THE COLONIAL ERA

Government, Religion, and Culture in the Colonies

English Colonial Rule

Magna Carta- 1215 document that English king signed that gave people protection against unjust treatment or punishment

English Bill of Rights – guaranteed basic rights to all citizens

The colonist were beginning to seethemselves as something other than Englishmen

England saw America as an economic resource

Mercantilism – an economic theory that says the more gold and money a country has, the more power it has

Navigation Acts – made sure that only England would benefit from the colonies

Colonial Trade

Colonial trade Transatlantic Trade – the routes traders crossed from

Europe to America to Africa and back Traded sugar, molasses, rum, and slaves Middle Passage – the part of the journey that shipped

slaves to the west

Colonial Government

Colonies believed that the gov’t should not be all powerful – representative gov’t, limited gov’t

Voting – white men who owned property ONLY

An Emerging American Culture

Family Roles Family was the foundation of society Mothers and fathers cared for their children Women worked very hard Men were the heads of the household

Education – Colonial Era

Children were taught to read and write at home

School systems were set up by PuritansEarly colleges were to train

ministers(PREACHERS) – Harvard University first in 1636

The Enlightenment

A movement that began in Europe that spread the idea that knowledge, reason, and science could improve society Galileo Isaac Newton Benjamin Franklin

British and French Rivalry in the New World

Conflict in the Ohio River ValleyGeorge Washington!!Before 1763 – colonies grew and were left

alone by the British “SALUTARY NEGLECT”

The French and Indian War

part of a long struggle for territory and power between the British and the French

War was declared throughout the worldIndians fought on the side of the FrenchWashington became a hero French & Indian VS British & Colonist

Trouble on the Frontier

Proclamation of 1763 – to help stop the fighting between the Indians and the colonists, King George III declared that the Appalachian mountains were the boundary line for the colonists