Life in the English Colonies

Chapter 6

Working and Trading

Lesson 1

• As an apprentice rope maker in the early 1700s, William Mathews had ten years of hard work ahead of him.

• Apprentice—a young person who learns a skill from a more experienced person.

• Apprentices could expect to work long hours—often more than twelve hours a day.

• They had very little free time and rarely got a day off.

• In spite of the hardships, becoming an apprentice could be a great opportunity.

• For many young people in the colonies, this was the only way to become an artisan.

• Artisan—a skilled worker who makes things by hand

• A rope maker, blacksmith, or carpenter is an artisan.

• Young surgeons also learned their jobs working as an apprentice.

• As a surgeon’s apprentice, you would help carry medical instruments and observe the doctor at work.

• You also had the important responsibility of holding down patients during painful operations.

• As the colonial economy grew during the early and mid 1700s, there was a growing need for artisans.

• This created new opportunities for thousands of young apprentices.

• Young girls learned trade like cooking and sewing.

• Not all young people in colonial times worked as apprentices.• Most children grew up on farms, where they had just as much work to do

as apprentices in towns and cities.• From a very young age, children were given jobs like gathering wood for

fires, serving food, and helping in the garden.• As they grew older, boys hunted, chopped firewood, and joined their

fathers at work in the fields.

• Girls helped their mothers make household products like soap, candles, clothing, and food for the family.

• These were hard jobs.• Candles, for example, were made from the

fat of sheep or cows.• First the candle maker melted the chunks of

fat in an iron kettle.• Then she dipped the candle wick in the fat

and let it harden.• She did this over and over until she had a

thick candle.• These candles gave off plenty of light, but

they gave off something else too—a bad smell.

• Colonists were very happy when they discovered they could make candles out of pleasant-smelling wax from wild berries.

Colonial Jobs

Job What They Did

Shoemaker Made shoes from leather and wood.

Blacksmith Made and repaired iron goods, such as horseshoes, axes, gun parts, and nails.

Fisherman Caught cod and other fish in the Atlantic Ocean.

Cooper Made barrels from wood and iron.

Printer Printed posters, newspapers, and books.

Surveyor Made maps and marked boundary lines.

Miller Ran mills where colonists could grind corn and wheat into flour.

Merchant Traded goods with England and other countries.

Dressmaker Made clothes from woven material.

• Different parts of the 13 colonies were rich in different natural resources.

• Therefore, the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies each developed a different type of economy.

• The New England economy was based on products from the forests and sea.

• Timber was a valuable export—especially to England, where most of the forests had been cut down.

• Trees from the New England forests were also used to build houses, ships, and barrels.

• Barrels were needed to store everything from wine to wheat to dried fish.

• Once colonists had their own ships, they could fish in the rich waters off the New England coast.

• Fishing and whaling quickly became important industries.

• The economy of the Middle Colonies was based on farm products and valuable minerals, such as iron.

• Middle Colony farms grew so much wheat, the region became known as “the breadbasket of the colonies.”

• Mills were built to grind grain into flour.

• The mills were powered by running water or wind.

• From the mills, flour was shipped to other colonies and exported to other countries.

• The Southern Colonies had rich soil, warm climate, and plenty of rain, and they developed an economy based on farming.

• Farms ranged in size from small family farms to large plantations powered by the work of slaves.

• Cash crops included tobacco, rice, and indigo, a plant used to make a blue dye.

• As the colonial economy grew, cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston became thriving trading centers.

• An important part of colonial trade was the slave trade.• In this type of trade, ships brought captive Africans to the

colonies, where they were sold and forced to work as slaves.

• Some trade routes became known as triangular trade routes.

• These routes were called “triangular” because they were shaped like giant triangles.

• On one common triangular trade route, ships began in New England.

• They carried guns and other goods to ports on the coast of West Africa.

• Here they traded these goods for gold and captive Africans.

• The ship then sailed for the West Indies.

• Because this was the second leg of the voyage, it was known as the Middle Passage.

• Captive Africans suffered terribly during the Middle Passage.

• Many died as a result of hunger, thirst, disease, or cruel treatment.

• A West African boy named Olaudah Equiano was probably brought to North America on a trading ship in about 1756.

• He later wrote a book about the Middle Passage, writing that people were “so crowded that each had scarcely had room to turn himself…many died.”

• In the West Indies, the ships traded the captive Africans and gold for sugar and molasses, a syrup made from sugarcane.

• The ships completed the triangle by carrying sugar and molasses back to colonial ports.

