U.S. History

"Provincial America and the Struggle for a Continent"

Expansion vs. Anglicization

A. Introduction
1. 18th century Americans
a. Sought to emulate their homeland
b. English institutions and material goods began to reappear
c. After 1740 imports of British goods grew spectacularly
d. Virginia planters erected "big houses"
e. Thomas Hancock (merchant) built a stylish residence on Boston's Beacon Hill; it was later passed onto his newphew John
f. Newspapers and learned professions based on English models proliferated
g. Colonial seaports resembled Bristol and other English provincial cities
2. America's populations
a. Colonial institutions could not meet colonial needs unless it continued to grow
b. Unrelenting contest between pace of raw expansion and newer, anglicizing tendencies
c. Example:
i. 1700: Oxford and Cambridge managed to fill colonies' needs for Angelican clergyman by sending over graduates who were unable to find parishes at home.
ii. By 1750: Colonial demand exceeded what schools could supply and colonies tried to attract Scottish and Irish clergymen
d. Northern colonies founded own colleges and trained their own craftsmen
e. Lesson for colonies: they learned to do for themselves what Britain had to do for the south
3. Change occurring during prolonged periods of war
a. War interrupted expansion
b. Peace brought with it a more frantic pace of expansion
c. Mid-century wars were becoming titanic struggle for control of North America
d. Amerindians realized British expansion meant unrelenting retreat for them
B. Threats to Householder Autonomy
1. Some colonial families acquired more prestige than others
2. Status of "Gentlemen" was less rigid in the colonies than in England
a. They performed no manual labor
b. They began to dominate public life
3. Before 1700 ordinary farmers and small planters sat in colonial assemblies
a. 1700's: colonial assemblies grew much more slowly than overall population
b. Therefore, assemblymen were from higher social status
c. Colonial voters remained independent
4. By 1750 patterns of dependency emerge
a. Younger sons had to look west for an inheritance
b. Families could no longer satisfy ambitions of all their children
c. Tenant farmers were given a small patch of land on which they could build a cottage and raise some food; In New York, they had to accept higher rents and shorter leases
d. Families unable to provid for all their children reverted to English social norms
i. Sons were favored over daughters unless daughters could be married off to a wealthy suitor
ii. Eldest sons were favored over younger ones
iii. Younger sons took up a trade or headed for the frontier
iv. They learned trades in order to sustain household autonomy
v. Goal of independence exercised great power but was under siege and fear of the loss of independence energized westward movement
C. Anglicizing the Role of Women
1. Dowry was usually in cash or goods--not land
2. English Common Law's Doctrine of Coverture states women could not make a contract
3. Husbands made all legally binding decisions
4. Dower rights usually one-third of estate was left to wives (later inherited by children)
5. Double standard of sexual behavior punished women for indiscretions but tolerated male infractions
D. Introduction
1. Peace: After 1715, was the longest era of peace since European arrival
2. War had emptied borderlands of most of their inhabitants
3. People poured into these areas without provoking strong Indian nations of the interior between 1715-1750
4. Colonies fitted into distinct regions--only New Englanders had acquired a self-conscious sense of regional identity before independence
E. Emergence of the Old South
1. Postwar expansion was driven by renewed immigration, free and unfree
a. After 1730, the influx of people became enormous
b. 1730 population: about 630,000 settlers and slaves lived in mainland colonies
c. 1775 population: another 248,000 Africans & 284,000 Europeans landed--including 50,000 British convicts
d. 90% of all slaves went to southern colonies
2. Massive influx of slaves created Old South
a. Society of wealthy, slaveholding planters, a larger class of small planters and thousands of slaves
b. Arrival of slaves transformed social structure of southern colonies
c. VA House of Burgess in 1700 included most members who were small planters who raised tobacco with a few indentured servents and perhaps a slave or two
d. Typical Burgesses after 1730 were great planters with at least 20 slaves
3. Upper South slavery
a. Slaves organized into gangs who were supervised closely
b. They worked all day, weather permitting
c. 10% of the slaves were trained as blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers or other skilled craftsmen
d. Paternalistic slave owners encourage family life among workers
4. Lower South Slavery
a. People contracted malaria, which is nonfatal, but left its victims vulnerable to other diseases
b. Africans were resistant to malaria
c. Slave owners showed no inclination to venture near the rice fields
d. Carolina planters were less paternalistic
e. The task system required slaves to fulfill their daily chores, but allowed them time to themselves after they've completed their tasks
f. Rice crop profits condemned slaves to montonous, unpleasant labor in swamps
g. Rice culture left slaves with low rates of reproduction
h. Gullah was a pidgin language or a simple, secondary language
i. Began with few phrases common to many west African languages
ii. Added English words
iii. Modern Black English developed from Gullah
iv. By 1776m the American south was becoming the world's only self-sustaining slave society
5. Slavery was maintained by brute force
a. Whippings were frequent and masters determined the number of stripes
b. Extreme cruelty was rare
c. Random acts of violence was common (and unpredictable)
6. Southern colonies prospered by exchanging staple crops for British imports
a. By 1750: trade was taken over by Scots
b. Glasgow was the leading tobacco port of the Atlantic
c. Inspection guaranteed high-quality leaf
d. Britain and France's contract opened up a vast continental market for Chesapeake planters
e. Second staple crop was indigo, a dye for textile
f. North Carolina sold naval stores (pitch, resin, turpentine) to British shipbuilders
g. Second crop for Chesapeake planters was wheat
h. New Chesapeake towns were created with harvesting of wheat--people need mills, barrels, and ships
i. Shipbuilding was closely tied to export of wheat and became important Chesapeake industry.