Identity:
Colonists who lived in America during the years leading up to the Revolution only called themselves 'Americans' in the sense that they lived on the continent of North America. They considered themselves British first and foremost, their second identity was with their colony. This was their colonial identity. At the time of the early 1750s the North American colonists did not see themselves as a unit at all. The colonists were the freest people in the world, and were on their way to being the richest. They were building big colonial homes and using British finery, thoroughly showing their wealth to the world.
The big nemesis to the colonists and Britain is France, who reinforce their "Britishness" by being the opposite of of them in almost every way. The British contrast themselves from several groups of people:
-the French because they are an absolutist country whose people are impoverished with no voice, and they are Catholic
-they see Spain as a secondary colonist, they are not quite as frightening as France
-the Indians are different as well because they are considered savages,
so it was easy for the British to contrast themselves favorably to these groups, they saw themselves as the better society of people.
Diversity within the Society:
Great Britain itself was ethnically diverse, the biggest group of people were the English, closely followed by the Scots, the Scots-Irish, the Irish, and then the Welsh. The Irish were more of a colony, they were considered outsiders for religious reasons and therefore had no political rights in Great Britain. There was no actual Germany at this time, but German speakers were the fastest growing group in terms of immigration to the colonies. Germans were recruited to come to the colonies, they were also Protestant, by the British in fairly large numbers. They British wanted them to settle on the Frontier where they could be the first line of defense against Indian attack.
Some other kinds of ethnic colonists were:
-the Dutch, who were a fairly large group, and the first to settle New York
-the Swedish, who first settled Delaware and it was called New Sweden, the Swedes across the pond then pretty much forgot about the colony, so it didn't last long and become Delaware.
-the Huguenots (french speakers) were kicked out for being French
This kind of ethnic diversity leads to Religious diversity as well. The official religion of Great Britain was the Anglican Church, or the Church of England. Scotland and the Scots-Irish are Presbyterian, which is acceptable to the British. The Irish are Catholic, and there was an effort to create a Catholic colony that then became Maryland. The Dutch practiced the Dutch reform religion, and the Swedes were Lutheran. Some other groups that were in a very small percentage in the colonies:
-Moravians
-Mennonites
-Jews
-Dissenters from the Church of England
-Puritans from England--the Puritans came to New England and put in their leader Oliver Cromwell who became a dictator. The Puritans then lost their force in England, where they were known as the Congregational Church in New England.
-Quakers--developed through the help of William Penn, who settled Pennsylvania and practiced religious toleration
-Methodists
-Baptists--they were an old line sect from Europe that had been expelled to Geneva after the re-rise of Catholicism in England
This area of America was very different than any other area in the world due to diversity and religious toleration.
Economic Diversity:
A lot of the economic diversity in North America was climate based. New England was identified as a specific region due to subsistence farming (a relic of Puritanism) far to the north, the exceptions were sea port merchants. The middle colonies, (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) used larger scale farming and agriculture. From Maryland to Georgia was considered the South and often used plantations for their agriculture. North Carolina is the oddball exception to this in the South, they used smaller scale agriculture.
Opportunity and Equality:
The social system in North America at this time was very different from that of Great Britain. Great Britain has inherited nobility, a small middle class (doctors and lawyers, etc.), and most English were small farmers or tenant farmers who were wage earners. The colonists wanted to bring back feudalism, but trying to bring serfs here did not work very well because the incentives to get people over here was land which made the traditional English hierarchy unworkable. There were many reasons for this, but one was that the large majority of males now owned land, thus giving them political rights. In addition, the colonists needed Doctors and Lawyers, the professional classes, that also needed and wanted political rights even though they didn't own any land. All of this combined to make North America the land of more opportunity and greater wealth. Of course this also had consequences; large landowners needed labor, but the people that can afford to come and have land won't work for others, thus causing a labor shortage.
In order to help with the labor shortage the colonists started with indentured servants, but many of them died, the supply dried up and they ultimately did not provide much help. The next step was to try and enslave the Indians, but they were very resistant to this. Not only that, but they also knew the area well, could disappear and not be found. So, the colonists turned to African American slavery, and by 1750 there were close to half a million slaves in the colonies. There was a serious economic advantage to African American slavery because they served for life and the status was inherited. Slavery would exist in all the colonies up until the time of the Revolution.
Another class of people living in the colonies were the people that were on the 'margins' of society. These people had no rights, could not vote, were poor, and were working for others. A big portion of these people were women, who were living in a patriarchal society, and they were legally and officially subordinate to men. On the way outside of the margins were the Indians, most of whom still lived on the frontier. Some of them lived in the colonies, but for the most part they were considered an enemy.
*Notes taken from class lecture: Dr. Jim Piecuch, Kennesaw State University
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