C.5 U.S History, Skill #2

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C.5 U.S History, Skill #2

Analyze the social, cultural, political, and economic development of the Americas during the colonial period.

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The Colonial World

colonization impacted by four major factors:

mercantilism

colonies exist for the economic benefit of the mother country and are useless unless they help achieve profit

each nation's goal was to export more than it imported

believed econ activity should be regulated by gov

colonies provided staple crops that England would have been forced to import from other countries

rivalry of major nations (England, France, Spain)

geography

native population in the area

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Spain

focused primarily on South America, Central America, Mexico, and the American Southwest

king remained source of all authority, explorers needed king's permission/ help

sought gold

brought in Catholic priests to convert natives, damaged their civilizations, and were cruel to their laborers; included them in the social and economic aspects of society

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France

focused on North America

Samuel de Champlain established trading post in Quebec in 1608

exploration spread through the Great Lakes region and the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers

settlements generally forts and trading posts serving the fur trade

joint stock companies

friendly with Natives, included them in the social and economic aspects of society

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Holland

Henry Hudson (Englishman) sent to look for Northwest Passage

discovered Hudson river and made trade agreements with Iroquois for furs

not interested in forming colonies, interest in New World purely economic

1624 Dutch trading outposts were estab on Manhattan Island and Albany

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England

economic

commercial capitalism in England allowed colonization to be funded by private funds, rather than government funds

Virginia Company of London

joint-stock company that raised capital by the sale of shares of stock, received charter from King James I to settle between the Hudson and Cape Fear rivers

settled Jamestown in 1607 (1st permanent Eng. settlement)

primary crop tobacco

King James revoked charter in 1624 and made Virginia a royal colony

Virginia Company of Plymouth

joint-stock company, received charter to settle from the Potomac to the northern border of present-day Maine

religious

Puritans

in 1629 Charles I wanted to persecute Puritans and rule without Puritan dominated parliament

chartered joint-stock company called the Massachusetts Bay company, charter did not specify where headquarters should be

saw colony as a place to serve God and build his kingdom; dissidents only tolerated if they didn't interfere with colony's mission

Roger Williams

became disruptive to colony

asked to leave, bought land from the Natives, and founded Providence (1636)

Anne Hutchinson

openly contradicted Puritan doctrine and was banished from colony

founded Portsmouth (1638)

Separatists

believed Church of England was beyond saving and so felt they must separate from it

led by William Bradford

left in 1620 under charter from London Company to settle South side of Hudson river on the Mayflower

Mayflower compact

estab foundation for orderly government based on the consent of the governed

Charles II

Carolina

granted 8 nobleman who helped him regain the crown a charter for all land south of VA and north of Spanish FL

New York

granted brother James, Duke of York, title to all Dutch lands if he conquered them first

New Amsterdam

excluded Natives from their social, econ, and political lives (the Quaker communities exhibited tolerance)

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North American Colonies

New England colonies

MA, RI, CT, NH

Puritans placed importance on the family (patriarchy), literacy (so everyone could read Bible)

economy

climate/ soil unsuited to large-scale farming

economy based on small farming, home industry, dishing, trade, shipbuilding

Boston first international port

Southern and Chesapeake Colonies

mercantilism

tobacco first planted in 1611 and quickly became commodity crop that helped VA grow into full-sized settlement

headright system

VA Company disbanded and made a royal colony by James I 1617

way to get more Europeans to come to America to grow tobacco (every new person given 50 acres of land)

indentured servants: wealthy planters offered to pay for passage of those who could not afford to pay themselves in exchange for labor for an agreed upon period of time, after which they would be given a plot of land to tend on their own

Blacks made up small percentage of population at first and by 1750 made up 30-40% of the population; initially treated as indentured servants and eventually came to be seen as lifelong slaves whose status would be inherited by their children

NC followed VA in econ and social development while SC developed society even more dominated by large plantations and chattel slavery

Mid-Atlantic Colonies

Quakers

founded PA

believed all people held an "inner light" that allowed them to commune directly with God, little importance on the Bible

Delaware

initially part of PA and eventually given separate legislature by William Penn

types of colonial governments

Royal colonies:

English monarch controlled the colonies and appointed governors and their councils to run them

all 13 colonies became royal colonies by mid-1700s

shifted from a focus on farming to a focus on household manufacturing and some commercial industries for profit such as fishing, lumbering, shipbuilding, etc.

proprietary colonies: landowners determined the direction of government

corporate colonies: corp. and their stockholders determined the direction of the gov and econ

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Economic changes during 18th cent

types of colonial work

agricultural

plantation farming: based on commercial single-crop commodities

commercial farming: people on smaller farms would raise crops to sell on the market

self sufficient family farming where people grew crops to satisfy their own needs and used surplus to buy goods/ pay taxes

craftsman

men went through apprenticeships to become blacksmiths, coopers, weavers, carpenters, and shipwrights

mercantilists

in trading, merchants would buy and sell goods they themselves did not make in order to make a profit

service provision

other people offered services in the community such as butchers, market workers, doctors, etc.

social classes

rural landowners

southern plantation owners who invested in land, slaves, buildings, tools, etc.

merchants

traders and sellers of goods and services

wage earners

invested in industrial stock/ various enterprises

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American Colonies

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Types of colonial societies

Colonial Farming societies

majority of colonists lived on small, family-run and self-sufficient farms

most in the New England and Southern Colonies, many in Middle Colonies

Urban Seaport

big cities developed along the Atlantic Seaboard and became major seaports and commercial centers (Boston, NY, Newport, Philly, and Charleston)

wealthy merchants and traders became powerful

Frontier

colonists living with bare necessities and creating every aspect of their society

did not have strong community presence because everyone was spread out and lacked organized law and order, community institutions, or organized churches

believed they were not given adequate protection or equal representation because they were "foreigners" (mainly German or Scot/ Irish)

Plantation/ Slave

highly stratified society in which social mobility did not occur

Native American

natives moved westward as they were dispossessed of their lands and their populations decimated

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Social Changes During the 18th Century

enormous population growth (300k in 1700 to 2.5mil. in 1775)

ethnic and linguistic composition changes de to West African slaves and Scots-Irish ang German immigrants

cities contained 20% of population; 4 main cities: Boston, NY, Philly, Charleston

social and economic stratification intensified after 1750

aristocratic plantation owners in the South had the most wealth and influence

lawyers, merchants, officials clergymen dominated North

Land-owning, Yeoman farmers made up the majority of the population

indentured servants and slaves were the lowest level of society; about 20% of pop. slaves

Great Awakening spread in the 1730s-40s in the Southern and Middle colonies

revitalization of religious beliefs and practice

action against established churches

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Population of the New England Colonies