I.
Conquest by the Cradle
By 1775, Great Britain ruled 32 colonies in North America.
Only 13 of them revolted (the ones in what’s today the U.S.).
Canada and Jamaica were wealthier than the “original 13.”
All of them were growing by leaps and bounds.
By 1775, the population numbered 2.5 million people.
The average age was 16 years old (due mainly to having several children).
Most of the population (95%) was densely cooped up east of the Alleghenies, though
by 1775, some had slowly trickled into Tennessee and Kentucky.
About 90% of the people lived in rural areas and were therefore farmers.
II. A Mingling of the Races
Colonial America, though mostly English, had other races as well.
Germans accounted for about 6% of the population, or about 150,000 people by 1775.
Most were Protestant (primarily Lutheran) and were called the “Pennsylvania Dutch”
(a corruption of Deutsch which means German).
The Scots-Irish were about 7% of the population, with 175,000 people.
Over many decades, they had been transplanted to Northern Ireland, but they had not
found a home there (the already existing Irish Catholics resented the intruders).
Many of the Scots-Irish reached America and became squatters, quarreling with both
Indians and white landowners.
They seemed to try to move as far from Britain as possible, trickling down to
Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas.
In 1764, the Scots-Irish led the armed march of the Paxton Boys. The Paxtons led a
march on Philadelphia to protest the Quaker’ peaceful treatment of the Indians.
They later started the North Carolina Regulator movement in the hills and mountains
of the colony, aimed against domination by eastern powers in the colony.
They were known to be very hot-headed and independent minded.
Many eventually became American revolutionists.
About 5% of the multicolored population consisted of other European groups, like
French Huguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss, and Scots-Highlanders.
Americans were of all races and mixed bloods, so it was no wonder that other races
from other countries had a hard time classifying them.
III. The Structure of the Colonial Society
In contrast to contemporary Europe, America was a land of opportunity.
Anyone who was willing to work hard could possibly go from rags to riches, and
poverty was scorned.
Class differences did emerge, as a small group of aristocrats (made up of the rich
farmers, merchants, officials, clergymen) had much of the power.
Also, armed conflicts in the 1690s and 1700s enriched a number of merchants in the
New England and middle colonies.
War also created many widows and orphans who eventually had to turn to charity.
In the South, a firm social pyramid emerged containing…
The immensely rich plantation owners (“planters”) had many slaves (though these
were few).
“Yeoman” farmers, or small farmers. They owned their land and, maybe, a few slaves.
Landless whites who owned no land and either worked for a landowner or rented land
to farm.
Indentured servants of America were the paupers and the criminals sent to the New
World. Some of them were actually unfortunate victims of Britain’s unfair laws and
did become respectable citizens. This group was dwindling though by the 1700s,
thanks to Bacon’s Rebellion and the move away from indentured servant labor and
toward slavery.
Black slaves were at the bottom of the social ladder with no rights or hopes up
moving up or even gaining freedom. Slavery became a divisive issue because some
colonies didn’t want slaves while others needed them, and therefore vetoed any bill
banning the importation of slaves.
IV. Clerics, Physicians, and Jurists
The most honored profession in the colonial times was the clergy (priests), which
in 1775, had less power than before during the height of the “Bible Commonwealth,”
but still wielded a great amount of authority.
Physicians were not highly esteemed and many of them were bad as medical practices
were archaic.
Bleeding was often a favorite, and deadly, solution to illnesses.
Plagues were a nightmare.
Smallpox (afflicting 1 of 5 persons, including George Washington) was rampant,
though a crude form of inoculation for it was introduced in 1721.
Some of the clergy and doctors didn’t like the inoculation though, preferring not
to tamper with the will of God.
At first, lawyers weren’t liked, being regarded as noisy scumbags.
Criminals often represented themselves in court.
By 1750, lawyers were recognized as useful, and many defended high-profile cases,
were great orators and played important roles in the history of America.
V. Workaday America
Agriculture was the leading industry (by a huge margin), since farmers could seem
to grow anything.
In Maryland and Virginia, tobacco was the staple crop, and by 1759, New York was
exporting 80,000 barrels of flour a year.
Fishing could be rewarding, though not as much as farming, and it was pursued in
all the American colonies especially in New England.
Trading was also a popular and prevalent industry, as commerce occurred all around
the colonies.
The “triangular trade” was common: a ship, for example, would leave (1) New England
with rum and go to the (2) Gold Coast of Africa and trade it for African slaves.
Then, it would go to the (3) West Indies and exchange the slaves for molasses (for
rum), which it’d sell to New England once it returned there.
Manufacturing was not as important, though many small enterprises existed.
Strong-backed laborers and skilled craftspeople were scarce and highly prized.
Perhaps the single most important manufacturing activity was lumbering.
Britain sometimes marked the tallest trees for its navy’s masts, and colonists
resented that, even though there were countless other good trees in the area and
the marked tree was going toward a common defense (it was the principle of Britain-
first that was detested).
In 1733, Parliament passed the Molasses Act, which, if successful, would have
struck a crippling blow to American international trade by hindering its trade with
the French West Indies.
The result was disagreement, and colonists got around the act through smuggling.
VI. Horsepower and Sailpower
