Lecture #8: Colonial Society

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I. Context

colonies are permanent --> spreading out

1700s --> trade begins to boom ($)

diverse populations

European men and women

Native Americans

Africans (slave trade)

II. The Consumer Revolution

Consumer - person who buys goods and services

Increase in finished goods --> manufacturing

furniture (wood)

Financial stability

class system beginning

IIA. Britain Relies on Colonies

relies on colonies for raw materials

lumber and tobacco

Mediums of exchange:

British $

each colony has their own $

trade and barter

Credit System

buy now, pay later

London merchants selling finished goods

colonists become indebted to England

Caribbean Islands

sugar cane plantations - massive ($$$)

deforest to plant sugar cane --> no more lumber

sugar cane traded for lumber with NE

needed labor --> slaves

III. Slavery in the Colonies and Anti-Slavery

Legal in every colony

IIIA. Virginia

1619 - first slave

Planters / Colonists / land owners controlled political and social life

known for tobacco $

bought slaves

wealthy $

Class system emerges

1st Slave Codes - rules for slaves / slave owners

children get status of mom

causes massive reproduction of slaves

babies = free slaves

slave owners cannot be charged with murder of a slave

slave killed = no charge

replicated in other colonies

IIIB. South Carolina and Georgia

1750 - slaves outnumbered free people

not allowed to free slaves

slave codes applied

rice = stable crop

swampy area

malaria disease

planters avoided areas --> hired supervisors to oversee

slaves had bad autonomy

rebellions

IIIC. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania

No plantations -- > large farms instead

some slaves (not majority)

domestic merchants, not always agricultural

Quakers dominate society

resistance against slavery

IIID. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire

system of slave labor --> very small

no crops --> no $

Boston

small community of free black citizens

Played a role in slave trade --> ports