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American Identity:
Colonial Period
American Identity before 1607?
Numerous native American nations
Powhatans, Algonquins, Iroquois, Pueblos, Sioux, Cherokee,
Monacan, Chinook, Inuit, etc.
Variety of economies: Agricultural, nomadic, hunter
gatherer, traders
Variety of governments
Variety of social structures
European-Native American Relations:
A review
Spanish, French, British—changing relations, ranging from
cooperation to violent attacks
Native Americans universally declined because of disease
Native Americans universally lost land to European settlers
and culture to Europeans who wished to Christianize them
Significant British/Native American Conflicts:
Pequot War (British) 1637
Bacon’s Rebellion (British) 1676—does this count??
King Phillip’s War (British) 1675-6
American Identity in Colonial Era
How did colonists identify themselves?
British citizens
By region: Virginians, New Englanders, etc.
By beliefs: Puritans, Quakers, etc.
By social class: what were the criteria?
What did “American” mean to them?
Virginia/Chesapeake
Motive for settlement was economic
Tobacco
Colonial Government--
Virginia Company of London, then royal colony
Appointed governor, justices of the peace
House of Burgesses (elected by landowning men)
Anglican Church
Conflicts between social classes
Religion--Puritans
Massachusetts Bay Colony, influence throughout New
England
Puritan Leader John Winthrop— “City Upon a Hill”
--America as an ideal
Education valued
--Colleges (e.g., Harvard 1636)
--elementary school in each town
--Massachusetts School of Law (1642)
Families
Patriarchal family structure
Early marriages
a. Pregnancies often precede marriages (no stigma attached) ,
especially in southern colonies
b. High mortality in childbirth -- leads to remarriage
Many children
Men
Head of family/property owner
In charge of "outside affairs"
a. Church
b. Politics
c. Law
Women Few legal rights, but in south could own property
Essential to well-being of family
In charge of "inside affairs" Child rearing Cultivation of garden Food production/preparation Responsible for manufacture of clothing Responsible for obtaining candles, soap, etc.
Women's "underground economy" Textile production Dressmaking/tailoring Sale/bartering of commodities (e.g., soap, candles, textiles, etc.) Midwifery
Slave women and women in indentured service lack rights of other women
Children
More valued than in Europe
Play major role in household economy
Treatment more humane than in Europe
Society
Standard of living, general health, diet superior to that of
comparable Europeans
Class structure evolving
Status based on wealth
Class lines more fluid than in England
Labor
Indentured Servants
Slavery
Puritans
Puritan Ethic-Democratic government of “visible saints” to enforce God’s laws
-Serious commitment to work and worldly pursuits
-Simplicity was valued
Intolerance-Dissenters from Puritanism punished
-Anne Hutchinson—challenged predestination with ; antinomianism; banished
-Roger Williams—separatist; challenged idea that civil government could
regulate religious behavior; banished
Salem Witch Trials—1692-3
Salem Witch Trials (1692-93) Teen girls accused people of causing seizures/other physical
ailments
Typically, the accused were women (some men); people who lived outside of the town (east side); typically they were lower class and older
Tests of witchcraft: water test, etc
Accused witches were executed (20 people killed—and 2 dogs)
More open-minded clergy helped to end the witch hunts by challenging the accusers
Earliest example of mass hysteria in America
Religious developments
Declining Puritan Piety
Jeremiad—new form of sermon in 17th c., scolding
parishioners for waning piety
Halfway Covenant—allowed baptism of unconverted
children of existing church members; congregations became
less exclusive, blurring lines between “elect” and others
Colonial Religious Diversity
Anglican Puritan/Congregationalist
Georgia, S. Carolina, N.
Carolina, Virginia,
Maryland, part of New
York
Supported by royal taxes
Less strict than puritanism
No bishop; ordination only
in England
Formally established in all New England colonies except Rhode Island
Democratically run churches led to democratic participation in politics
Churches became increasingly political, rebellious against royal authority
Varying degrees of toleration Middle Colonies exercised religious toleration unusual for the
time
Pennsylvania—no tax-supported state church; freedom of worship
guaranteed, but Catholics and Jews could not hold office or vote;
New Jersey and Delaware also influenced by Quakers
New York—no interest in religious toleration by Dutch West India
Company; later limited lawmaking bodies established locally
Maryland—initially Catholic; allowed religious tolerance; Act of
Toleration (1649)—religious tolerance to all Christians but death
penalty for those who denied divinity of Jesus (atheists, Jews)
Great Awakening Early 18th c., less passion for religion in all colonies; challenges to
Puritan theology of predestination Salvation by good deeds; Arminians—advocated power of free will
Great Awakening began in 1730s-40s, led by Jonathan Edwards (Northampton, MA)--“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
George Whitefield—English; passionate orator
Numerous conversions at revivals
Traditional clergy (“Old Lights”) were often skeptical of the passion/emotion evoked by “New Light” ministry
Many denominations divided permanently
“New light” universities established: Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, Dartmouth
Crossed sectional and denominational lines—new American identity
Impact of Enlightenment
Acceptance of the concepts of natural laws and natural rights
Interest in science
Americanization of Glorious Revolution/English Bill of
Rights
--Validation of self-government
--Limited powers of government
--Free expression of ideas (e.g., John Peter Zenger)
Demand for labor
Need for cheap labor, especially in southern colonies
--What didn’t work:
1. European immigrants
Have many opportunities for land ownership
Will not work on rice/tobacco plantations
2. Native Americans
Prone to disease
Can escape too easily
3. Indentured servants can only provide a temporary solution
Slave trade in America
First Africans arrive in Virginia, 1619
Initially treated as indentured servants
As numbers increase whites worry about control (e.g.,
Carolina)
Breakup of Royal African Company's monopoly
stimulates slave trade
Slaves easy to obtain/prices reasonable
Profits from slave trade high
Slave trade fits into established trade patterns
Institutionalization of slavery
Factors that made slavery easy to accept:
1. Southern planters gain a self-renewing labor force
2. In areas with large African population, control easier
3. Escape difficult
4. Belief that Africans are inferior to Caucasians
5. Lack of opposition (Puritan Cotton Mather, "What God will have to be, the thing appointed for you.")
Slave Codes established mid-17th century
1. Blacks and their children are property for life
2. Crime to teach slaves to read/write
Demographics of Slavery
By 1750, slavery legal in all colonies
Slave population in all colonies
Distribution of slaves as percent of population will vary
a. Largest slave population in north in New York (14.3 percent
of total)
b. Largest slave population in south in South Carolina (60.9
percent )
By 1775, 80 percent of slaves in colonies American born
Very few free blacks until after revolution
Progress?
Great Awakening stimulates Christianizing of slaves
Harsh treatment of 17th century softens somewhat during
the 18th
Enlightenment causes some to rethink the legitimacy of
slavery
Anglicization
Definition:
The condition of being “more English” or more like England
Examples:
Throughout colonies, the English culture became pretty
universally adopted, regardless of the origins of the settlers/
colonists.
Question for Discussion
Which contributed more significantly to American
identity—the Great Awakening or the
Enlightenment?