S ECTION 5 COLONIAL C ULTURE 1607 - 1776 1750BLACK AND WHITE POPULATION OF THE COLONIES Total 1750 Population: 1,170,760 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 New Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia 1790ETHNIC POPULATION OF THE NEW UNITED STATES TOTAL 1790 P OPULATION : 3,929, 214 62 5-1 # THE SOCIAL LADDER AND THE AMERICAN DREAM, 1607-1776 “In America, people don’t ask ‘What is he?’ but ‘What can he do?”’ —Benjamin Franklin America has always had social classes. But unlike Europe’s tradition of closed social ranks, fixed by birth, America’s open social ladder—climbed through wealth and talent—offers upward mobility. Abundant land plus hard work put wealth within reach of the colonists, and America’s economic opportunities beckoned them up the ladder. Benjamin Franklin, about whom you’ll read later, is one example of the colonists’ response. Freedom to climb the social ladder, to better one’s self, is the American Dream. To catch the spirit of the American Dream in the colonial era, read the words of Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, a French immigrant living in New York, who wrote Letters From an American Farmer i n 1782. The selection below is from his most famous letter. WHAT IS AN AMERICAN? ¨ UPPER CLASS: GENTRY By J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, 1782 (upper 5%) planters “In this great American asylum, the poor of Europe merchants have by some means met together....Urged by a royal officials variety of motives, here they came. Everything has ministers tended to regenerate them; new laws, a new mode professionals of living, a new social system; here they are become Called “Mister” and “Mistress” men: in Europe they were as so many useless and given deference, the gentry plants...they withered, and were mowed down by dressed in silks with lace ruffles want, hunger, and war; but now by the power of and wore wigs, earning the name transplantation...they have taken root and flourished! “bigwigs”; they had front pews in “Here are no aristocratical families, no courts, no churches. At Harvard College, kings, no bishops...no great...luxury. The rich and the wealth, not grades, set class rank. poor are not so far removed from each other as in Europe.... ¨ MIDDLE CLASS (largest percent) “We are all animated with the spirit of industry farmers which is unfettered and unrestrained, because each tradespeople person works for himself...without any part being artisans (skilled workers in claimed by a despotic prince, a rich crafts, such as weaving and abbot, or a mighty lord. carpentry) “We have no princes for whom we toil, starve, and Called “Goodman” and bleed; we are the most perfect society now existing “Goodwoman,” they gave and in the world. Here man is free as he ought to be.... received deference and wore simple clothes. “Whence come all these people? They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, German, ¨ LOWER CLASS and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed that race hired hands now called American has now arisen.... indentured servants “What then is the American, this new man?.... enslaved African-Americans* I could point out to you a family whose grandfather Called the “meaner sort,” they was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, deferred to middle and upper whose son married a French woman, and whose classes. They wore clothes of present four sons have now four homespun linsey-wolsey (linen wives of different nations. and wool) and were subject to fines for dressing like the gentry. “He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the A large number of colonists new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. came as indentured servants; many rose to the middle class, “Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, who se some to the upper class. labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.” (*A section on enslaved African-Americans follows.) 63 5–2 # CULTURE AND THE P E R S I A ACRONYM culture —the total of ways of living that characterize a group of people The P E R S I A acronym is handy for sorting out the ways people organize their lives in a society—for understanding their CULTURE. SIX C ONCERNS OF H UMAN L IFE People throughout history —no matter when or where they lived—have had six P OLITICAL : Who shall be in charge? human concerns, expressed in these six questions. E CONOMIC : How will we make our living? Their answers —in different times and R ELIGIOUS : What is the meaning of life— its origin, destination, and purpose? places—have created different kinds of S OCIAL : How shall we relate to others? political, economic, religious, social, I NTELLECTUAL : How shall we learn? intellectual, and artistic institutions, the sum of which is their culture. A RTISTIC : How shall we express ourselves—our emotions, thoughts, ideas? Below are some (but not all) of the ways people have answered the six questions through centuries of history. How have their answers shaped our institutions? How do you answer