|Ch. 4| Creating the Culture of British North America

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England's Glorious Revolution + "The Rights of Englishmen" 1689

- The ouster of James 2nd during the Glorious Revolution in 1689 sparked a demand for more rights in both England and its colonies as the new monarchs, William and Mary, had to rule England w/in the limits of the constitutional law.

-As a supporter of the Glorious Revolution, John Locke argued that people would support or reject governments depending on whether these governments protected their rights.

-The effect of the Glorious Revolution in the colonies would be the ouster of a hated governor in the Dominion of New England.

-Under this revolution, Catholicism suffered in that New England did not allow for its practice in its region and ironically, Catholics could not hold public office in Maryland.

The Plantation World: From a society with Slaves to Slave Society

-By the late 1600s, slavery became a dominant institution in the South and the status of slaves became permanent for Africans

- Even children of white fathers but African mothers were subjected to a life of slavery.

-Despite the dominance of slavery in the Southern colonies, only a small percentage of the slave trade found its way to the North American British colonies because most slave traders directed the transfer of slaves to the Caribbean and South America.

-The sale of slaves became brutal as all traces of humanity disappeared with the transit of slaves through the Middle Passage from African and the New World.

-This horror is vividly described by African slave, Olaudah Equiano.

-Life in the south was not much better for slaves because they were subject to torture, floggings, and even death.

-Slave owners constantly lived in fear of revolts such as the Stono Rebellion in which slaves in South Carolina rose up in attempts to reach Spanish Florida in 1739.

Stability and Instability in American and British Worlds

- The British American colonies created a great sense of wealth especially those owning plantations in the South.

-Yet despite this prosperity, there proved to be a great sense of instability in the colonies.

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The Salem Witch Trials

- The Salem Witch hunts had underlying tensions that served as a volatile background to this hysteria.

-Fear of Indian attacks, jealousy of the poor towards the prosperous, and the role of women in New England society provided the context of these witch hunts.

- 2 young girls in the home of Reverend Samuel Paris of Salem village began to suffer fits.

-The town doctor wondered if the disease might be a result of witchcraft.

-In total, 20 people were executed during the Salem Witch Hunts in 1692, but after closer examination of the hysteria, colonial leaders in Massachusetts halted the proceedings, thereby bringing an end to the executions for religious purposes in North America.

-The trials came to be known as the best-known episodes of mass hysteria in the English colonies.

Women's Lives

- Although there were opportunities for social interaction amongst women in the cities, most of the North American colonists lived in isolated farms.

-Women were generally relegated to the private realm. Many of them lived cut off from society, even in rural areas.

-Women were limited by the physical demands of pregnancy, birth, nursing, and child-rearing, as well as the daily chores of a farm.

-Often times, women discussed issues of medical care.

-Some women had tremendous responsibilities because their husbands were often traveling extensively.

-At the bottom of the social hierarchy were enslaved women.

The Growth of Cities: Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Charleston

-After the year 1700, the population in the colonies exploded w/ cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston experiencing tremendous growth.

-All emerged as significant trading centers for the British world.

-The trade btw England and the British West Indies proved to be very lucrative and w/ the vaccination for smallpox, these cities became safer as well.

-The ocean-based commerce for these cities was based on their good harbors, Britain's growing dominance of the World's oceans and industries.

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Commercial Attitudes, Commercial success- Mercantilism, and the New Trading Economy

-England's intent was to establish a mercantilist system that would draw raw materials from the colonies and establish colonial markets for English manufactured goods.

-As a result, the British passed the Navigation Acts in the 1660s to ensure that only British trade would find its way to the colonies.

-Mercantilism - The colonies would be used only to produce raw materials that would enrich the Mother country and be a consumer of manufactured goods.

-The mercantilism system eventually created a triangular trade that involved the British colonies of North America, England, and Africa.

-This trade didn't favor the colonies and thus loopholes in the system (legal + illegal) would be found and utilized to generate colonial wealth.

-The Triangular Trade involved the shipment of slaves from Africa to the West Indies and North America in exchange for rum.

- W/i this trading system, a wealth of information was exchanged as the colonies became an international center point of ideas and common interests amongst the colonists also developed.

Changing Social Systems

-Colonial development natured a hierarchical trend of deference in which gentlemen class dominated over a class of mechanics (people who worked because they had to support themselves/families) servants and slaves.

-As the economic systems gradually shifted, starting in the 1730s. social systems in British North America also began to change.

-By the 1720s, however, some of the mechanics and farmers were beginning to recognize a new social class.

-Becomes the middle class

-This rise of deference was not without its critics as the new middle class emerged by 1720.

A Changing Religious Landscape - From the halfway covenant to the First Great Awakening

-The belief that the colony served as a basis for a divine mission evolved into a period where diversity of protestant sects became prevalent and the intellectual pursuits of the Enlightenment led many to seek reason rather than faith.

-Amidst this waning of religious interest lay a new divine presence that came to be known as the Great Awakening.

-The Awakening consisted of a series of religious revivals led by Johnathan Edwards who convinced many to convert to a new relationship with God and George Whitefield who came from England to spread the word of God.

-Changed American Society

-The Great Awakening cut across many societal lines and led to the creation of religious institutions such as Yale, Dartmouth, and Princeton.

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Ongoing Wars in Europe and British North America

-The rivalry between England and France continued from 1689 to 1815 and found its way into North America as the English feared the encirclement of their colonies by the French.

-Essentially, war proved to be a fact of life for the English colonists, especially since the French allied themselves with Indians who attacked during various episodes of this conflict.

-Btw 1689 - 1763

-King William's War and Queen Anne's war highlighted how tensions btw Europe rivals, in particular, England and France, could be played out in the colonies and how Native Americans such as the Iroquois could become entangled in these conflicts.

-By the 1700s, many natives tried to distance themselves from this rivalry and some Iroquois even switched to the French influence in Canada.

-In the Carolinas, resistance of the Tuscaroras against white settlement and then later the Yamasee and Creeks would be threatened when the English allied with the Cherokees who relied on British goods through trade.

-Whereas the War of Jenkin's Ear saw England dominate Spain in the Atlantic and Caribbean in 1739.

-King George's War between England and France saw more fighting between European colonists in North America along with their Indian allies.

-After the French and Indian war between 1754-1763 saw more of the same type of fighting but with a convincing British victory that earned England that claim to all of French Canada.

The Unifying Effects of the wars on British colonies

-The wars in the 1700s promoted a sense of patriotism amongst the British colonists but also generated a sense of Independence amongst the colonies through both the rise of colonial militias and strengthening of independent colonial governments.

-Colonial governments grew stronger.

-Benjamin Franklin tried to build a sense of unity amongst these colonies w/ his Albany plan.

-Both the colonies and England feared the consequences of this unity

-However, as a consequence of the French and Indian war, the union between England and her British colonies in North America would deteriorate the point of no return.