The Colonial Life

British colonization of the Americas began in the late 16th century. The British were one of the most important colonizers of the Americas. This British colonization caused dramatic upheaval among the indigenous civilizations in the Americas, both indirectly through British military force and directly through cultural disruption and introduced diseases. Three types of British colonies existed in America during the height of its power in the 1 th century! charter colonies, proprietary colonies "granted by the British #rown to an individual or a group$ and royal colonies. all were subordinate to the monarch, with no explicit relationship with the British %arliament. The main waves of settlement came in the 1&th century. 'ost immigrants arrived as indentured servants. The Lost Colony of Roanoke 'any early attempts of colonization (notably the )ost #olony of *oano+e( ended in failure. The Roanoke Colony on *oano+e ,sland in present-day .orth #arolina was an enterprise financed and organized by /ir 0alter *aleigh in the late 16th century to establish a permanent 1nglish settlement in the 2irginia #olony. Between 13 3 and 13 &, several groups attempted to establish a colony, but either abandoned the settlement or disappeared. The final group of colonists disappeared after three years elapsed without supplies from 1ngland during the Anglo-/panish 0ar, leading to the continuing mystery +nown as 4The )ost #olony4. 5amestown, 2irginia 166& %lymouth, 'assachusetts, 1676 the first successful 1nglish colony was 5amestown, established in 166&, on a small river near #hesapea+e Bay. The venture was financed and coordinated by the )ondon 2irginia #ompany, a 8oint stoc+ company loo+ing for gold. ,ts first years were extremely difficult, with very high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local ,ndians, and little gold. The colony survived and flourished by turning to tobacco as a cash crop. By the late 1&th century, 2irginia9s export economy was largely based on tobacco, and new, richer settlers came in to ta+e up large portions of land, build large plantations and import indentured servants and slaves. The colonial assembly shared power with a royally appointed governor. :istorians typically recognize four distinct regions ! .ew 1ngland, the 'iddle #olonies, the #hesapea+e Bay #olonies ";pper /outh$ and the )ower /outh. /ome historians add a fifth region, the frontier< it was never separately organized. The Thirteen Colonies The original thirteen states "in chronological order of their ratification of the ;nited /tates #onstitution! =elaware, %ennsylvania, .ew 5ersey, >eorgia,

#onnecticut, 'assachusetts, 'aryland, /outh #arolina, .ew :ampshire, 2irginia, .ew ?or+, .orth #arolina, *hode ,sland$. New England Colonial Life .ew 1ngland "the 6 .1 states! 'aine, 2ermont, .ew :ampshire, 'assachusetts, *hode ,sland, #onnecticut$ puritan settlements of people see+ing religious freedom in the .ew 0orld< %lymouth "1676$, /alem "167 $, 'assachusetts Bay "16@6$. Than+sgiving =ay A observed on the Bth Thursday of .ovember< it commemorates the %ilgrimsC celebration of the good harvest of 1671 %opulation! tradesmen, artisans, clergy. ,ntent on subduing wilderness, creating the new civil society A theocracy. .ew 1ngland became an important mercantile and shipbuilding center, serving as the hub for trading between the southern colonies and 1urope. 'assachusetts Bay ta+ing the lead! initiating town-meetings as government, popular elections, bicameral councils A machinery of American democracy. *ise of trade, shipping< growth of education, publishing! :arvard ;niversity founded in 16@6< the first printing press! :arvard ;niversity %ress, #ambridge in 16@ . 'any churches in .ew 1ngland established colleges to train ministers while %uritans founded many places of higher learning such as :arvard #ollege in 16@6 and ?ale #ollege in 1&61. )ater, Baptists founded *hode ,sland #ollege "now Brown ;niversity$ in 1&6B and a #ongregationalist minister established =artmouth #ollege in 1&6D. >reat Britain also founded schools, such as the #ollege of 0illiam and 'ary in 16D@. Eew people "no women and a small number of men$ attended college, ma+ing higher education available only for wealthy merchant families. literature .ew 1ngland produced many great literary wor+s. ,n fact, more wor+s were created in .ew 1ngland than all of the other colonies combined. 'ost of these wor+s were histories, sermons, and personal 8ournals, and were written by ministers or inspired by religious beliefs. Changes small %lymouth #olony later merged with the 'assachusetts Bay colony. 0illiam Bradford was their main leader. The #onnecticut #olony was an 1nglish colony that became the state of #onnecticut. Friginally +nown as the *iver #olony, the colony was organized on 'arch @, 16@6 as a haven for %uritan noblemen. %rovidence %lantation was founded in 16@6 by *ev. *oger 0illiams, fleeing from religious persecution in the 'assachusetts Bay #olony. :e agreed with his fellow settlers on an egalitarian constitution providing for ma8ority rule 4in civil things4 and 4liberty of conscience *oger 0illiams, who preached religious toleration, separation of #hurch and /tate, and a complete brea+ with the #hurch of 1ngland, was banished and founded *hode ,sland #olony, which became a haven for other refugees from the %uritan community, such as Anne :utchinson.