• The molasses were used to make rum.

• With this rum, trading ships set sail for Africa, beginning the triangular trade routes again.

• Many Africans were enslaved in the West Indies, where they were forced to work on sugar plantations.

• Others were brought to the 13 Colonies.

Cities, Towns, and Farms

Lesson 2

• Benjamin Franklin needed to live in a city.

• He wanted to be a printer, and printing businesses were only found in cities.

• When he could not find work in his hometown of Boston, he looked elsewhere.

• Franklin arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1723.• He found a growing city with a diverse population.• There were people of different ethnic backgrounds and

religions.• There was a busy port on the Delaware River.• Most importantly for Franklin, there was a printer who gave

him a job.

Population of Colonial Cities, 1760

Philadelphia,

Pennsylva

nia

New York, New York

Boston, M

assac

husetts

Charlesto

n, South

Carolin

a

Newport, Rhode Isl

and

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Population

Population

• By the middle 1700s, Philadelphia was the largest city in the 13 Colonies.

• Benjamin Franklin had a lot to do with the success of the city.– He founded the city’s first newspaper.– He established the city’s first public library. – He established the city’s first hospital.– To help fight dangerous fires, he started the first volunteer fire

department in the 13 Colonies. Fires were a very serious problem in colonial cities where most buildings were made of wood.

• In about 1760, a traveler named Andrew Burnaby visited Philadelphia.

• He wrote that the city was thriving.

• “The streets are crowded with people, and the river with vessels [boats].”

• The Puritans built towns in Massachusetts in the 1630s.

• Throughout colonial times, similar small towns were established all over New England.

• Many New England towns were self-sufficient.• Self-sufficient—ability to rely on oneself for most of what one needs• The food came from the fields surrounding the town.• Families who lived in town owned small plots of land, where they

grew crops and raised animals.• Other work was done in town.• Workshops belonging to the blacksmith, cooper, and shoemaker

were often found around the town common.• Town common—an open space where cattle and sheep could graze• Meeting house—the most important building in town where

ordinary citizens could help make decisions at the town meetings and attend church on Sundays

• The Middle Colonies also had many small towns.• Here, towns often served as busy market places.• Farmers came to sell their crops and buy things such as

clothing and tools.• The town’s general store might have imported goods, such as

tea and sugar.• Like New England towns, many Middle Colony towns had

workshops and a mill where grain could be turned into flour.

• While there were many small farms in the Southern Colonies, this region was also home to a different kind of farm—the plantation.

• Southern plantations were large farms where cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo were grown.

• Most of the work on plantations was done by enslaved Africans.• Plantations were similar to small towns.• Like small towns, plantations were largely self-sufficient.

• Plantations were owned by wealthy landowners known as planters.

• Planters were usually men, though women also ran plantations.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney• Eliza Lucas Pinckney

began managing plantations in South Carolina when she was still a teenager.

• In 1744, she became the first person in the 13 colonies to raise a successful crop of indigo.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney• At age 16, Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney, called Eliza, had already lived in England and the West Indies.• Now she had just arrived in South Carolina.• Eliza’s mother was sick, and her father hoped that a new life on a plantation would help her get better.• Soon after the family arrived, Eliza’s father, and officer in England’s army, was called away.• He left his daughter in charge of the family’s plantation.• Eliza loved the challenge of her new role.• On a typical day, she would get up at 5 A.M., read until 7 A.M., then go to the fields to look over the

plantation, all before breakfast.• The rest of her busy day included teaching her sister and two girls who were enslaved on the plantation

how to read.• Eliza even studied law and helped her neighbors write their wills.• She wrote to a friend that running a plantation “requires much writing and more business and fatigue

[tiredness]…than you can imagine.”• Eliza Pinckney believed that she could make the plantation—and all of South Carolina—richer by

experimenting with new crops.• She was especially interested in indigo, a plant that makes blue dye that was very valuable in Europe.• Eliza wrote: “I had greater hopes from the Indigo…than any of the rest of the things that I had tried.”• After several years of hard work, Pinckney successfully grew indigo on her plantation.• Soon she gave indigo seeds to her neighbors.• Indigo became a major export of South Carolina for many years.• By 1754, South Carolina was exporting more than 1 million pounds of indigo every year.

• The day-to-day work on the plantation was directed by the plantation manager, known as the overseer.

• The overseer gave the slaves orders.• The slaves could be beaten as punishment for not doing what they were told.• Many slaves had to work from morning to night planting and harvesting crops.• Others, often women and children, cooked and cleaned in the planter’s house.• Enslaved people also worked in blacksmith and carpentry workshops,

smokehouses, bakeries, laundry buildings, and stables.

