Apush colonial american_life2011

Colonial AmericaLife in Colonial America:

New EnglandMiddle ColoniesChesapeake/Southern Colonies

Written & Compiled by Brad Seeley & Paul AlecksonProperty of D.C. Everest Schools

New England’s Demographics

TURN TURN NN Talk (T Talk (TNNT)T)

What do you know about the demographics of the New England area?

Also, how does this compare to today?

New England Colonies

Demographics of New England• Emigrated in family units• Families were patriarchal (husband and wife shared child

rearing)• Continued English traditions• 3 males to every 2 females• Family - very important• Early marriage, BIG families (single life was suspect)• Long life (60’s and 70’s)• Children loved but treated strictly

“Better Whipped than Damned”• Very poor relations with the Natives -

ex. King Phillips War

Areas of Settlement

Areas of Settlement (cont.)

Population (1620 – 1750)

CHECKING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

What role did women play in Puritan New England?

Women in New England

• Men claimed power in the state and in the family; women were subordinate

• Women in the colonies were raised to be “helpmates” to husbands

• The labor of the Puritan women was crucial • Bearing and rearing children were equally crucial (most

women married in their early twenties and by their early forties had given birth to six or seven children)

• More women than men joined the churches so that their children could be baptized

• Reduction in farm size prompted couples to have fewer children•With fewer children, women enhanced their families’ standard of living•Most New England women’s lives were tightly bound by restrictions (excluded from an equal role in the church)•Often only did women’s work

Women in New England (cont.)

New England and Religion


What do you know about the religion of the New England area? How important was religion?

New England and Religion (cont.)

• Highly Religious - Puritans (Congregationalists) “community of likeminded Christians”

• A moral society to serve as a model for all - “City on a Hill”

• Tax Supported Religion• Puritan officials were gods “elect”• Puritan law criminalized such sins as drunkenness,

swearing, theft, and idleness

New England and Religion (cont.)

• God required men and women to work long and hard (known as the “Puritan Work Ethic”)

• Accepted the concept that God predestined some people to salvation and damned others

• Puritans lead life according to scripture• Congregationalism - each village was independent• To be a member one must provide a testimony or

confession of faith

• In every town, the community church had "complete liberty to stand alone"

• Each congregation chose its own minister and regulated its own affairs

• Ministers worked closely with government• Ministers had no formal political power, but exerted

great influence on church members• Only church members could hold government office• Government protected the ministers, taxed members

and non-members alike to support the church, and enforced the law requiring attendance at services


What is the Halfway Convent?

Puritan Religion and theHalfway Covenant• 1st generation’s Puritan zeal diluted

over time• Problem of declining church

membership• 1662: Half-Way Covenant – partial

membership to those not yet converted (usually children/ grandchildren of members)

• Eventually all welcomed to church, erased distinction of “elect”


What type of government did they have in New England?

New England’s Government

• Franchise (right to vote) extended to “freemen” – adult Puritan men of Congregational church (about 40% of men in the colony)

• All property-owning males could vote in town meetings

• Direct democracy (self government)• Religious leaders (e.g. John Cotton) were very

influential

•The Community constructed meetinghouse for town meetings, passed laws regulating farming practices•House lots were clustered around common fields •Free male church members elected a governor, elected men to the lower legislative house (Assembly) and an upper legislative house called the Council was appointed by the Governor•Consent of both houses needed to pass laws


What did people in New England do to make a living?

Also, how do you think this compares to today?

New England’s Economy • The economy of New England grew at twice the rate of

England.• New England farms produced several crops

(wheat and corn) plus cattle and hogs• Cold winters( short growing season) and rocky soil limited

New England to small farms

• Diverse commercial economy developed in New England - grinding wheat, harvesting fish, sawing timber, shipbuilding

• Many thriving industries• Merchants and Artisans did well• Resulted in growth of port cities


How important was education in New England? What did it consist of?

New England and Education


What colonies are considered Middle Colonies?

Also, how do the Middle Colonies compare demographically to New England?

Middle Colonies Demographics

•Way more diverse than N.E.•Lots of immigrants - Dutch, Swedes, Germans, and Scots-Irish. •The largest non English immigrants were Germans and Scots-Irish

Middle Colonies Demographics (cont.)

•More tolerant than other regions•Indentured servants were common in middle colonies•Farms tended to be 40-160 acres

Why are the Middle Colonies called the “Melting Pot”?

Middle Colonies and Religion


Compare the Middle Colonies to New England.

Which one is more tolerant? More diverse?

Middle Colonies and Religion (cont.)

•No established church dominated in the Middle Colonies•Diverse population and doctrines of religious toleration allowed many denomination•1750, region had more congregations per capita than any other colonial region, even New England•Maryland and Pennsylvania had largest Catholic populations in the English colonies

Middle Colonies Government•The Middle Colonies were run by Royal or Proprietary Governors•Many Middle Colony constitutions guaranteed freedom of religion and forbid taxation without representation • Unrest in the Middle Colonies later leads to the Continental Congress and a center for revolution


How is the economy of the Middle Colonies similar to New England?

