AP United States History Unit 3 Holistic Notes
3. SOCIETY & CULTURE IN PROVINCIAL AMERICA
English customs grew as colonies did
However, surroundings, populations, & societies were diverse
- Immigrants from mainland Eur. & slaves into VA
Indian & English cultural separation couldn't last forever
1. The Colonial Population
Natives outnumbered African & Europeans until Jamestown & Plymouth (C. 1675s)
Aristocratic middle class of businessmen grew
- However, some upper class settlers wanted a claim to land
- But most were laborers (Servants & Puritans)
Indentured Servitude
Common practice - Bounding to masters for food, shelter, & immigration (¾ths men)
- Very rarely rewarded land, clothes, & tools post service
Demographics included volunteers, convicts, prisoners, orphans, etc. (“Undesirable”)
Appealing b/c it didn't subjugate Indians & helped the labor shortage
- Chespaeake’s headright system allowed those to establish themselves
Those w/o land, jobs, or families looked for these = Potential social unrest
Those established moved often to a more promising location every so often
1670s, flow began to decline
- ↓ birth rates & ↑ in prosperity = ↓ pressures to emigrate
1700s, indentured servants avoided the S.; shorter end of stick vs. PE & NY
Birth & Death
Beginnings of new colonies were filled w/ hardships like…
- Conditions soon improved (Ex. 1700, ¼ million non-Indians)
Post-1650s, natural reproduction ↑ population the most
- Life expectancy was as high as 70 due to cool climate, minimal disease, clean water, &
large population centers’ absence
In the S., conditions very slowly improved
- 16-1700, average life expectancy was ~40, ¼ infants died
In Chesapeake, widows/ers & orphans were dominant
- Disease & dirty water were prevalent
Beginnings of Chesapeake & in 1650, most were male
- Soon women arrived → ↑ birthrates = Evening sex ratios
Medicine in the Colonies
High death rates showed lack of medical knowledge, esp. infection & sterilization
- Those died early at birth due to infection from literally anything
- Those in the profession were uneducated (Ex. Midwives/”Nurses”)
Information was based off Galen’s “humoralism” - Body has 4 humors w/ biles, blood, & phlegm
- When unbalanced = Sickness
- Also wasn’t supported, no scientific method until the Enlightenment
Women & Families in the Chesapeake
Reproduction’s importance → High sex ratio = Marriage
Also w/ high mortality rate, traditional nuclear family was hard to maintain
Indentured servants often in premarital relationships = Pregnancy → Punishment
Pregnancy was frequent (Every 2 years) & a leading cause of female death
Women had freedom in choosing & outliving their husbands = Economic power
Widows often remarried for a son to work the plantations → Complex households
1700s, reproduction & servitude = Population ↑ in Chesapeake
, By 1800, S. families were “patriarchal”
Women & Families in New Eng.
Here, family structure was more stable & sex ratio more balanced
Women were a minority w/ less freedoms of who to marry & independence
- Families remained intact & most children matures
Parents lived to see their children have kids
- Women needed parent’s dowry to marry
- Men needed father;s for land
- = Supervision ≠ Premarital pregnancy
Relationships were defined religion
- Puritan church was powerful in New Eng.
- Men reinforce a patriarchy in society, but women could become “priests”
Puritanism emphasized importance of families & inferiority of women
Women were important to New Eng.’s agriculture
- Raised the men who joined, gardened, weaved, cooked, & washed
The Beginnings of Slavery in British America
Tobacco cultivation needed slaves to ample Chesapeake’s economy
1600s, limited at first since the Atlantic slave trade didn’t reach the colonies
Portuguese slavers sent African captives to colonies in S. America & the Caribbean
Dutch & French soon joined → Trade ↑ & plentiful =
- Horrible conditions (Ex. Middle Passage “Sardines”)
- Minimal food, high rates of rape, etc.
Slaves began arriving ~1620 to the Caribbean, Brazil, etc. (5% to N. America)
1670s, Africans slowly to N. America; monopoly controlled by company
- 1690s, company fell, prices dropped, & arriving Africans ↑
Natural ↑ of African population slowed due to high imports
1760, ¼ million Africans, mainly in the S. = Basis for work force
Black laborers had an unclear status at first (Ex. Lived in equality for a time in SC)
1700, Africans were seen as permanent indentured servants
- Reinforced by concept(s) of superiority
Early 1700s, “slave codes” - Law(s) limiting rights were passed
Changing Sources of European Immigration
English immigration drastically declined 1700 due to restrictions & better economics
1st non-English immigrants were Huguenots; Edict of Nantes revoked 1685
- Germans also left due to similar religious policies
- Also left w/ Catholics & Protestants left due to Fr.’s Louis XIV’s wars
In Palatinate, 12K Germans left for Eng. & NY due to precarious economy
- Kicked out & left for PE & NC
Most newcomers were the Scots-Irish from Ulster, Ireland (No wholly successful)
1700, Parliament banned Presbyterianism (Why?) & woolen export to Eng.