• From New Hampshire to Georgia, most colonists, free and slave, lived on small family farms.

• No matter where they lived, all farming families had one thing in common—– Hard work

• Poem from Ruth Belknap:“Up in the morning I must riseBefore I’ve time to rub my

eyes…But, Oh! It makes my heart to

ache,I have no bread till I can bake,And then, alas! It makes me

sputter,For I must churn or have no

butter.”

• Ruth Belknap lived and worked on a small farm in New Hampshire in the 1700s.

• As her poem illustrates, farming families had to make or grow most of what they needed.

Everyday Life in the Colonies

Lesson 3

• Education was very important to early settlers in New England.

• In 1647, the leaders of Massachusetts passed a law requiring towns to establish free and public schools.

• For most colonists, this was a new idea.• Free schools did not exist in Europe at this

time.

• In the years that followed, small public schools were built throughout the colonies.

• Schools in colonial times were very different from schools today.

• Most schools had just one room.• Students of different ages sat together.• They learned the basics—reading, writing, and arithmetic.

• Students also learned the rules of polite behavior.

• When George Washington was a young student in Virginia, he copied a list of rules into his notebook.

• He wrote down rules such as: – “Every action done in

company, ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present.”

– “Be careful to keep your promise.”

• Most students did not stay in school for as many years as children do today.

• When they reached their early teens, many boys and girls started working full time on family farms.

Others began apprenticeships.

•Only a small percentage of students went to college.•Harvard, established near Boston, Massachusetts, in 1636, is the oldest college in the United States.

•The next was the College of William and Mary, which opened in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1693.

• When they were not at school, children spent time doing chores around their family’s house or farm.

• Most young people had less free time than they do today.

Children still found time for games and sports.They danced, played hide-and-seek, and invented a wide variety of time for games or tag.

They climbed trees, went swimming, and flew kites.In winter, children enjoyed ice-skating and sledding.

• Religion was an important part of life in all regions of the English Colonies.• You know that several colonies were founded as places where people

could enjoy religious freedom.• Some colonies continued to be refuges for religious groups that faced

persecution in Europe.• For example, many Jews came to the 13 Colonies.• They settled in Rhode Island, New York, and South Carolina.• In 1763, many Jews in Newport, Rhode Island built what is today the

oldest synagogue in the United States.

Great Awakening

• Among Christians, an important religious movement known as the Great Awakening began in the 1730s.

• This movement “awakened” or revived many colonists’ interest in religion.

• The Great Awakening was led by Protestants.

• Protestant preachers traveled from town to town, giving sermons that were fiery and emotional.

• Services were often held outside, because churches could not hold all the people who wanted to attend.

The Great Awakening• Many new churches were build during the Great

Awakening.• New colleges were established to train ministers.• The Great Awakening also inspired people to

help others.• One of the leaders of the Great Awakening,

George Whitefield, traveled through the colonies collecting money to build an orphanage in Georgia.

• When Whitefield was in Philadelphia in 1739, Benjamin Franklin went to hear him preach.

• Franklin was so impressed with Whitefield’s sermon, he decided to contribute all the money he had with him to the orphanage.

• “I emptied my pocket wholly to the collector’s dish, gold and all,” Franklin later wrote.

First Newspaper• A colonists walking down the street of Boston on April 24, 1704,

could have bought the first edition of Boston News-Letter.• This became the first newspaper in the 13 Colonies to be

published on a regular basis.• By the 1770s, there were dozens of newspapers in the colonies.• Sometimes, however, printing a newspaper could be a dangerous

job.• In 1734, John Peter Zenger was thrown in a New York City jail for

printing his political opinions in the New-York Weekly Journal.

Poor Richard’s Almanack

• Reading was an important form of entertainment in the colonies.

• When the day’s work was done, families often sat together and listened as one family member read aloud from a book.

• Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac was one of the most popular books in the 13 Colonies.

• Only the Bible sold more copies at this time.

• Almanac—a reference book with facts and figures

Benjamin Franklin

• Benjamin Franklin was 12 years old when he became an apprentice to his older brother James, a printer.

