew up the English Bill of Rights in 1689
Ruler could not suspend Parliament’s laws, impose taxes, or raise an army without Parliament’s consent
Members of Parliament had to be freely elected
Trial by jury
Banned cruel and unusual punishments
Government in America
Charter colonies- based on a grant of rights by the English monarch to a company
Proprietary colonies- property of owner(s); proprietors named their own governors and other officials
Royal colonies- under direct English control
Parliament appointed a governor and council (upper house)
Usually did what the king and Parliament wanted
Colonists selected an assembly (lower house)
White men who owned property could vote
Large share of the colonial population took part in government compared to Europe
Local Government in the Colonies
Landowners had the right to vote and pass laws
Colonists believed they had the right to govern themselves
English Economic Policies
Mercantilism- an economic theory whose goal is building a state’s wealth and power by increasing exports and accumulating precious metals in return
Country must export (sell abroad) more than it imports (brings in from foreign markets)
Colonies supplied raw materials and served as a market for exports
American colonies- provided England with raw materials (tobacco, rice, lumber, leather, etc.)
Bought English manufactured goods (tools, clothing, furniture)
Navigation Acts- laws to control trade in the 1650s
Forced colonies to sell raw materials to England
Goods bought by the colonies from other countries had to go to England first and be taxed
Trade on ships built in England or the colonies
Colonial Resistance
Colonists started to oppose the Navigation Acts
Wanted to manufacture their own goods and sell products to other countries
Smuggling- shipping goods without government permission or payment of taxes
Lesson 3- Culture and Society Life in the Colonies
Population- 250,000 in 1700, 2.5 million by the mid-1770s
Slave population grew very quickly
Immigration- the permanent moving of people into one country from other countries
Many people came from Europe to the colonies and traders brought many slaves from Africa
Women- married early and had large families
Colonies were a health place to live compared to other parts of the world
Epidemics (illnesses that affect large numbers of people) were common and many people died
A New American Spirit
Immigrants brought different languages and ways of thinking, but became Americans
Spirit of independence- settlers developed their own ways of doing things
Family formed the basic foundation of colonial society
Family Roles
Men- formal heads of households
Managed the farm or business
Represented the family in the community
Worked in the fields and built barns, houses, and fences
Some worked as indentured servants or apprentices (young people who agree to learn a trade from a skilled craftsperson)
Women- ran the households and cared for children
Many worked in the fields
Married women had few rights
Unmarried women- worked as maids or cooks
Teachers, nurses, seamstresses
Could run businesses and own property, but not vote
American Beliefs
Commitment to education, strong religious beliefs, and openness to new ideas
Colonial Education
Children taught to read and write at home
Schools in New England and Pennsylvania
People needed to be able to read the Bible
Public education law in Massachusetts (1647)- required communities with 50 or more homes to have a public school
High rate of literacy
Middle Colonies- most schools were private
Widows or unmarried women or religious groups ran schools
Colleges founded to train ministers
The Great Awakening
Great Awakening- religious revival in the 1730s and 1740s
Return to the strong faith of earlier days
Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield were famous preachers
Greater religious freedom
New types of churches emphasized personal faith rather than church rituals
Strength of established official churches declined
United colonists
The Enlightenment
Movement that spread the idea that knowledge, reason, and science could improve society
Began in the middle of the 1700s in Europe
Increased interest in science in the colonies
Promoted freedom of thought and expression, equality, and the idea of popular government
Ideas of Freedom
Newspapers faced government censorship (banning of printed materials because they contain unpopular or offensive ideas)
John Peter Zenger was charged with a crime for accusing New York’s governor of corruption in his newspaper
Zenger argued that his statements were true
Found not guilty
Civic Virtue
Colonists had new ideas of freedom and were thinking in terms of civic virtue (the democratic ideas, practices, and values that are at the heart of citizenship in a free society)
Benjamin Franklin- example of civic virtue
Lesson 4- Rivalry in North America Rivalry Between the French and the British
Britain and France competed for wealth and power
Ohio River Valley
Rich in resources
French fur trade with Native Americans
Built forts from Lake Ontario to the Ohio River
British started building a fort in western Pennsylvania
French seized the site and built Fort Duquesne
Governor of Virginia sent a militia (military force made up of ordinary citizens) led by George Washington to drive out the French
Washington built Fort Necessity near Fort Duquesne
French and Native American allies attacked and forced Washington to surrender
Native American Alliances
French had many Native American allies
Native Americans distrusted the British
French often married Native American women
French missionaries converted many Native Americans to Catholicism
Native Americans helped the French and raided British settlements
British tried to make a treaty with the Iroquois
Iroquois Confederacy- most powerful group of Native Americans in eastern North America
Iroquois refused an alliance (partnership) with the British, but promised to remain neutral (not take a side)
Albany Plan of Union- Benjamin Franklin’s plan for a united colonial government
Delegates agreed to it in Albany
Rejected by colonial assemblies who did not want to give up power
The French and Indian War
Early success for France
Captured several British forts
Native Americans carried out raids against the British on the frontier (edges) of the colonies
William Pitt- became prime minister (head of the British government) in 1757
Sent more British troops to fight in North America
Decided Britain would pay for the war
Would lead to taxes on the colonists after the war
Wanted to conquer French Canada
British won a key victory at Fort Louisbourg in Nova Scotia in 1758
British captured Fort Duquesne and renamed it Fort Pitt
Quebec- capital of New France, high above the St. Lawrence River
British surprised and defeated the French in Quebec in September 1759
Montreal fell in 1760
Defeat of France in North America
Treaty of Paris- ended the war in 1763
France gave Canada and lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain
Britain got Florida from Spain (France’s ally)
Spain got French lands west of the Mississippi River (Louisiana) and the port of New Orleans
End of France as a power in North America
New British Policies
Native Americans lost their French allies and trading partners
British raised prices on their goods, didn’t pay Native Americans to use their land, and colonists began settling in their lands
Pontiac- chief of an Ottawa village near Detroit
Captured a British fort at Detroit in 1763
Proclamation of 1763- King George declared that colonists couldn’t settle west of the Appalachian Mountains
10,000 troops kept in America to enforce the rule
Removed a source of conflict with Native Americans
Kept colonists on the coast (where the British could control them)
Colonists were upset
Limited their freedom of movement
British troops might interfere with their liberties
British government made plans to tax the colonies and tighten trade rules