- 1710, rents tripled = Thousands of tenets moved to America
Not warmly welcomed as they pushed themselves in = Indian displacement
1775, 250K → 2 million non-Indians in America
2. The Colonial Economies
Eur. became a substantial part of the growing Atlantic economy (Ex. Atlantic Trade)
- But, populations in the W. focused on fur trade w/ the natives
The S. Economy
1640, tobacco severely declined & followed a boom-&-bust pattern in Chesapeake
- Overproduction = problems; 1700, started using slaves
SC & GA, rice dominated, but was arduous & unhealthful = Slaves (More skilled & accustomed)
3. SOCIETY & CULTURE IN PROVINCIAL AMERICA
English customs grew as colonies did
However, surroundings, populations, & societies were diverse
- Immigrants from mainland Eur. & slaves into VA
Indian & English cultural separation couldn't last forever
1. The Colonial Population
Natives outnumbered African & Europeans until Jamestown & Plymouth (C. 1675s)
Aristocratic middle class of businessmen grew
- However, some upper class settlers wanted a claim to land
- But most were laborers (Servants & Puritans)
Indentured Servitude
Common practice - Bounding to masters for food, shelter, & immigration (¾ths men)
- Very rarely rewarded land, clothes, & tools post service
Demographics included volunteers, convicts, prisoners, orphans, etc. (“Undesirable”)
Appealing b/c it didn't subjugate Indians & helped the labor shortage
- Chespaeake’s headright system allowed those to establish themselves
Those w/o land, jobs, or families looked for these = Potential social unrest
Those established moved often to a more promising location every so often
1670s, flow began to decline
- ↓ birth rates & ↑ in prosperity = ↓ pressures to emigrate
1700s, indentured servants avoided the S.; shorter end of stick vs. PE & NY
Birth & Death
Beginnings of new colonies were filled w/ hardships like…
- Conditions soon improved (Ex. 1700, ¼ million non-Indians)
Post-1650s, natural reproduction ↑ population the most
- Life expectancy was as high as 70 due to cool climate, minimal disease, clean water, &
large population centers’ absence
In the S., conditions very slowly improved
- 16-1700, average life expectancy was ~40, ¼ infants died
In Chesapeake, widows/ers & orphans were dominant
- Disease & dirty water were prevalent
Beginnings of Chesapeake & in 1650, most were male
- Soon women arrived → ↑ birthrates = Evening sex ratios
Medicine in the Colonies
High death rates showed lack of medical knowledge, esp. infection & sterilization
- Those died early at birth due to infection from literally anything
- Those in the profession were uneducated (Ex. Midwives/”Nurses”)
Information was based off Galen’s “humoralism” - Body has 4 humors w/ biles, blood, & phlegm
- When unbalanced = Sickness
- Also wasn’t supported, no scientific method until the Enlightenment
Women & Families in the Chesapeake
Reproduction’s importance → High sex ratio = Marriage
Also w/ high mortality rate, traditional nuclear family was hard to maintain
Indentured servants often in premarital relationships = Pregnancy → Punishment
Pregnancy was frequent (Every 2 years) & a leading cause of female death
Women had freedom in choosing & outliving their husbands = Economic power
Widows often remarried for a son to work the plantations → Complex households
1700s, reproduction & servitude = Population ↑ in Chesapeake
, By 1800, S. families were “patriarchal”
Women & Families in New Eng.
Here, family structure was more stable & sex ratio more balanced
Women were a minority w/ less freedoms of who to marry & independence
- Families remained intact & most children matures
Parents lived to see their children have kids
- Women needed parent’s dowry to marry
- Men needed father;s for land
- = Supervision ≠ Premarital pregnancy
Relationships were defined religion
- Puritan church was powerful in New Eng.
- Men reinforce a patriarchy in society, but women could become “priests”
Puritanism emphasized importance of families & inferiority of women
Women were important to New Eng.’s agriculture
- Raised the men who joined, gardened, weaved, cooked, & washed
The Beginnings of Slavery in British America
Tobacco cultivation needed slaves to ample Chesapeake’s economy
1600s, limited at first since the Atlantic slave trade didn’t reach the colonies
Portuguese slavers sent African captives to colonies in S. America & the Caribbean
Dutch & French soon joined → Trade ↑ & plentiful =
- Horrible conditions (Ex. Middle Passage “Sardines”)
- Minimal food, high rates of rape, etc.
Slaves began arriving ~1620 to the Caribbean, Brazil, etc. (5% to N. America)
1670s, Africans slowly to N. America; monopoly controlled by company
- 1690s, company fell, prices dropped, & arriving Africans ↑
Natural ↑ of African population slowed due to high imports
1760, ¼ million Africans, mainly in the S. = Basis for work force
Black laborers had an unclear status at first (Ex. Lived in equality for a time in SC)
1700, Africans were seen as permanent indentured servants
- Reinforced by concept(s) of superiority
Early 1700s, “slave codes” - Law(s) limiting rights were passed
Changing Sources of European Immigration
English immigration drastically declined 1700 due to restrictions & better economics
1st non-English immigrants were Huguenots; Edict of Nantes revoked 1685
- Germans also left due to similar religious policies
- Also left w/ Catholics & Protestants left due to Fr.’s Louis XIV’s wars
In Palatinate, 12K Germans left for Eng. & NY due to precarious economy
- Kicked out & left for PE & NC
Most newcomers were the Scots-Irish from Ulster, Ireland (No wholly successful)
1700, Parliament banned Presbyterianism (Why?) & woolen export to Eng.
- 1710, rents tripled = Thousands of tenets moved to America
Not warmly welcomed as they pushed themselves in = Indian displacement
1775, 250K → 2 million non-Indians in America
2. The Colonial Economies
Eur. became a substantial part of the growing Atlantic economy (Ex. Atlantic Trade)
- But, populations in the W. focused on fur trade w/ the natives
The S. Economy
1640, tobacco severely declined & followed a boom-&-bust pattern in Chesapeake
- Overproduction = problems; 1700, started using slaves
SC & GA, rice dominated, but was arduous & unhealthful = Slaves (More skilled & accustomed)