• Until he turned 21, Benjamin was to obey his brother in exchange for learning about printing.• James Franklin started the second newspaper in the 13 Colonies.• Although Ben had not attended much school, he was interested in being a writer.• Sometimes he would write an article, sign it “Silence Do-good,” and slip it under a printer’s door.• James printed the articles, not suspecting that Ben was the author.• Ben was not completely happy.• He did not like having to obey his brother, and he wanted more say in running the newspaper.• He later wrote:

– “Thinking my apprenticeship very tedious [boring], I was continually wishing for some opportunity of shortening it,…”

• When Ben was 16, James was arrested for printing articles critical of colonial leaders.• Ben had to run the paper himself.• While this helped Ben gain independence and confidence in his writing, he believed that it was wrong

for a government to jail people because of their opinions.• Soon after James was freed, Ben left his brother’s shop in Boston to start a new life in Philadelphia.• He became a successful printer.• As an adult, Benjamin Franklin was a famous writer, scientist, inventor, as well as one of the founders of

our nation’s government.• He helped write the Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution.• Franklin hoped that everyone would take advantage of the liberties provided by the new country.• He said, “The declaration only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You

have to catch it yourself.”

Letter Writing

• Letter-writing was another important activity for colonists.

• Letters were folded and sealed with melted wax.

• Envelopes were not used because they were considered a waste of paper, which was expensive and hard to make.

• Letters helped colonists living far apart to stay in touch.

Colonial Food• Early colonists learned to grow

corn from the Native Americans.

• Colonists used corn to make breads, puddings, and pancakes that were served with maple syrup.

• Colonists also cooked stews in large iron pots.

• Stews were made of fish or meat with vegetables and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Delicious?

• Many desserts were common in the colonies, including ice cream, donuts, and a variety of fruit pies.

• Desserts were not always tasty, though.• In 1758, a Swedish traveler wrote home about an apple pie

he ate in Delaware.• The pie was “made of apples neither peeled or freed from

their cores, and its crust is not broken if a wagon wheel goes over it.”

Slavery in the Colonies

Lesson 4

Venture Smith• Venture Smith told the story of his life in a

book that was published in 1798. • Smith was one of thousand of Africans who

were enslaved in the 13 Colonies during the 1700s.

Enslaved Population, North and South

1670 1700 1730 17600

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

SouthNorth

Slaves in the North?• Some of the Africans

enslaved in the north (New England and Middle Colonies) work on small farms.

• Most however, worked in towns and cities.

• They worked in stores, inns, and as skilled artisans.

• They worked in people’s homes as cooks and servants.

Opportunities for slaves in the north

• There were more opportunities for slaves in the north to improve their lives than those in the south.

• Some were able to earn money by taking on jobs:– At night– On weekends

Venture Smith Earned Money

• Venture Smith earned money by “catching muskrats and minks, raising potatoes and carrots,…and by fishing at night.”

Freedom• Some slaves in the north earned enough

money to purchase their freedom.• This was a long and difficult process though.

Laws in the North

• Strict laws limited the rights of slaves in the north.• Slaves could not travel or go on a ship without

special permission.• Colonies passed these laws to make it more

difficult for slaves to escape.

Slavery in the South

• Enslaved population in the south grew quickly during the 1700s.

• Some slaves were held on farms or in cities.• Most were forced to work on plantations.

Slaves' Skills

• Enslaved people brought a variety of skills to Southern plantations.

Rice• Some West Africans had experience growing

rice.• In the Carolinas, they showed planters how to

raise this valuable crop.

Artisans

• Others were expert blacksmiths, carpenters, or tailors.

Long Hours

• No matter what their skills, their work lasted long hours into the night.

• A Virginia planter wrote that he forced slaves to work at night, “by moon or by candlelight.”

Slave Families

• Facing harsh conditions of plantation life, enslaved people struggled to preserve their families.

• Slave owners could sell family members and break up families.

• Family members tried to get together whenever they could.

Keeping African Culture Alive• They made drums, banjos, and other instruments similar to

the ones they knew from Africa.• Some Southern Colonies banned the use of these instruments.• Plantation owners were afraid that enslaved people were using

these instruments to send secret messages to one another.

Olaudah Equiano• Enslaved as a young

boy.• Later gained his

freedom and wrote a book.

• Published in 1789, his book demanded that readers think about the evils of slavery.

Resisting Slavery

• Enslaved people found many ways to resist slavery:– Work slowly– Break tools– Pretend to be sick– Escape– Fight back

Help

• African men and women as well as whites often helped escaped slaves by hiding them or giving them money.

Stono Rebellion• Armed rebellions also occurred.• In the bloody Stono Rebellion, a group of

enslaved people fought with slave owners near the Stono River in South Carolina in 1739.

• About 25 white colonists were killed before the slaves were captured and executed.