 GSalem witch trials "between Eebruary 16D7 and 'ay 16D@$- a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court of trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft A prove that %uritan culture was prone to superstition and intolerant of dissent New England Colonial Life The character of colonial .ew 1ngland life was mainly rural. As middle-class tradesmen and farmers the %ilgrims brought 1nglish conventions to America, including the great value of a permanent house and enclosed lands that +ept the chaos of the dreaded wilderness out. Fn site a committee planned the house lots and fields based on 1nglish agriculture familiar to everyone. 1ach farmer needed several fields immediately--one for grain crops, another for pasture, and a third for meadow to yield hay for winter feeding of livestoc+. stone fences of .ew 1ngland arose from the necessity to clear roc+y fields so they could be tilled and planted, for the growing season was short and the harsh winter long. ,n every town or village, all roads radiated from the meetinghouse li+e spo+es of a wheel, for it was the hub of community life, attracting all but the sic+ for /unday and Thursday sermons and, when death occurred, drawing the townspeople for funerals and burial in the graveyard ad8acent to it. Town magistrates were selected from the men of the community .ew 1ngland farming families generally lived in wooden houses because of the abundance of trees. A typical .ew 1ngland farmhouse was one-and-a-half stories tall and had a strong frame "usually made of large sHuare timbers$ that was covered by wooden clapboard siding. A large chimney stood in the middle of the house that provided coo+ing facilities and warmth during the winter. Southern colonies /outhern colonies! 2irginia, #arolinas, 'aryland and >eorgia Eirst permanent settlement! 5amestown colony "166&$ A unrealistic view of the contitnent, 0illiamsburg, colonial capital of 2irginia< British view of the colonies! providing raw materials and agricultural exports, a mar+et for British goods< attraction for 1nglishmen in need of homes and land. >rowth of the /outh! enlarging of plantations< /outhern aristocrat families growing wealth, schooling abroad, building up of private libraries< small and widely separated urban centres< population! priviledged landowners, middleclass of unlettered frontiersmen and small farmers, thousands of illiterate slaves. plantations Beginning in the 1&76s, after many years of hard life and starvation, the next generation of planters began to construct large >eorgian-style mansions, and hunt deer from horsebac+. 0ealthy women in the /outhern colonies shared in the British culture. They read British magazines, wore fashionable clothing of British design, and served an elaborate afternoon tea. These efforts were the most successful in /outh #arolina, where wealthy rice planters lived in townhouses in #harleston, a busy port city. Active social seasons also existed in towns, such as @

