The American Revolution

The American Colonies

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Early British Settlers in AmericaAdventurersPilgrimsIndentured Servants

Adventurers: The Jamestown Colony

Adventurers: The Jamestown Colony 1607The early settlers went to North America on a commercial venture.They hoped to find gold, commodities, or to grow rich by farming the endless expanse of land.These settlers were extremely vulnerable: over 80% of the first Jamestown settlers died of disease and starvation within a few months.The settlers were also extremely vulnerable to native Americans, with whom they tried to make diplomacy. Some settler groups abandoned to colony to live with the Native Americans.

Pilgrims: The Plymouth Colony 1620

English Dissenters (or, Non-Conformists)Dissenters were Protestants who rejected the official Anglican Church of England.After the English Civil War, non-conformist Dissenters were no longer allowed to remain in the official state church.The Dissenters comprised many small independent movements.Dissenting sects in the eighteenth century included, for example: The Quakers, The Baptists, The Methodists, and the Congregationalists.Many dissenters called for radical reforms in religion and society. The Quakers called for the abolition of the slave trade, for example; Methodists established institutions of education for the poor.The Dissenters tendency toward political activism, as well as their disrespect for traditional hierarchy, made them dangerous enemies in the eyes of the Anglican state. Many were encouraged to leave for America.

List of Dissenting sects in 18th c. BritainAdamitesAnabaptistsBarrowistsBehemenistsBrownistsDiggersEnthusiastsFamilistsFifth MonarchistsGrindletoniansMuggletoniansPuritansPhiladelphiansQuakersRantersSabbatariansSeekersSocinians

Adamites 17th Century

Pilgrims: The Plymouth ColonyFounded by a group of Protestant Dissenters, who migrated from the village of Scrooby in England.The group travelled on a chartered ship, the Mayflower. They named their colony Plymouth, after the town they had left in England.The settlers were later known as Pilgrims, since they considered their new territory as a promised land.By the time the pilgrims arrived, 90% of the local population had been wiped out by European diseases. Those who remained were thus more open to cooperation.The cooperation between native Americans and colonists (symbolised by the diplomatic Thanksgiving meal) allowed the Plymouth colony to thrive.

The Mayflower Compact 1620[] Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.[13]

Other Dissenting MigrantsThe success of the Plymouth Colony inspired hundreds more dissenting groups to set up religious communities in the New World.New colonies established laws and traditions that reflected the religious doctrine of the settlers.

Puritans

Puritans were essentially Anglicans, who wanted to cleanse the Anglican Church of all its old Catholic influences.In other words, they wanted to make the Anglican Church pure.The Puritans settled mostly in the Massachusetts area, around modern-day Boston.Because of their strict social rules, the word Puritan came to mean against pleasure.

Salem Witch Trials

MethodistsFounded by John Wesley in London in the 18th Century, Methodism quickly became popular in both England and America.The religion was high egalitarian. It emphasised helping other people as a way to worship God.Also promoted constant questioning of ones religion, and using reason to interrogate religious tradition.Methodism grew first in Virginia and South Carolina.

Methodist meeting house

The BaptistsGrew mostly in the southern states of America (Alabama, Mississippi etc.).Adopted a highly individual view of faith: since religion is a matter between the individual and the deity, Baptists advocated totally liberty of conscience.Baptists usually believed in a second coming and end times.

QuakersWere known as Quakers because of their tendency to quake (tremble) while worshiping. Worship God as an inner light in the individual believer.Often refused to engage with norms of social hierarchy (refused to address people by titles, even Mr or Mrs).Granted a relatively high degree power to women.Founded the City of Pennsylvania known as the City of Brotherly Love.

The Protestant Work EthicUnlike the old Catholic social system, Protestantism especially Calvinist and Dissenting groups - emphasised new political values:Individuality (rather than collective class identity)Aspiration Self-reliance (rather than reliance on authority/hierarchy)Investment (rather than charity)Pride in hard work (rather than seeing work as a punishment)Belief in constant progress Belief in radical social change

Indentured ServantsThe poor in Britain could buy their way to America by becoming temporary indentured servants. They would be taken to the colonies for free, where they would have to work as servants for a number of years. Then they were set free to make their own way in the world.Indentured servants were not the same as slaves servitude was temporary, while slaves were considered as property.About half the European immigrants to the colonies in the eighteenth century were indentured servants.

Other SettlersMany settlers from other countries were occupying the east coast of America at the same time as the British.The Dutch established the colony of New Amsterdam, which was later taken over by the English and renamed New York. Thousands of Germans arrived during the 1760s, often working for the English colonies. African slaves were being kidnapped and sent to the colonies from the very beginning of settlement. Reliance on the slave trade steadily became a vital element of the colonial economy.

A 17th-centuy Dutch farm house, still standing in Brooklyn

Slave trading in New Amsterdam

Seven Years War 1754-63.The French had claimed far more land than the British in North America. However, these French colonies were mostly theoretical with only 60,000 actual settlers. The British on the other hand, had established a colonial population of over 2 million by the mid-eighteenth century.The Seven Years War was a battle for dominance on the continent. The French hired troops of Native Americans to fight against the British colonies. British victory gave the colonies control over former French territory, including French-speaking settlements like Quebec and Louisiana.

Colonial CommunitiesGovernment was usually by majority vote.In order to vote, members had to be part of the local religious community.All parents were charged with teaching their children to read, so that they could study the Bible.In the eighteenth century, 90% of the inhabitants of the colonies were farmers. Crops such as tobacco and sugar were most profitable.Slavery was legal in all 13 colonies, primarily because slaves were highly desirable for agricultural labour.The relatively ready access to food and fresh air made the American colonists much healthier than their counterparts in Britain.Within one or two generations, Americans were about 2 inches taller on average than the English, while the population soared to 4 million by the 19th century.

Ties with BritainThe democratic governance in the colonies resulted from the fact that there was no land-owning elite (while vast amounts of settlers had an investment in property).The colonies thus had one of the largest franchises in the world (the majority of adult white males could vote).Even so, the colonists would have identified as English (or Scottish, German, etc.), not as American. This sense of identity remained right into the nineteenth century. Each colony was governed independently.

From A Model of Christian Charity by Massachusetts governor John Winthrop, 1630.

For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others necessities For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.

The Great AwakeningAt the same time as the Enlightenment in Germany, Scotland and France, the American colonists engaged in a highly politicised religious movement.Applying dissenter doctrines to political ideas, the colonist began to place more and more value in the idea of political individuality.The ideals of individual authority in religion were increasingly translated to ideas of independence from authority in society.