the questions? On the next page we will apply the P E R S I A acronym to the colonies. POLITICAL ECONOMIC RELIGIOUS Who shall be in charge? How shall we make our living? What is the meaning of life? Origin: Where did we come from? Agriculture Destination: What happens when we die? Purpose: How shall we spend our lives? Commerce Trades and Professions Based on Power: Based on Social Contract: head of clan (consent of the people governed) Industry oligarch DEMOCRACY —direct monarch participation of the people dictator REPUBLIC —participation through elected representatives SOCIAL INTELLECTUAL ARTISTIC How shall we relate to others? How shall we learn? How shall we express ourselves? Authoritarian society, based Singing on servitude or slavery Painting Deference society, based on rank Dancing Egalitarian society, Writing based on equal rights Authority: Discovery: under the law. Someone tells you. You find out for yourself. 64 5–3 # COLONIAL CULTURE: THREE WAYS OF LIFE, 1607-1776 NEW ENGLAND SOUTHERN MIDDLE COLONIES INSTITUTIONS COLONIES COLONIES Town meetings were the most Representative legislatures King direct form of democracy in the with the power to vote on taxes colonies. prevailed in all the colonies. POLITICAL Members were elected by white Who shall be in charge? male property owners (and in a few colonies, female property The king made appointments owners). only in the royal colonies, although he ruled all. Fishing, shipbuilding, trade, Grain farms, seaports, iron works Plantations and small farms— naval stores, furs . Thin, rocky tobacco, cotton, rice, indigo soil made farming unproductive. ECONOMIC How shall we eat? Congregational Church Many churches; religious tolerance Anglican Church the state RELIGIOUS the state, tax-supported church church, tax-supported church. What is the meaning (except in R.I.). of life? —origin? —destination? —purpose? Towns and cities . Strong sense Farms and cities. Most egalitarian Farms and plantations; few of community. Deference society. of the colonies (a matter of degree). towns. Authoritarian and deference societies. SOCIAL How shall we relate? First compulsory public schools; No public schools. Private schools No public and few private schools. started in Massachusetts in1647. run by churches and individuals. Wealthy people hired tutors for Scientific pursuits As in all colonies, girls had less plantation schools. INTELLECTUAL in all education. How shall we learn? three regions. PAINTERS: PAINTERS: WRITERS John Singleton Copley Charles Willson Peale Thomas Jefferson Gilbert Stuart Benjamin West James Madison ARTISTIC John Trumbull ARCHITECT How shall we express WRITERS : WRITERS Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant ourselves? William Bradford Benjamin Franklin “gentleman-architect,” established Anne Bradstreet Philip Freneau neoclassic architecture in America with Cotton Mather Thomas Paine three outstanding works: Monticello Mercy Otis Warren (his home), the Virginia State Capitol, Phyllis Wheatley and the University of Virginia. 65 5–4 # COLONIAL RELIGION: THE GREAT AWAKENING, 1720S-1740S 1492 1720s-40s Present THE GREAT AWAKENING was a religious movement: FROM THIS TO THIS A GREAT AWAKENING of religious fervor swept the 1720s—The Awakening began when Theodore colonies in the early 1700s. The movement, the first to Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Reformed minister, came from unify the colonies, involved two decades of evangelistic Holland to pastor in New Jersey. He preached emotional, revivals—gatherings that replaced rational, intellectual evangelistic sermons, stressing faith over reason. sermons with emotional salvation experiences. He inspired William Tennent to spread the revivals among The movement occurred in reaction to widespread Presbyterians religious apathy. Despite the fact that nine of thirteen in colonies had established (state-supported) churches, Pennsylvania. religious faith seemingly turned to formality with succeeding generations. A secular interest in business hastened the process. 1730s—Jonathan Edwards brought the Awakening to Massachusetts by preaching 1720 Estimated Religious Statistics frightening sermons about hell. New England—1 in 7 belonged to a church. 1740s—George Whitefield of England Middle Colonies—1 in 15 belonged to a church. made seven revival tours through the Southern Colonies—1 in 15 supported a church. colonies, drawing crowds of 20,000. RESULTS OF THE GREAT AWAKENING— ¨ Stimulated growth in all denominations; ¨ democratized Protestant religion by proclaiming salvation for all, not just those predestined; ¨ fostered anti-intellectualism in religion by belittling educated ministers; ¨ spurred the founding of denominational colleges to preserve doctrinal purity among their youths. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, 1775 COLONIAL COLLEGES , including those* whose founding was thousands influenced by the Awakening 585,000 1. Harvard Congregational 1636 Cambridge, Mass. 500,000 2. William and Mary Anglican 1693 Williamsburg, Va.