Middle Colonies Economy (cont.)• Abundant forests attracted both the lumbering and shipbuilding industries • Several ports developed (ex. Philadelphia)• Middle Colonies had far more industry than the Southern Colonies, but did not rival the industry of New England. • Sawmills, gristmills, textile mills all developed• Produced of pig iron and its products, including the Pennsylvania long rifle and the Conestoga Wagon. •Other important industries included printing, publishing, the related industry of papermaking.

•Other Commerce/Trade includes shipbuilding, trading of furs, rum, beer, livestock, copper, glass iron•Of course farming was big (wheat, rye, barley) America’s Breadbasket

Middle Colonies Economy (cont.)


What was education like in the Middle Colonies?

• 50% of adults could sign their names • Decision to educate children was left to

individual families until 1683• A Pennsylvania law in 1683 required all

children be taught to read and write and be trained in a useful trade

• Pennsylvania's first school was established that same year.

Middle Colonies Education (cont.)

• Religious groups ran most schools• Boys learned a skill or trade (may

also study classical languages, history and literature, mathematics, and natural science)

• Girls were tutored at home in a variety of household and social skills

Middle Colonies Education (cont.)

What do you know about the Peter Zenger Trial?

Why is this important today?

Freedom of the Press!

The Southern/Chesapeake Colonies


Compare the North and the South.How much different were the demographics in

the South than the North?

Also, how does that compare to today?

Southern Colonies Demographics

• Came as single males (not families)•Four out of Five were indentured servants•High mortality rate (life expectancy was 59)•50% of the children died•Slavery increased from 7% to 35% by 1750 (needed as labor on rice and tobacco plantations)•Immigrants from Germany and the Scots - Irish settled in the Chesapeake and the Carolinas

• Upper Gentry class ruled - Plantation owners were in control•Women were second class (could not vote, preach or own property)•High mortality because of heat and moisture•Six men to every one women - women always found men to remarry•Families were very isolated and scattered

Southern Colonies Demographics (cont.)

• Almost all were English or African•90% were unfree laborers•Settled in coastal areas

Southern Colonies Demographics (cont.)

• Scots -Irish and German immigrants•By 1700 - 200,000 settlers•Back country life was appalling• Major poverty, no schools, no churches , no towns

CHECKING PRIOR KNOWLEDGEWhat was religion like in the Southern Colonies? Was it like New England or the Middle Colonies?

Southern Colonies and Religion• Anglicanism was established religion • Public funds paid the clergy• Members not of the Anglican Church were called “dissenters”•Problems for the Anglican church in the South included:

Shortage of trained clergyLack of leadershipNo Anglican bishop in N. AmericaParishes that were vast and sparsely settled Frontier regions lacked Anglican churchesA breeding ground for “dissenting” sects

Southern Colonies and Religion (cont.)



Compare the North and the South.How are the governments similar and

different?

Southern Colonies Government•Representative Government•House of Burgesses in Virginia•County Governments•Each colony had Governor, Council and Assembly similar to other regions

What was Bacon’s Rebellion?

Bacon’s Rebellion• an unsuccessful uprising by frontiersmen in Virginia in 1676,

led by Nathaniel Bacon against the colonial government in Jamestown.

• High taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against special privileges given those close to the governor, Sir William Berkeley Berkeley, Sir William, 1606–77, colonial governor of Virginia.

• The uprising was precipitated by Berkeley's failure to defend the frontier against attacks by Native Americans.

CHECKING PRIOR KNOWLEDGEWhat was the Southern/ Chesapeake economy like?

Southern Colonies Economy•Specialized in a single cash crop

Tobacco in ChesapeakeRice and indigo in the lower south

•Plantations developed rather than towns (located along rivers for transportation) •Everything existed on the Plantation•Only one thriving port at Charleston, S.C.•Most of South was rural and self-sufficient•As indentured Servants population fell, colonists turned to Slaves from Africa and the Caribbean

Southern Colonies Economy (cont.)

• Had the Headright System• Government gave 50 acres to people that came

(received one headright each time someone paid for the passage of another individual)

• Indentured servants had little or no chance to own land (poor stayed poor)



Compare the North and the South.Was Southern education superior to the North?

For whom?

Also, how does that compare to today?

Southern Colonies and Education• No formal education (except for the gentry planters)• Plantation owners hired tutors for their sons who taught math, classical languages, science, geography, history, etiquette, and plantation management (most

completed their education in England)•A governess usually taught the girls enough reading, writing, and arithmetic to run a household and the social skills to attract a husband• Class differences were clear in the South because only upper-class men were widely educated.

THE END

Economy & Finance

Apush colonial american_life2011