Annapolis, 'aryland, and on tobacco plantations along the 5ames *iver in 2irginia. Southern colonies The colonial /outh included cultures of the #hesapea+e Bay, 2irginia, the #arolinas, and, in the 1 th century, >eorgia. assumed its own social forms. ,f it lac+ed the visible community focal point of the meetinghouse, southerners were nonetheless 8oined together by waterways and rounds of visits. The men mustered for militia exercises at appointed times and places and attended sessions of court. 'any families so8ourned to Anglican and other church services, and roads themselves were at times the scene of social life, farmers vitally interested in weather, soil, seeds, crops, livestoc+, and the trades and crafts necessary to agrarian life. The cultivation of the principal money crop, tobacco, points up the degree of wor+ reHuired in the 4vale of plenty4. By 161 tobacco was entrenched as a profitable crop, but colonial farmers wor+ed hard to bring it to mar+et. ,t reHuired much wor+ by hand, and the beginnings of slavery of blac+s in America are in connection with the need for human wor+ in the tobacco fields of the /outh. as owners raced horses on them and wagered on the outcome. Education /outhern colonial intellectual life in this agrarian culture was both broad and deep in spite of dispersed settlement patterns. Eormal education became a concern throughout the colonies. There were 5esuit school in #atholic 'aryland, a school for orphans founded in >eorgia by the preacher >eorge 0hitefield, and a variety of private parish and tutorial schools elsewhere. The #ollege of 0illiam and 'ary was founded in 16D@. the sons of wealthy southern colonists were sometimes sent abroad to 1ngland for higher education. Religious life *eligious life was richly varied in the colonial /outh. =uring the 1&th century the Anglican #hurch "the #hurch of 1ngland$ predominated, but *oman #atholics were appearing in all five southern colonies, as were other dissenters, including a few %uritans. 0ith )ord Baltimore9s founding of 'aryland in 16@B, #atholics had a colonial center. And Iua+er missionaries were at wor+ in 2irginia in the mid-1&th century. After 1&66, Erench and >erman %rotestants, )utherans, Baptists, and evangelical %resbyterians gained increasing influence in the /outh. They coexisted uneasily with the Anglican clergy. literature #olonial writers of the /outh, li+e their northern counterparts, wrote much literature that was deliberately useful or purposeful. /uch texts as ,ndian treaties, promotion tracts, sermons, and treatises on education or science and technology were intetionally utilitarian even though they had aesthetic Hualities. ?et an abundance of verse and of 8ournals, diaries, letters, essays, autobiographies shows the powerful belletristic strain in writing in the region. B

 a literary tradition was in the ma+ing in the slave Huarters. A growing population of blac+ African slaves sang songs and +ept alive the African fol+lore which, mingled with the slaves9 experience in the .ew 0orld, would eventually find its way into formal writing in the 76th century. Though some slaves learned to read and write slaves by law were +ept illiterate in the south and therefore had no opportunity in the colonial era to give written expression to their oral traditions. The flowering would have to wait 766 years. The record of extant southern literature of the 1&th and 1 th centuries is one of white writers. The middle colonies: %rovinces of .ew ?or+, .ew 5ersey, =elaware and %ennsylvania. %ennsylvania - colony established on estate given by #harles ,, to %en family< 0illiam %enn proprietor and leading statesman. =iversity of ethnic origins of the population! =utch, /wedish, >erman, Erench hugenots, 5ews, reflecting de #revecoeurCs notion of Jmelting potC. Iua+ers the most homogenous group. %opulation of farmers, artisans, tradesmen. 1stablishing of schools, university, colledges, printing! first press in 16 6< ;niversity of %ennsylvania, %rinceton 1&B6, KingCs college 1&3B, *utgers 1&66. %hiladelphia 7nd largest city outside Britain. >rowth of democratic ideology. =eclaration of independence and #onstitution drafted in %hiladelphia large degree of diversity(religious, political, economic, and ethnic. The =utch colony of .ew .etherland was ta+en over by the British and renamed .ew ?or+ but large numbers of =utch remained in the colony. 'any >erman and ,rish immigrants settled in these areas, as well as in #onnecticut. A large portion of the settlers who came to %ennsylvania were >erman.