1. Regarding government, the Scots-Irish colonists A. showed remarkable willingness to follow authorityB. supported only BritainC. cherished no love for the British or any other governmentD. stated a preference for Catholic authority

2. Culture in colonial America A. involved heavy investment in art B. Was generally ignored and unappreciated C. Showed its native creativity in architecture D. Was always important to colonists

Match each individual on the left with his or her talent3. Jonathan Edwards A. poet4. Benjamin Franklin B. scientist5. Phillis Wheatley C. theologian6. Charles Wilson Peale D. portrait artist

E. politician

Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution 1700-1775

THEME:Compared with its 17th Century counterpart, 18th

Century colonial society became moore complex and hierarchical, more ethnically and religiously diverse, and more economically and politically developed.

Colonial culture, while still limited, took on distinc American qualities in such areas as evangelical religion, education, freedom of the press and self-government.

“What then is the American, this new man?”

- Michel-Guillaume de Crévecoeur

English : Colonials1700 - 20:1 1775 - 3:1

1775 • 2.5 million people in 13 colonies• 90% pop. is rural• VA, MA, PA, NC, MD are most populous• 6% are Germans• 7% Scots-Irish• 20% African• ???? Native American• Middle Colonies most multi-ethnic

European SocietyColonial Society

European SocietyColonial Society

Ethnically Diverse

No titled nobility

Social Mobility

Skilled Artisans/Middle Class

Limited Franchise

Nationalism

Pauperized Underclass

Social Stratification

Christian

Hierarchical

European

Signs of Unquiet• War profiteering concentrates wealth• 2nd & 3rd, etc. generations running out of land/room• Planters gaining wealth, small farmers squeezed• Fewer farmers, more wage-laborers• Jailbirds/deportees• More Slaves and fears of revolt• Increased Smuggling (react. to Molasses Act, 1733)• Frontiersmen alienated from governing elites• Corrupt royal appointees (countered by “the purse”)

Professions• 90% people are involved in farming

• Ministers

• Fisherman

• Sailors

• Merchants

• Manufacturing

• Few doctors

• Few lawyers

Religion and the Great Awakening

• Anglicans dominant politically• Congregationalists dominant socially, esp. in NE• General religious freedom• Declining Puritan fervor Great Awakening 1730’s -

1740’s• Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God”

Jonathan Edwards

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

Education & Literature

• Puritans establish schools early. Why? Primary schools est. in Middle Colonies & South• Colleges being opened, i.e. Harvard, William &

Mary• Artists: John Trumbull, Charles Wilson Peale,

John Singleton Copley• Writers: Ben Franklin, Phillis Wheatley• Printing presses & Newspapers ZENGER!!!

Phillis WheatleyAs a child, Phillis Wheatley was brought from Africa and sold to a Boston couple who came to recognize and encourage her literary talent. Wheatley's patriotic poetry won approval from George Washington and praise from many revolutionary leaders. She died free but in poverty in the 1780s. (Library of Congress)

Phillis Wheatley

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

The burning of Zenger's New York Weekly Journal (Bettman Archive)

John Peter ZENGER, pp.99

• 1734-1735

• Criticized corruption of royal governor of NY

• Charged with seditious libel

• Defended by Andrew Hamilton

• Truth established as defense against libel

• Bolstered freedom of the press

• Found Not Guilty by jury

Monday, November, 1733: It is indeed urged that the liberty of the press ought to be restrained because not only the actions of evil ministers may be exposed, but the character of good ones traduced.  Admit it in the strongest light that calumny and lies would prevail and blast the character of a great and good minister; yet that is a less evil than the advantages we reap from the liberty of the press, as it is a curb, a bridle, a terror, a shame, and restraint to evil ministers; and it may be the only punishment, especially for a time.  But when did calumnies and lies ever destroy the character of one good minister?  Their benign influences are known, tasted, and felt by everybody: Or if their characters have been clouded for a time, yet they have generally shined forth in greater luster: Truth will always prevail over falsehood.   The facts exposed are not to be believed because said or published; but it draws people's attention, directs their view, and fixes the eye in a proper position that everyone may judge for himself whether those facts are true or not.  People will recollect, enquire and search, before they condemn; and therefore very few good ministers can be hurt by falsehood, but many wicked ones by seasonable truth: But however the mischief that a few may possibly, but improbably, suffer by the freedom of the press is not to be put in competition with the danger which the KING and the people may suffer by a shameful, cowardly silence under the tyranny of an insolent, rapacious, infamous minister.